Media and politics

Some valid points from Carter Phipps at Chopras' IntentBlog:

"...if the highest truth we’re recognizing is the need to give all sides of the debate a fair hearing, then we’re in trouble. Why? Because all sides of any debate don’t deserve a fair hearing. I suspect that this accounts for the rise of “news” shows that feature a very opinionated person or anchor—Keith Olberman’s special comments are an example—because then one doesn’t have to operate within these same constraints. Heck, I can’t stand some of the things Lou Dobbs says on CNN, but I do find it a relief just to hear him state a very clear opinion.

Now where this dynamic gets truly strange is in the phenomenon of the Daily Show with John Stewart. I mean, one of the reasons why young people like Stewart so much is that because it is a comedy show he has more license to say things as they are…or at least as he sees them. Now how bizarre is that? A spoof news show can be a better source for objective analysis—simply because he doesn’t have to walk the hopelessly politically correct line of fair and balanced reporting, which as we have seen over and over again, ends up being neither fair nor balanced—no matter how well-intentioned are the individual journalists."

Read the whole piece.