Politics - Do we only read what supports our point of view

[_aussieguy55]

http://www.themonthly.com.au/cant-be-ha ... scape-5457

This is an example of some journalists and a politician discussing the role of media. All note the demise of newspapers in their present form. They comment about FOX news in the US. People gravitate towards those media outlets that support their worldview. So instead of reporting news its always about opinion.

I rarely see people on the train reading newspapers unless it's a freebie.. They maybe on their Ipods but usually they seem to be looking at Facebook.

Everyday I check out Huffington Post, Salon, Vanity Fair which gives you an idea of where my political leanings are. Sometimes The Daily Caller , Politico. Just check out the different headlines between the Daily Caller and HF

DC
Book: Obama’s Communist mentor influenced his political beliefs.
Rove on Obama’s Bain attacks: ‘This is gutter politics of the worst Chicago sort’ (Fox News Video)

HP
Mitt Romney Bain Capital Filings Link Him To Politically Problematic Companies After 1999
Inside The Investigation Of Leading Republican Money Man Sheldon Adelson


The trouble with internet papers like HP is that they always seem to print everyone's comment. One article I noticed had over 35,000 comments. No way I could read all that. Use to be in the normal papers u only have few letters in response to a particular article and if your letter was published it was big deal.

[_moksha]

What does that say of those of us who turn to The Daily Show and the Stephen Colbert Report for information?

[_MeDotOrg]

I must admit I tend to read only those things which re-enforce my own opinions. It's a psychological truth that we pluck the splinter out of our brother's eye before removing the beam from our own.

People who have strong political opinions (and I'm one of them) can view politics as a zero-sum game between 'our side' and 'their side'. In U.S. politics it's played as a zero-sum game between Democrats and Republicans. The net result can often be a zero sum game between people and special interests.

Many years ago I worked on a political initiative in California concerning safeguards for nuclear power plants. There was a lot of science involved in the issue, and it was fascinating to see how opinion could be manipulated by a selective dissemination of facts. It was an eye-opening lesson in how much power the media can wield in defining public opinion on complex issues.

I subscribe (snail mail) to The Atlantic, The New Yorker and The Nation. (I used to read either Time or Newsweek, but I don't find a lot of depth in their coverage). On line I read the NY Times, I like NPR and Politico as well. When I read the Huffington Post it feels like a guilty pleasure. like I'm reading a left-wing tabloid. There's something a little too breezy and cheesy.

For comic relief I watch Bill Maher, The Daily Show, Colbert, and read The Onion and WordNetDaily.

By the way, loved the Donald Duck/Glen Beck link in your signature.

[_bcspace]

I rarely see people on the train reading newspapers unless it's a freebie.

Are you erroneously assuming that newspapers, or anything else you have selected to read, are politically unbiased? I have a brother-in-law who is the editor for a newspaper. He admits no newspaper is wholly balanced and most are heavily left leaning.