Which TV media source do you trust to deliver the most accurate, spin-free news?

Post-9/11 Era Forum

This poll is being put up at the request of Whidden.

I voted for CNN because I feel comfortable with CNN. That is the news channel that I watch most often. Of course, since news channels are so competitive with each other, and so many of them are owned by people with a power trip, you will never find a news channel that is completely accurate, or completely spin-free. However, most people will admit that CNN is the most trustworthy.

I'm closely split between FOX NEWS and MSNBC. The first is slightly right-wing biased while the second is slightly left-wing biased. I voted for FOX NEWS. CNN is even more left-wing, in my opinion, than MSNBC and I place them 3rd. It goes downhill swifltly from there with BBC and AL-JAZEERA at the very bottom of the spin-free barrel. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who would vote for AL-JAZEERA.

Thanks for setting this up, KJ.

I also went with CNN. I tend to watch them more than anything (other than my local news stations).

But, I think that ALL News stations report according to how they want to.

I watch MSNBC at work because I don't catch FOX NEWS there. At home I'll flip around between FOX, MSNBC and CNN. I find CNN adequate but often left-wing-leaning—particularly Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs. One of the best guys in TV news is MSNBC's Chris Matthews, although sometimes he lets himself go with an unusual opinion and comes across as too liberal. And MSNBC's Keith Olberman is extremelly annoying. FOX's Bill O'Reilly is a pleasure to tune in to.


Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching tonight. A short "Talking Points" memo because we want to get right to the Condoleezza Rice testimony. Once again, the elite media have misled you. On the front pages of The New York Times, The L.A. Times and The Washington Post, the words "uprising in Iraq" are featured.

One problem, it's not an uprising._The Berlin Wall_deal was an uprising. The regular folks rebelling against an entrenched authority is an uprising. Militant attacks in Iraq are an insurgency, not an uprising. This kind of stuff makes me angry. The elite media often spins information to make editorial points. And that's really wrong. Let me read you an e-mail from a Marine in the middle of the Fallujah fighting to put things into perspective.

"We are kicking their butts out here. We took the initial punch and responded. The enemy is dying in great numbers. We Marines are attacking with a fury I myself had not imagined. While we did not anticipate this surge, we're comfortable we'll win the fight. Semper, fi, pk.."

Today in Iraq, there was less fighting and no uprising. "Talking Points" is confident the American military will crush the al-Sadr militia and subdue the town of Fallujah. Again, somebody alert the elite media. There is no uprising in Iraq.

Bill O'Reilly is a little to right-wing for me.

Yeah, I guess you and I are pretty predictable when it comes to politics.

I watch a little bit of everything since each news network has their own agenda. This way I can formulate my own opinion. Put Dennis Miller on ABC News and kick Peter Jennings out, I say!

Uprising? Like O'Reilly said.....

What about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central? Not exactly accurate, and definitely not spin-free, but the best satire of all time!

i voted for FoxNews. i know, big surprise. even if fox is slanted to the right (if they are they aren't slanted as much to the right as cnn is to the left) they don't bash the left. cnn is clearly anti-conservative, anti-Bush. i never saw Fox bash clinton or anyone else with a left-wing agenda.

I wrote this in another thread without abou four choices in mind:

Well given what I've seen, C-SPAN and BBC offer the best news coverage. Fox News is by the far worst. I like MSNBC for Chris Matthews because he does a great job of playing the devil's advocate in grilling both sides on an issue. What does CNBC have? Only thing I know of is Dennis Miller, a guy that has never been funny to me. CNN lost a few notches as I've seen how the programming has changed on the station; basically all shows that had true debate got shifted to unpopular time slots or were cancelled (like Talkback Live and Crossfire moved to the afternoon).

al-Jazeera has spin, but it also provides a perspective that you would never see in the American media and that's the effect of the war on civilians. The only problem with al-Jazeera is that it's far too biased, like Fox News, to be taken as a serious news network. Fox News is on the bottom too, I've seen far too much blatant misrepresentation of facts, especially after the facts have been proven otherwise. When I see people on Fox News saying the same wrong information repeatedly I often wonder if they've done their research or do they know it's wrong but just don't care. Corroboration of stories is very important in knowing if there is spin, Fox News often has no corroboration.

Adding some more info, BBC is good because they have news from around the world. The American media keeps the American public ignorant of what goes on around the world. Some say, this information can easily be found on the internet, but you have to be realistic. Most people will watch whatever news is on television. This isn't a reading culture either, so the internet won't play a large role in their news gathering. The TV and radio are people's sources of news and people usually don't want to hear anything that would reflect poorly on America, therefore they listen to media that holds more conservative ideas.

This is dangerous because if you always close your ears to different news sources, you will remain ignorant on the issues. Hence Fox News and al-Jazeera are poor news choices, not because of their spin (that's expected), but because of false reporting.

I voted for Fox news, they give a lot more details in the story and present the conservative side of things.

This thread was really Curley Joe's idea. I just sent KJ the private message to get it started, so Curley Joe gets all the credit.

HAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHA, ROFL, AHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

I don't watch the news. It's entertainment based on world events, don't pretend it's anything else.

I do not trust any of the baove news channels even though I get most of them. I do watch Sky News and that seems to be the most unbiased of the lot and belive me I get a lot about 15 news cahnnels.

Ya this is kind of a redundant poll isn't it? None of these news sources is unbiased. The US government has a hand in almost everything that is reported state-side and, as we all know, these folks rarely represent the truth. This is completely ridiculous. The BBC is a little more open but the government still plays a big role here. Al- Jazeera, as far as the war goes, is good for nothing but it's graphic images.

It's also odd that the AP and Reuters were not included in this mix.

The BEST news source is an independent news source. One who collects articles from all the others to present a clear picture of what's actually going and gives you the opportunity to choose what you believe.

Honestly i think informationclearinghouse.info has a lot of good content to choose from. I also enjoy reading CNN sometimes.

Albeit info-clear-house is a little biased in it's own way it offers arguments from all sides on it's best topics.

CNN is good for getting the wrong or stripped version of a real story and info-clear-house gives an extreme view which both lead the curious to the best news source - GOOGLE!

The Onion

Let me guess Joe you are a Fox man right. Because they tell you everything is alright and to hell with the facts

Wow you seem to have found books about hating your country pretty quick curley have you been doing a spot of buying from Amazon?

You are right about the truth being more than the sum of the facts but it really does help if you actually use the facts to get an idea of the truth.

can we add NPR (thats national public radio) and then add my vote to it? I don't watch TV....Or mabye put on the New York Times? Or both?

I voted BBC. I do not like it and I have to recognize that i see it rarely, but from those above i think is the best one.

I usulay see CNN, their information is biassed, as all information given by someone. If a person tells somthing he will always include a part of his own subjectivity. The problem is to know what part is subjective and what the real new. I think that Reuters is an example of reducing this subjectivity to the maximum.

from the list above, I ca not judge al jazeera, because i do not watch this channel and i do not understand the language in what they are speaking. A similar thing happens me with abc, cbs, cnbc and msnbc.

Fox news is also a good source becasue it so extremely biassed that you can many times see where they are lying. It is very funny.

I always try to get a neutral source, i usualy watch tv3, the catalan television, because they are not influenced by anyone. Some nordic televisions are also quite good.

While most of the mainstream media is left-leaning callling Fox News unbiased is just silly. Ruport Murdoch himself has admitted that it is platform for combating the left-wing.

All in all I think the political bias on most news channels is far less than the ratings bias. They say things that they know will get people to watch.

It so happens that left leaning people watch when people agree with them and right leaning people watch when they are pissed off.

where is BET or MBC? they give more quality news on BLACKS tha any of those networks combined.

I visit them all daily. They all have their own spin. THe biggest difference is how much bad news can one watch on a daily basis. If I want doom and gloom I watch CNN. If I want upbeat news I watch Fox ans that is why I voted for FOX. I like Bill O'Reilly's no nonsense editorials.
Besides, I don't like the John Kerry backers on CNN and I do like the Bush backers on Fox.

4 more years people.

None of the above.
I don't trust any of the news sources for truth.
They are all in bed with the corporations and the corporations are in bed with the government. Look up the definition of fascism in an OLD political science book. You will see by those standards America is a fascist state. Thats the underground.
Then, superficially you have the government trying to shove socialist/communist programs down our throats. Its sickening.

I watch C-Span for news. It gives you the full and actual sessions of Senate and House. Many of the Congressional hearings too. Also Britain's parliament, sometimes Chirac and Blair. I've also seen meetings in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries. Also UN hearings. Anything of import is shown on c-span.

Like I said they televise the sessions in their entirety. No spin.
This leaves me to make my own decisions as to whats actually going on.

Then, I go to the aforementioned "news" sources to see how they are trying to make me think.

I would rather make my own determinations. I kind of like thinking on my own, for myself. It has saved my life on several ocassions.