Mike the Usurper wrote:

Perhaps it's because the mainstream media are too timid to declare the difference between right and wrong. Imagine if journalism consisted of more than a collage of conflicting talking points. Imagine the difference it would make if more brand-name reporters broke from the bizarre straitjacket of "balance," which equates fairness with putting all disputants on equal epistemological footing, no matter how deceitful or moronic they may be.

There's a market for news that weighs counterclaims and assesses truth value. It just hasn't kept up with demand. No wonder Jon Stewart has such a loyal audience: He has a point of view, and it's rooted in the reality-based — not the ideology-based — world.

Good call from Marty. Less "balance," more "fair," meaning make a damn call.

no i disagree completely
it is for journalists to report points of view not judge
reaity based? whose reality yours or mine or theirs or Bush's etc
u talk about reality or truth as if it is obvious or self evident and not open to debate
if u can say accurately where your idealogy stops and reality begins then u are very wise
u talk about idealogy as if u had none and its just the others who are prisoners of their idealogy
my idealogy tells me - my liberal bias - says let reporters report in as balanced a manner as they can and let we the jury decide

fine let people do opinion pieces
most of what i recommend on memestreams are opinion pieces but we let the lines blur at our peril
i don't want some journalist telling me al Qaeda are a bunch of fascists - i see what they do and i listen to their justifications - i don't need someone to tell me what they are since i am quite capable of making up my own mind
what i want are facts labeled as facts and opinions marked as opinions that gives me the freedom to choose
abandon balance abandon minority opinions abandon contraversial opinions
let the journalists decide and the editors and the men who hire the editors ---- let the news magnates decide let Rupert Murdoch -- it's quite bad enough already -- this is a solution?

RE: Does Iraq need more debate? - Los Angeles Times