Outdated News

The New York Times Co. is one of the biggest newspaper companies in our area. It is also the owner of many other newspapers, including the famous Boston Globe. Sadly, the Boston Globe may not last longer. Last night the New York Times Co. announced the closing of the Boston Globe’s printing press. The New York Times Co. was forced to do this because of their rising debt, which has also caused them to mortgage their office, and take a loan from a Mexican billionaire with an exorbitant 14% interest rate. Many seem to be upset about this, and it can be seen as a sign of an end to the age of newspapers.

Is it really that bad? Newspapers are nice, but they aren’t necessary in today’s world, and they obviously can not compete against other forms of media. Just because the newspaper companies are going down, doesn’t mean we won’t still receive news from both the internet and television. We should focus more on how to use the resources we have so that media can be efficient and informative, instead of wasting time and money on companies that are just not working in today’s world.

Surprisingly Objective

Before turning on the television to watch both Fox and CNN, I had expected to find some of the worst biases ever, with CNN being liberal and Fox conservative. Well, I just spent the last hour flipping between the two stations, and it really wasn’t that bad. They covered most of the same stories, and really didn’t have much of a difference. There were some stories, such as a Spanish judge trying to prosecute Bush for torture, that one station would cover and another wouldn’t. There was even a story on CNN that praised Bush for his preparation for a flu outbreak, while both of them discussed the Democratic Jon Edwards’ scandal.

There were two main differences that I could sense between the two stations. One was just the style of the two. Fox was much more relaxed, with the two anchors joking around and they seemed to have a friendlier attitude, while the CNN program was more formal. The other difference addresses the partisan backgrounds of the stations. It seemed to me that CNN was more optimistic towards the economy while Fox was not necessarily pessimistic they were definitely more wary.

Now, I know there are biases out there on these two networks, and you can see them with such programs as Rush Limbaugh, but the morning news that I watched was really just the news, with very little commentary. I wouldn’t say I prefer either partisan or objective news, it depends on what I’m in the mood for. If I want commentary I want it to be partisan, if I want just news I want it objective.

CBS Entertainment News at 11

I just finished watching the local CBS news at 11. For the entire program, only 2 of the stories were actual political stories. They began with the swine flu, if that can be deemed a political issue, and than after that they brushed over Senator Arlen Specter’s changeover to the Democrats.

For the rest of the program, they discussed a potentially dangerous strain of ringworm that you can contract from Raccoon feces, some small local events, the weather, sports, and than they finished it off with the a report on the new Wolverine movie. This news program was definitely more entertainment than political, but that doesn’t make it not news. People want to know what is going on in sports or in the movies, and who doesn’t like to know what the weather will be like for the next week? Perhaps these stories aren’t important, but they reach an audience that definitely has the right to be interested in entertainment news.

Hannity and Colmes

Hannity and Colmes used to be a show on Fox where a liberal, Colmes, and a conservative, Hannity, report the news and argue against each other along with many guest speakers. Unfortunately, the show is no longer on the air, making it difficult to watch in order to properly critique. From the sound of it, and watching a few videos on the internet, it was meant to be similar to the show Crossfire, except that it is not so much debates on political issues as commentaries on news with some strong debate.

Now, the show being on Fox immediately makes you expect that the show is going to be entirely biased towards the Republicans. Yet, in one video I found Colmes defends Jon Edwards by actually attacking McCain, something I would never expect to hear on the Fox network from a Fox employee. This actually makes me wonder, why is it that Colmes, who represented the liberals, is no longer on the air while Hannity still has a show? Perhaps his liberal views are the actual cause of his removal. Unfortunately, I can not truly critique the show as it is to difficult to find good videos and the show is no longer on the air.

Limbaugh's Commentary

The other day I was listening to Rush Limbaugh discuss the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Souter and Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democrats. According to Limbaugh, Specter’s leaving the Republicans will make it easier for the Republicans to cause a filibuster when deciding who will replace Souter. Apparently, the only way for a filibuster to be broken is if someone from the minority voted for the nominee. Without Specter, the chances of someone going against their party have been lessened, since he is no longer part of the minority.

Of course, Limbaugh is a right wing Republican, and wants nothing but the best for his party. I don’t blame him for being biased, as there is no way for him to hide it. If anything, I felt that what he had to say was very interesting, and informative. He may not be right, which he even admits there is still a possibility that someone would break the filibuster. Honestly, I learned something from Limbaugh’s right wing biased program. Political commentaries can be interesting, so long as you understand their biases.

Informative and Entertaining

The night after I watched the ABC News at 6:30 (April 30, 2009) I also watched the very entertaining Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I was not surprised to see that they both covered the two major stories of the day, those being the Swine Flu and President Obama’s first 100 days in the presidency. Setting-wise, the Daily Show does a good job at replicating what it looks like on a news station, except in the Daily Show there is actually an audience.

Of course, there is an important difference between the shows, Daily Show is entertainment. You can see that everything said is a joke. The smaller issues also were not the same, considering that the Daily Show is meant as entertainment while the news should be just news. A show that is meant to entertain would not discuss such boring topics as traffic, or small town employment, and nobody wants to hear about the falling GDP on Comedy Central. Also a major difference was that Hugh Jackman, or Wolverine, was a guest on the show.

It is important to note however that the Daily Show really isn’t badat providing information. It isn’t the news, but if you do watch it you will learn somewhat of what is going on, more than you would if you didn’t watch the news. Also, the jokes are pretty funny and he can be quite critical of the media.

You Can't Escape it so Embrace it

During the Israeli operations in Gaza earlier this year I was speaking with a friend about how the newspapers have covered it. My friend thought that reading the European newspapers would give him an unbiased opinion compared to the American media. Of course, this is just not true. People think that media outlets like the BBC are completely unbiased because they are ran by the state, but they actually are. Instead, people are receiving biased news believing it to be unbiased. Just like the issue with Media Matters being biased, so are the international newspapers. Even if they may not be biased, there is no way to know if they are or not.

Instead, I told my friend a better idea. Why not read both the Israeli news and the Arab news? This way you get the story from both sides, with biases right out in the open. You can’t be tricked, you know straight up that Israeli news will support Israel while Arab news will support the Palestinians. Piece it all together yourself, and look through all the b.s. they provide. This is the way to avoid the bias and brainwashing of media in general. Be critical, but don’t be ignorant like they have been. Listen to both what the conservatives say, and the liberals.