In this era of political partisan-ism, where does a moderate turn for the "truth". As an engineer I needed to research which ways the news skews. Two summaries of media leaning provided me with an overview of the new news world:
- SlothMark: A decent breakdown of all things real and fake news.
- Pew Research Center: Media Sources: Distinct Favorites Emerge on the Left and Right
The second, by the Pew Research Center, is an extensive analysis based on the audience attracted to the various sources. I'm especially intrigued by the graph showing the Ideological Profile of Each Source's Audience:
Looking at this graph, a few things occur to me:
- No source is moderate. (The WiseGeek provides incite to this phenomenon.)
- The average respondent leans liberal.
- The media that attracts liberal minded respondents is more evenly distributed along the ideological axis than the media that attracts conservative minded respondents.
Reviewing these ten either/or positions I find a kernel of truth on both sides. It also made me wonder where I would fall on the liberal/conservative axis. Here is what I think about each of the positions:
- I've worked in government positions and I know we were wasteful and inefficient but we also did a better job than people perceived (+/-).
- Ineffective and inefficient government regulation does more harm than good but government regulation is necessary to protect the public interest (+L).
- Some people do game the system, and it is not limited to poor people; poor people do have hard lives and we as a society should help them get unstuck from their hard lives, if possible (+/-).
- Our society, with government collaboration, should more effectively help the needy (+/-).
- People who can't get ahead today in the USA do have responsibility for themselves but they may be trapped by circumstances that they can't overcome by themselves. Racial discrimination is a reason why many people of color can't get ahead in some of our communities (+/-).
- Immigrants have always been both a burden and an asset for the USA, but in the long run they (we) have strengthened our country (+L). [Without immigrants NONE of us would be Americans.]
- The best way to ensure peace is through a combination of good diplomacy and military strength (+/-).
- Using the salaries of business executives as a barometer, some corporations make too much profit but in general many corporations make a fair and reasonable amount of profit.(+C)
- Environmental laws and regulations are required for the longevity of a habitable environment. (+L)
- Government should neither encourage nor discourage individual sexuality. (+/-)
- the Wall Street Journal
- Yahoo news
- Bloomberg
- CNN
- MSNBC
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.