Be INFORMED

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Biased Media Coverage Of Health Care Court Decisions

   The far-right and those other conservative groups are always harping about how biased the media is towards them when it comes to coverage of issues. The “ liberal media “ is what the call most mainstream organizations. But…

    Original Article

by Barbara Morrill
Wed Feb 02, 2011
Since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law last March, four federal courts have handed down decisions on its constitutionality, with two finding in favor of the law, and two striking down part or all of it.

On Tuesday, Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly compared the coverage those four decisions have received in the traditional media, and not surprisingly:

... the coverage discrepancy is overwhelming. One of the two pro-reform rulings didn't even make the Washington Post's A section at all. In literally every instance, the Republican-friendly rulings generated more coverage, with better placement, and longer stories than the rulings preferred by Democrats.

And using Benen's numbers, here's a chart that shows just how glaring that discrepancy is.

Obviously a case of that liberal media bias we keep hearing about.

Latest Tweets From Egypt

    It is getting ugly in Cairo and it ain’t going to get better any time soon.

UPDATE:1:45 PM EST

ajimran #Egypt. Tahrir. At least 2 dead. Hundreds injured. Ambulances unable to reach sq. Tear gas. Molotov cocktails and sticks, rocks as weapons.

AJELive AJ web producer: Earlier today. The rioters in the back are standing atop an army tank. Army does nothing. http://yfrog.com/h5d3rui... #egypt 3 minutes ago · reply

nolanjazeera I have taken shelter. SO much anti-jazeera sentiment among mubarak supporters its not safe to be outside. Say a prayer for #cairo tonight 5 minutes ago · reply

glcarlstrom Earlier this afternoon. The rioters in the back are standing atop an army tank. Army does nothing. http://yfrog.com/h5d3rui... 8 minutes ago · reply

Egyptian President Mubarak Sends In His Thugs

Earlier, witnesses said the military allowed thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the square. Opposition groups said Mubarak had sent in thugs to suppress anti-government protests.

One of our correspondents said the army seemed to be standing by and facilitating the clashes. Latest reports suggest that the centre of the square is still in control of the protesters, despite the pro-Mubarak supporters gaining ground.    Al Jazeera

    Funny thing about the timing of the violence that has broken out between the anti-Mubarak protesters and the pro-Mubarak protesters.

"The events of the last few days require us all as a people and as a leadership to chose between chaos and stability and to set in front of us new circumstances and a new Egyptian reality which our people and armed forces must work with wisely and in the interest of Egypt and its citizens.   Mubarak

    Up until Mubarak gave his speech, there was very little chaos going on. The looting that had been going on was reportedly being done by his own police forces in many instances. The majority of the violence which is now happening did not begin until the pro-Mubarak forces took to the streets and started the continuing violent intimidation of the other protesters. This is a dictator’s only option when being faced with his over-throw.

America Takes A Break From Stupidity…

….and I say that only because the latest cable news network ratings are out and it appears that the biggest ratings loser is FoxNewsChannal, with one of their flagship idiots,Glenn Beck, leading the way.

    TVNewser says that from January,2010 to January,2011 Fox was down –21% in its total viewers and was down –31% in younger viewers.

   While that it good for those of us who know how ignorant and stupid this country has become, Fox still is the #1 network on cable, beating MSNBC and CNN combined.

   Speaking of MSNBC, it was the only news cable network to show growth, beating out CNN for the 7th straight month in January, 2011. This was even though the network sacked its biggest star, Keith Olbermann, whose viewership had rising by 6%.

Overall, MSNBC was the only cable news channel to grow year-over-year: +23% in Total Viewers and +25% in younger viewers (total day, Mon-Sun).