[mc32]

And what happened to Dan Rather after “rathergate”?

They could “afford” to fire a little known reporter.

And then there is the phenomenon of entertainment disguised as news which many people take for news which infuse enormous amounts of opinion and bias in their reporting.

The only ones which make a decent attempt at impartiality is PBS with their national news. Their local news tends to have intrusions where news is colored with opinion and bias, unfortunately.

[davidw]

No one on this thread is saying news is perfect. But what some people seem to be saying is that propaganda outlets are just the same as people who at least try and do real news, which is pretty horrible. That's how the propaganda wins.

[mc32]

The news is bipolar. On occasion they “want to seek the truth”. At other times they “want to do what’s right”.

Those two things often diverge. The “what’s right” has a lot of latitude and is open to the interpretation of the reporter and editor it also may hide the truth.

And also there is “agency”. Some reporters want to be “agents of change”. That’s not their job. It’s not their job to make nuclear uncool and put Jane Fonda front and center. If they had looked at the issue critically and scientifically we might not be in the pickle we’re in with regard to energy production.