European news coveragem, a different story

[Grim]

Hello all,

First time posting on this part of the board. Just wondering what the US bros think of the media coverage in your country?

I have access to Fox and CNN and I have to say the propoganda in favour of Bush is unbelievable (for the most part reporters don't comment or offer their personal opinions in Europe, they just state news facts).

I don't know enough about either candidates policies beyond the presidential debates to make any informed comments on individual performances HOWEVER, the media coverage outside of the US is VERY different.

Bush is being torn to shreds on most news stations and newspapers, even UK's Sky (known supporters of the Tony Blair camp). Kerry may not be perfect but America's standing in the world has been severly reduced due to the actions of the current president - fact. Just wondering if any of this has made it into the US media?

Don't get me wrong, I've got a lot of friends oin the US but I have to say that the US media available. To most outsiders it appears to be trying to control public opinion through heavily biased reporting. No flames intended, just an objective outsiders view!

What do you guys make of this??

G

 

[Millard]

First time posting on this part of the board. Just wondering what the US bros think of the media coverage in your country?

I have access to Fox and CNN and I have to say the propoganda in favour of Bush is unbelievable (for the most part reporters don't comment or offer their personal opinions in Europe, they just state news facts).

Grim,

It's sad to say, but I think most of our electorate doesn't know any different.
FOX and CNN pass as real news. News has become a blend of entertainment and news. News is now a business that is slave to ratings and whatever it takes to achieve them - no longer a slave to honesty and integrity in journalism. Several news personalities have their own entertainment shows where they are unabashedly partisan. There is quite a bit of carryover of this partisan reporting (both liberal and conservative) into regular news as a result.

Several media conglomerates have recently been accused of partisan reporting. CNN has been historically charged with a liberal bias; FOX a conservative bias. Sinclair which owns dozens of stations (mostly FOX, I think but I could be wrong) has been accused of misusing his media influence for partisan purposes. Dan Rather of CBS News got caught using falsified documents for partisan purposes; Cameron Crowe got caught 'accidentally' publishing some "fake news" on the Fox news website.

So, yes there is some awareness of the problems with our media and news reporting.

But as I said at the onset, most people consider FOX, CNN, CBS, ABC, etc the "real" news. I doubt 1 in a 1000 registered voters has ever read a foreign newspaper or foreign news website to obtain news. I doubt 1 in 10,000 do this on a daily or weekly basis. You are talking about a country (United States) where an unbelievably high percentage of people consider "Jon Stewart's Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" their main source of news.

I lot of people may complain about news coverage. But there is no outrage here as far as I can tell. Most are content with one the three big network news stations - CBS, ABC and NBC - or the major cable news networks - FOX, CNN and MSNBC.

Thanks for your input. And don't be surprised if your comments are received by other members with hostile and partisan responses. I think the war in Iraq, among other things, has polarized our country to a significant degree and made politicians and voters bitterly partisan, moreso now than other times in recent memory IMO.

 

[yoda]

you are absolutely right bro.i fuckin hate bush but half of america believe what they see and hear on the "news"which is all bullshit

 

[Bob Smith]

you are absolutely right bro.i fuckin hate bush but half of america believe what they see and hear on the "news"which is all bullshit

As opposed to the other half that believes what a different news channel says.

All media is biased in one way or another, whether is American or otherwise. Im sure that European news organizations report things much differently than do American media outlets. Why that might surprise anyone is unknown to me. But to say that the Euro sources are more valid/accurate than American sources, IMO, is the like comparing the reporting of say Fox News and CNN. They all have their slant, and with most of Europe and Canada being relatively socialist societies, its not wonder that they would report very negatively against Bush.