An excellent start in outlining the perfidy of bias in today's global news media. I am also grateful that for the most part during your trenchant analysis you avoided the temptation of taking gratuitous cheap shots at media outlets and other entities that you so vociferously disagree with. At this point I would merely add these two observations for your analytical consideration.
You quite correctly point out the "inconsistency" in news coverage of this current round of conflict between Israel and Hamas. However, this is neither a new nor a novel development. As one respected AP correspondent (who is a Palestinian Arab) pointed out years ago, journalists in the Middle East wake up each morning determined to pick "winners" (Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinians) and "losers" (Israelis, Jews, Zionists) and subsequently craft their news reports to support these preordained prejudices. This travesty of journalism can be traced back to the First Intifada ( 1987--1993), a conclusion supported by a vast trove of scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic research. Current news reporting would indicate that this journalistic bias has only become more blatant.
To your header, ("If It Bleeds, It Leads") I would suggest you explore the relationships within the three-letter legacy TV broadcasting companies between their respective News Bureaus and their Entertainment Divisions. Rather than being stand-alone, independent entities, the network News Bureaus have been subsumed into the Entertainment Divisions with a consequential shift in cultural values away from journalistic ethics and factual news reporting to a quest for higher ratings which translates into greater advertising revenues. How else, for example, does one explain the insistence by at least one of these three-letter legacy broadcast companies to lead off their weekend news programming with overlong and emotionally overwrought coverage of a third-rate Hollywood comedian who drowned in his hot tub? From a news worthy perspective this is absurd. From an entertainment value perspective this broadcast decision makes perfect sense.
Keep up the good work, I am looking forward to the next installment.
Paul,
An excellent start in outlining the perfidy of bias in today's global news media. I am also grateful that for the most part during your trenchant analysis you avoided the temptation of taking gratuitous cheap shots at media outlets and other entities that you so vociferously disagree with. At this point I would merely add these two observations for your analytical consideration.
You quite correctly point out the "inconsistency" in news coverage of this current round of conflict between Israel and Hamas. However, this is neither a new nor a novel development. As one respected AP correspondent (who is a Palestinian Arab) pointed out years ago, journalists in the Middle East wake up each morning determined to pick "winners" (Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinians) and "losers" (Israelis, Jews, Zionists) and subsequently craft their news reports to support these preordained prejudices. This travesty of journalism can be traced back to the First Intifada ( 1987--1993), a conclusion supported by a vast trove of scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic research. Current news reporting would indicate that this journalistic bias has only become more blatant.
To your header, ("If It Bleeds, It Leads") I would suggest you explore the relationships within the three-letter legacy TV broadcasting companies between their respective News Bureaus and their Entertainment Divisions. Rather than being stand-alone, independent entities, the network News Bureaus have been subsumed into the Entertainment Divisions with a consequential shift in cultural values away from journalistic ethics and factual news reporting to a quest for higher ratings which translates into greater advertising revenues. How else, for example, does one explain the insistence by at least one of these three-letter legacy broadcast companies to lead off their weekend news programming with overlong and emotionally overwrought coverage of a third-rate Hollywood comedian who drowned in his hot tub? From a news worthy perspective this is absurd. From an entertainment value perspective this broadcast decision makes perfect sense.
Keep up the good work, I am looking forward to the next installment.
All excellent comments my friend. We are in need of a breakfast meeting.