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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Western, US, English-Language News Media vs Alternatives- Is one more trustworthy than the other?
#14394115 - 05/03/11 12:02 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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A frequent claim that has been raised in this forum many times is that "western media" or some similar appellation, is particularly unworthy of trust as a source of news, opinion.
Often the argument is tied with an accusation that somebody the accuser disagrees with is too influenced by Western Media or whatever, and that this is the reason for their differing opinion.
A constant in these cases, however; is the lack of any substantiation of the premise that western media is particularly untrustworthy, or that US or English-Language media is likewise particularly dubious. (of course the accusations that one's opinion is a function of western-media indoctrination are typically pulled out of thin air anyways, but let's concern ourselves with the merits of the claim for the moment).
Is there any reason to suspect that Western/US media is particularly untrustworthy relative to alternatives?
My initial thoughts are to suspect this is nonsense, but I thought it would be worth asking given the prevalence of these claims. Given western vs eastern governments, especially US, UK, Aus media vs the rest of the world, tend to have no established religion, political parties, and state media/censorship (beyond viewpoint-neutral obscenity rules), I would presume that western media would be particularly better than the alternatives. The foreign news sources I've read and watched often seem pretty blatantly colored towards a particular viewpoint, and many of them are proactively managed by the various governments- or even a part of the government themselves.
What do you think?
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hockeyplyr1057
Music Lover
Registered: 03/20/07
Posts: 573
Last seen: 9 years, 3 months
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Re: Western, US, English-Language News Media vs Alternatives- Is one more trustworthy than the other? [Re: johnm214]
#14422899 - 05/09/11 01:29 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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-------------------- All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. -Gandalf
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole
Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 9 months
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Re: Western, US, English-Language News Media vs Alternatives- Is one more trustworthy than the other? [Re: hockeyplyr1057]
#14423471 - 05/09/11 07:41 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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What does citizens united have to do with the media?
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Western, US, English-Language News Media vs Alternatives- Is one more trustworthy than the other? [Re: zappaisgod]
#14440948 - 05/12/11 04:42 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Yeah, I'm not sure either.
I note that the accusation of being influenced or perhaps uncritical of 'western media' or 'fox news' is a frequent slur among some circles that post on here. Given that this is a frequent claim and that it neccessarily suggests that non-Western (or non-Fox News) sources are better (any alternative renders the 'western' or 'US news' qualifier meaningless).
Why are their no answers to this? If there is no identifiable basis for these notions, wouldn't it suggest the 'western news' accusations are baseless? I've suspected this, given the inability of those making these claims to justify them and their tendancy to make claims dishonestly (claim that which they have no justification for asserting).
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