Saturday, September 04, 2004

Bias

I like bias. I have an appreciate for it. Everyone is biased, but the game is to not let others know your own biases. (At least, this is my strategy for teaching. Sometimes I do well at this, and sometimes I probably fail.) In my profession, I am a supervisor as well as instructor of a 150 students each semester. So, I often feel like I am walking on egg shells trying not to be political, or offend anyone.

So, here is my pitch for a current-events show on MSNBCFOXCNNetc.:

If I was a TV producer, I would have a current-events show that exploits bias. If I had a piece about AIDS funding, then I would have three people with increasingly more bias (liberal, more liberal, extremely liberal) and then add an anarchist. On a piece about the Ten Commandments in schools and courtrooms, I would have Gary Bauer, Jerry Fawlwell, Pat Robertson, and Howie Mandell (or another anarchist).

This would be the opposite of the NewsHour (PBS). They try to be so fair and even-handed, it gets obnoxious. Every time an issue is brought up, they bring in two people from opposing sides on the issue. Blah, blah, blah -- that is so played. Don't misunderstand me, I like the NewsHour, but all of the fairness gets old.

My wife and I are listening for double entendres on the program Clifford the Big Red Dog. Man, that show is RACEY!!!! Time to stop watching PBSKids, it is practically porn.

--gh

1 comment:

m said...

Awhile back, someone sent a comment in to NPR, and they aired it with their 'comments for the week' section or whatever. Basically, the person said that producing unbiased coverage does not mean (necessarily) just airing two opposing viewpoints, but rather presenting the story as accurately as possible. 'Bout time someone said it, in my opinion. For instance, if you have an expert that says Bush's policy in the National Forests is leading to serious problems, and then have a Bush spokesman saying 'Huh uh,' then that doesn't really do the story justice. I think they should assemble a panel of experts for each story, and they could just make a judgement on which side was more correct, and which side was more stupider.

I'm ok with bias (I also have an 'appreciate for it') - obviously, given my proclivity toward WSWS. I wish news organizations were more open about their biases, (like in Europe) because obviously, some folks can't discern this for themselves.

Football on the radio is not nearly as good as baseball on the radio. I think it's because in baseball there's only ever like one guy doing something at any given time. Football on the radio amounts to Cliff's Notes for a game.

I don't have a favorite Teletubby, but it's one of my favorite shows of all time.

I prefer children's TV to grown-ups TV.

I can't remember what was the last sitcom I watched. It wouldn't surprise me if it was Full House. I love that show. Bob Saget is a genius.

Perhaps I should have blogged some of this.

-m