Posted by
The Secular Conservative on Saturday, April 21, 2007 1:07:58 PM
We conservatives regularly level the claim that the mainstream/drive-by media are biased liberal. That bias manifests itself through choice: media outlets receive multiple leads and stories and choose 1) what to publicize and 2) what viewpoint is presented. Personally, I would prefer that news reports limit themselves to the facts of a situation, and opinion-makers use different segments to handle #1 and #2.
Everyone wants mainstream media to publish reports of [unnamed Democratic representative] and her corruption for steering contracts to her husband. The media doesn't, so we claim this is liberal bias because a choice is made to not present the news. If media didn't choose, if media published all the news that's factual and fit to print, this story would have legs.
So why do conservatives complain when NBC shows the Cho video? If they hadn't, they would have made a choice to suppress relevant facts regarding the story (in this case, motive) even though it's offensive to the victims' families, but it's not like conservatives to stand up for the "offended class."
I don't want the news media to make choices when presenting the news. I want them to present factual and relevant information and allow the audience to draw its own conclusions. If we want the media to make choices in the news they present, we can't complain when they make a choice we don't like. Should they show footage of the twin towers falling? Should they show video of Bin Ladin? Should they show archive footage of the Columbine shootings? Should Cho's video be on the air?
I'm open to being persuaded on this issue and I don't know that I've thought it through completely, but it really doesn't bother me that the Cho footage was put on the air. And I'm tired of the preaching from the right. If we don't want NBC to be biased, we should ask them to always release information that's factual and relevant. The Cho video is both.
-tsc