Editorial Manipulation.

[DaveP]

I noticed this on the BBC over the last few days following the tragic death of the father and daughter in the Rio Grande.

The President of El Salvador gave a response to the deaths and his BBC headline  was "America is dealing with this the wrong way".  The implication is that Trump's policy caused it.  To my amazement, on another news site, I saw that the President of El Salvador admitted  that it was his country's fault!  When I tried to search for the original comment that the BBC made, it was no longer there, but there were references to the other story of it being El Salvadors fault, athough these never appeared on the main BBC page.

As we approach 2020 I can see that parts of the media want to spin stories so that Trump looks bad no matter what.  The media's horror at his election may have subsided, but I expect to see it return with avengeance as time goes on.  I don't want to be told what to think, I want the basic facts presented without bias so that I can make my own mind up, I am not up for editorial manipulation.

DaveP

 

[JohnRoberts]

I noticed this on the BBC over the last few days following the tragic death of the father and daughter in the Rio Grande.

The President of El Salvador gave a response to the deaths and his BBC headline  was "America is dealing with this the wrong way".  The implication is that Trump's policy caused it.  To my amazement, on another news site, I saw that the President of El Salvador admitted  that it was his country's fault!  When I tried to search for the original comment that the BBC made, it was no longer there, but there were references to the other story of it being El Salvadors fault, athough these never appeared on the main BBC page.

As we approach 2020 I can see that parts of the media want to spin stories so that Trump looks bad no matter what.  The media's horror at his election may have subsided, but I expect to see it return with avengeance as time goes on.  I don't want to be told what to think, I want the basic facts presented without bias so that I can make my own mind up, I am not up for editorial manipulation.

DaveP

Hello... There was an anti-American bias in BBC reportage since long before President Trump came on the scene, and an equally undeserved positive bias supporting President Obama. They loved President Obama so much they gave him the Nobel Peace prize just because.  :

I do not like to speculate too much about motives that are unknown, but we are up to our knees in Democratic primary promises as each candidate tries to lean further left than the next. Some of the sillier pandering to promise free health care to illegal oops undocumented migrants and quick paths to citizenship, just encourages even more to make the dangerous journey.

Images can be powerful influencers, that photo almost looked staged (reminiscent of the drowned migrant boy in the Mediterranean some time ago) but who would do something like that? We don't see photos of the hundreds/thousands who die from dehydration/exposure in the desserts of the southwest after coming across, because they just don't make compelling photojournalism.

This mass migration could be stopped cold with a few hours of bipartisan legislation that closes the loopholes in the immigration process that allows "economic" migrants to claim amnesty and then get released because our courts are overwhelmed adjudicating the claims. 

We appear to be getting some help from mexico stopping the free transit from countries south of them. The bulk of mexican migrants stopped a few years back when the rules were changed to just return mexican migrants back to mexico until they could be processed. We are working on similar agreements with other SA countries so would be immigrants can apply for amnesty (and get denied) at an embassy in their home country.

I read a disturbing report that a pilot program using rapid DNA testing revealed that 30% of the children coming across the border were NOT related to the adults that claimed them as their children (a scam to game the rules and get better treatment as a family). Another disturbing claim is that 60-80% of girls and women immigrating through mexico are sexually assaulted.

How can any right thinking person in congress not act immediately to stop this deplorable situation. 

I find it hard to believe that voters would not overwhelmingly support fixing this, and punish those who don't. But I still can't predict the future.

JR

 

[iomegaman]

When I was in college I watched a series on the development of Western Culture by Francis Schaffer entitled "How should we then live?"...(He later helped formed the moral majority and has passed, his son Frank was deeply involved and has now recanted and opposes ALL that the Moral Majority movement has become)...

At any rate it was a Judeo/Christin perspective and the last part of the series had an episode about "bias"...in it they set up a mock demonstration and had 2 separate film crews and editors film the staged event and report on it...

In the first report it seemed very clear that the protestors were being harrassed and the police were overly aggressive trying to shut down the event...in the second report it was exactly the opposite, it seemed like the protestors were overly aggressive and the police were simply trying to protect them and keep some sort of order...

SAME EXACT EVENT, recorded at the same time, but with two different "news teams" and editors...

This exercise was not overtly biased it was simply an example of how the two seperate editors approached the event and what got left on the cutting room floor and what was portrayed...there was absolutely no way for an editors bias to not slip into the report, from film angle to voice over and what was recorded the bias was simply unavoidable...

I have never forgotten that in nearly 40 years...EVERY news organisation is selling something..."News" is a misnomer because bias is impossible to keep out of what is presented...it USED to be a much lower level almost subtle...anymore it is as clear as the emblem associated with the press.

 

[living sounds]

I've noticed a worrying trend of inserting emotions and moral judgements into media reports, this started maybe 10-15 years ago.

Even though I may share the general sentiment expressed I find it highly unprofessional and patronizing. And very dangerous in the longer term, since it does erode trust in the news media.

At least in the high quality media outlets we once had clear internal rules against mixing information and commentary. This no longer holds. I think it would be a good idea to legally regulate it. If its news, you cannot insert emotions.

 

[DaveP]

I have never forgotten that in nearly 40 years...EVERY news organisation is selling something..."News" is a misnomer because bias is impossible to keep out of what is presented...it USED to be a much lower level almost subtle

+1

I've noticed a worrying trend of inserting emotions and moral judgements into media reports, this started maybe 10-15 years ago.

+1

The younger generation take this as the norm nowadays, only the older generation remember when it was not like this......Sad

DaveP

 

[fazer]

I remember when I was a kid( 60s,). There would be one news caster and my dad would yell at the TV because he felt opinion was entering the news not fact.  Today it’s 4 people speaking at the same time and really an opinion party.  Those shows get turned off quickly.  Waste of emotional energy.  One of the pbs news shows, “frontline” wreaks of drama news.  I hear the producer asking for “cue the drama strings , now cut to tears.”

 

[hodad]

Hello... There was an anti-American bias in BBC reportage since long before President Trump came on the scene, and an equally undeserved positive bias supporting President Obama.

JR

They're *anti* American yet *pro* Obama.  In your imagination, that makes Obama what exactly?

 

[JohnRoberts]

They're *anti* American yet *pro* Obama.  In your imagination, that makes Obama what exactly?

The exception....  as I mentioned... duh.

JR

 

[cyrano]

Part of the press seems unable to even copy weather predictions without getting into sensationalist reporting. We've had a week of hot weather, with temperatures up to 35°C in the shade (remember the song?). Newspapers turned that into 42°C. In the south of France, yes. Not in Belgium...

One TV channel even came up with the warning that your car *might* catch fire if left in the sun.

 

[iomegaman]

Part of the press seems unable to even copy weather predictions without getting into sensationalist reporting. We've had a week of hot weather, with temperatures up to 35°C in the shade (remember the song?). Newspapers turned that into 42°C. In the south of France, yes. Not in Belgium...

One TV channel even came up with the warning that your car *might* catch fire if left in the sun.

Slipperman of ProSound Web fame (and the slutz site) used to say about recording:

"If everything's BIG then nothing is"...

Which is pretty accurate considering the discussion at hand...in these days of "influencers" and social media mega-stars its the "gotcha" syndrome on steroids...everything has to be big...but that makes nothing is really big...

Its basically social tinnitus, after a while you get used to the noise and only notice when you are alone in the quiet.

 

[DaveP]

With the women's football world cup, the BBC asked the question, "why are there far more Lesbians and bi-sexuals in the womens teams?"  They contrasted this with the complete lack of gay men in the men's teams.

My thought that Darwinian selection would have favoured less "feminine" women, or to put it bluntly, butch women would perform better because they are closer to men in terms of strength and endurance, was not the answer given.

No, apparently the real reason is that the women are far more accepting of diversity than their male counterparts.

This is the way things are going, the politics takes precedence over the obvious.

DaveP

 

[cyrano]

...social tinnitus...

I like that term. Mind if I borrow it?

 

[rob_gould]

With the women's football world cup, the BBC asked the question, "why are there far more Lesbians and bi-sexuals in the womens teams?"  They contrasted this with the complete lack of gay men in the men's teams.

My thought that Darwinian selection would have favoured less "feminine" women, or to put it bluntly, butch women would perform better because they are closer to men in terms of strength and endurance, was not the answer given.

No, apparently the real reason is that the women are far more accepting of diversity than their male counterparts.

This is the way things are going, the politics takes precedence over the obvious.

DaveP

I thought it was  kind of an open secret that the (mens') premier league has plenty of gay footballers but none of them have publicly come out.

 

[iomegaman]

I like that term. Mind if I borrow it?

Take it, no one remembers where anything comes from anyway...we are all borrowers of some sort...

Netflix, we borrow movies, Microsoft we borrow software, iCloud we borrow serverspace...

We are basically renting the earth until we die...no one owns anything.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I noticed this on the BBC over the last few days following the tragic death of the father and daughter in the Rio Grande.

The President of El Salvador gave a response to the deaths and his BBC headline  was "America is dealing with this the wrong way".  The implication is that Trump's policy caused it.  To my amazement, on another news site, I saw that the President of El Salvador admitted  that it was his country's fault!  When I tried to search for the original comment that the BBC made, it was no longer there, but there were references to the other story of it being El Salvadors fault, athough these never appeared on the main BBC page.

As we approach 2020 I can see that parts of the media want to spin stories so that Trump looks bad no matter what.  The media's horror at his election may have subsided, but I expect to see it return with avengeance as time goes on.  I don't want to be told what to think, I want the basic facts presented without bias so that I can make my own mind up, I am not up for editorial manipulation.

DaveP

Coincidentally I saw the statement from the President of El Salvador on a Spanish language news program (I get two spanish channels on my satellite). I don't routinely watch those channels, and didn't follow the spanish commentary, but he appeared to be taking some responsibility for the migrants leaving his country.

===

I really hate politics and watching the internecine scrum, AKA circular firing squad, that is the democratic primary. It should be amusing but isn't.

AOC is too young to run, but is showing that she has some political "dirty trick" chops beyond her years. She cleverly said that migrants being held in repurposed detention centers were told to "drink water from the toilet." This paints a disturbing word image of drinking water from a toilet "bowl", but she omitted that common plumbing for such facilities to reduce cost combines a sink and water fountain into the same plumbing fixture as the toilet.

So detainees being told to drink from the toilet, means to drink from the water fountain attached to the toilet.  Very clever turn of phrase and blatant lie of omission. Good job AOC... She even voted against the emergency spending bill, what a  hypocrite. But her messaging is working to discredit the administration and border agents.

I got angry to read the newspaper coverage (in WSJ) that repeated the same glaring lie of omission. The reportage in WSJ is well left of the editorial page and shifting further left (just like the democratic party). They can't possibly be so ignorant as to not understand the disinformation. Maybe I'm drifting further right. I have been slowly for decades. I guess its all relative.

Not my idea of an ideal housing accommodation,  (I only woke up in jail once. Once is enough) but better than dying of thirst in the desert.

This is classic political changing the topic. Fix the real problem (immigration law), and the ugly unintended consequences will subside.

JR   

 

[Matador]

AOC is too young to run, but is showing that she has some political "dirty trick" chops beyond her years. She cleverly said that migrants being held in repurposed detention centers were told to "drink water from the toilet." This paints a disturbing word image of drinking water from a toilet "bowl", but she omitted that common plumbing for such facilities to reduce cost combines a sink and water fountain into the same plumbing fixture as the toilet.

So detainees being told to drink from the toilet, means to drink from the water fountain attached to the toilet.  Very clever turn of phrase and blatant lie of omission. Good job AOC... She even voted against the emergency spending bill, what a  hypocrite. But her messaging is working to discredit the administration and border agents.

Sigh.

Ocasio-Cortez responded to that tweet, saying it was indeed a toilet like that but the sink portion wasn’t working.

“This was in fact the type of toilet we saw in the cell. Except there was just one, and the sink portion was not functioning – @AyannaPressley smartly tried to open the faucet, and nothing came out,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. “So the women were told they could drink out of the bowl.”

Trying to parse AOC's tweets or uttering literally is not productive.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Sigh.
Trying to parse AOC's tweets or uttering literally is not productive.

Sounds like another super-tweeter, and she is punching way above her weight in her party.

Funniest (or not) political jab from Nancy recently is that the Trump hat means "Make America White again".  Clever but pretty low.... (I am weary of being branded racist since 2008, while I appear to have evolved from simple racist to white supremacist  : ).

Schumer is trying to piggy back on the woman's world cup win and has invited them to congress to discuss "equal pay" (no doubt to draw attention to their pre-rejection of a WH invite, and poke Mcconnell who has to defend his seat in 2020).  At the risk of appearing misogynist the women footballers deserve equal pay to the men, if they played on the men's team. President Kennedy signed legislation making it illegal to discriminate based on gender in 1963....

I wouldn't mind earning $650k a year (+endorsements) for playing a kids game (like Alex Morgan), but I am not as good as she is.

JR

 

[dmp]

Maybe you guys should change the channel? There is a lot of great news reporting but the media landscape is very big.
Search for real news and avoid  just watching stuff that confirms your beliefs (confirmation bias)
Reporting is driven by clicks now. And from the looks of things, people are clicking on a story of lesbian soccer players. Stop clicking those links - duh
And subscribe / donate / visit news reporting that is less ad driven, instead of going to the ad funded sites.

Just look at the misinformation on AOC - the conservative character assassinations are out in full force already.
Where is the accountability for the past?
The birther attacks on Obama, Pizzagate, the Clinton Murders (Seth Rich). Isn't it about time that people wise up?
When in reality the Epstein story continues to unfold. Deeply implicated in the Trump admin with Acosta, Dershowitz. This is the real pizzagate. 

 

[JohnRoberts]

Maybe you guys should change the channel? There is a lot of great news reporting but the media landscape is very big.
Search for real news and avoid  just watching stuff that confirms your beliefs (confirmation bias)
Reporting is driven by clicks now. And from the looks of things, people are clicking on a story of lesbian soccer players. Stop clicking those links - duh
And subscribe / donate / visit news reporting that is less ad driven, instead of going to the ad funded sites.

Just look at the misinformation on AOC - the conservative character assassinations are out in full force already.
Where is the accountability for the past?
The birther attacks on Obama, Pizzagate, the Clinton Murders (Seth Rich). Isn't it about time that people wise up?
When in reality the Epstein story continues to unfold. Deeply implicated in the Trump admin with Acosta, Dershowitz. This is the real pizzagate.

Seriously....?

Epstein is a scumbag and the FL legal system was about to let him walk 10 years ago, when Acosta stepped in and negotiated a federal plea deal that put him in jail and got him registered as a sex offender...  Now Epstein is somehow President Trump's albatross???? 

If you want to dig into the Epstein file it will be interesting to see how President Clinton (Bill) fares if the full details get out. I remember hearing anecdotes about Bill Clinton's sexual exploits when he was the governor of AR (he would travel on international junkets with MS governor).

Then citizen Trump reportedly banned Epstein from Mar-a-lago over a reported sexual assault of a young girl.

Sorry that's the way it goes with political ink blots... we all see different things.

JR

 

[dmp]

Seriously....?

Epstein is a scumbag and the FL legal system was about to let him walk 10 years ago, when Acosta stepped in and negotiated a federal plea deal that put him in jail and got him registered as a sex offender...  Now Epstein is somehow President Trump's albatross???? 

Yeah Acosta really did a service to justice.
Epstein had a 13 month jail sentence but was allowed to leave the jail six days a week for 12 hours each day.
His plea deal included vague language to imply it bound other states but the legality of this is highly questionable. Appears to have been negotiated by his defense to allow future arguments against 'real' prosecution.
And included language to give immunity to unnamed co-conspirators.  That is the most jaw dropping and troubling part.

We're a nation of laws, right? 

Acosta at one point said he was told Epstein was an 'intelligence' asset (i.e. FBI, NSA, CIA etc) and to leave it alone. I wouldn't be surprised if that is a lie, but shining a light on all of this is going to be interesting.

The NY investigators searched his place and found a lot of evidence including CDs labeled young [name] + [name].  Blackmail? There's a lot of 'real' news being written on this  -  NY even credited investigative reporting in their announcement (Julie K. Brown @ the Miami Herald).

I don't think anyone cares that much about defending Bill Clinton. The Republican's somehow think running against the Clintons is still relevant? 

In other scumbag news, Robert Kraft was at a Trump dinner this week.