Political Reporting: Who you trust

flogen

I recently started a journalism course, and something said in a class got me thinking, what is the most reliable source of news, especiall political news. Can you be sure that what you read and form opinions from is not bias, even in a very subtle way?

To clear the query up, I'll define 'reliable' as an honest account of an even, with every sides story told, or as much as is possible.

So who do you trust?
Personally Id say RTE news and the Irish Independent, although I have been impressed by the BBC's very honest reporting of the Hutton Inquiry... something tells me if it was Sky News in that situation some serious spin would be attempted

Flogen
(obviously I cant cover every publication and news show, but I will do my best to get as many as possible)

Sparks

You've completely missed the web.
Blogs from people on the ground, various political commentary and analysis blogs, and a bit of common sense makes up the best picture, I've come to believe.

PH01

RTE couldn't political report their way out of a paper! Name one scandal which RTE broke with over the last couple of years? Effing wasters those RTE peeps.

I trust the BBC, C4, Today FM and The Irish Times (when they're not FF bashing).

bloggs

Who voted the Sun/Star/Hearld!!! :eek:

gom

Why isn't the Guardian up there???

The only unbiased Articles the Irish Times publish they get from guardian news services... :cool:

bloggs

Originally posted by gom
Why isn't the Guardian up there???

The only unbiased Articles the Irish Times publish they get from guardian news services... :cool:

The Guardian is left-wing, not exactly unbiased (but then what is?)

gom

Left-wing in its commentary and columns definitly. Most other papers have just right-wing columists(ala Kevin Myers - Times). I think calling the Guardian Left-wing is inaccurate. Its a paper of Liberal and open society ideas is the best way to put it...

Anyway. The idea of trusting a news service is wrong in itself. Do you know them first hand?
I've encountered many people who would believe something blindly. WHen it is critisied they reply "BUt its in the Irish times so it has to be true" ... Its laughable really. No media is absent from subjective views. In the long-run however objectiveness can take root more successfully(i.e. IN hin sight)

Blogs are a very usefull resort and when combined together with a large smaple of papers at an international level then and only then can one start to get an unbiased and objective view of the news..

colster

I would have to say radio stations.
I listen to Newstalk or Today FM and they usually have a good mix of guests that give all sides to an issue.
Also with the advent of the mobile phone you can contact reportes on the ground as an event occurs.

mike65

Originally posted by PH01
RTE couldn't political report their way out of a paper! Name one scandal which RTE broke with over the last couple of years? Effing wasters those RTE peeps.

RTE broke the National Irish Bank off-shore accounts story which propelled gloom-meister George Lee into the limelight along with Charlie Bird of course!

I'd go for the BBC first though after Gilligans sloppy reportage
on Dr Kelly it shows even the best have to stay sharp.

Mike.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Chaos-Engine

I have to say RTE are the worst lot of Civil servants I've seen. Yes they are civil servants. We pay their wages with taxs not just license fees.

BBC is a very very good lot of Civil Servants. At least Britain can be proud of their excellent value for taxpayers money they have.

MDR

I have to say RTE are the worst lot of Civil servants I've seen. Yes they are civil servants. We pay their wages with taxs not just license fees.

Figures accurate as of end of 2002.

The Irish License is €150
RTE generate a total revenue of €253 million
114 million from license fees
99 million from advertising
(the difference comes from various minor sources).

RTE runs five radio stations, three television channels, the National Concert Orchestra, a String quartet and an on-line news service etc

RTE serves 4 million people roughly

The British License is €167
BBC generate a total revenue of €4831 million

BBC run thirteen radio stations, eight television channels, several concert orchestras and quartets etc

The BBC server 60 million people roughily (the world service listeners aren't exacily paying into the system).

So

For every one person the BBC gets €80 a year to spend
For every one person RTE gets €63 a year to spend.

Now you can have all the efficency in the world but you can't deny the fact that they have more per capita to spend and that economies of scale would offer them greater efficency, allowing to save quite a bit of cash ...

Therefore aren't doing too badily with what they have.

MDR

I trust the Sunday Business Post, the BBC and RTE ... thats it

davej

I generally watch Newsnight or channel 4 news for international news. I have to say that RTE news / Primetime seems fairly unbiased and trustworthy.

I trust Fox and Sky news to consistently put their agendas forward.
Here's a nice example of fox news "reporting", which is basically a platform for right wing propaganda:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,97521,00.html

WASHINGTON — Emphasis on multiculturalism and cultural diversity is getting in the way of proper history and civics educations, particularly the teaching of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and its aftermath, say some education experts who are demanding teachers refocus their classes.

davej

Qadhafi

Usually I watch Al Jazeera for political reporting that I trust.

mycroft

A journalism student who's asking about "unbiased" news, yup very definetly a new student.

All news is biased. All. All will be editorialised and manipulated, even by the most scrupplous and honest report, will through language and turn of phrase lend their opinion or bias to a story.

The question is, "whose bias represents me, and who do I trust to give me a version of events".

Watching media coverage of Huton inquiry is incredibly telling. And frankly you should be reading as many different English papers at the moment to gain a full grasp of media bias.

To summerise their positions.

Guardian, Independent. BBC Right, Government wrong

Sun. BBC wrong, government right

The Times, same as the sun only bigger words

The telegraph and the mail. This is utterly hilarious, the only thing they hate more than the BBC is the government and watching them dance the line between attacking the government, while at the same time not giving an inch to the BBC, is just brillant.

---

Over the course of reporting all the papers gave their opinions and reported each event, The Guardian claimed Campbell ****ed up in the stand, while the Sun said that his testimony screwed the BBC, they can't both be right, and aren't because they both have an agenda, it's a question of figuring out which one you prefer.

And finally the fecking Indo? Worse rag in this country.

Biffa Bacon

To my shame, I have to say I agree with Sparks. I can only trust blogs like Little Green Footballs or andrewsullivan.com to tell the honest truth about the War on Terror. Mainstream news organisations have disgraced themselves with the deceitfulness of their coverage.

Lawnkiller

Have to say, even tho RTE isnt the most late breaking news, it tends to be reported with objective coverage(to a certain extent).

BBC are good at what they do, but I'd take some of what they say with a pince of salt.

Same goes for channel 4 but they tend to really try to get in behind stories and if there's a flaw, they will jump on it(sometimes). Yer man Snow is a very cynical news presenter and I see that as a good quality sometimes


SB Post is good. I read the Independent most of the time and tend to disregard a lot of it. I feel its reporting can sometimes be anything but....

Again, blogs, men on the ground, etc. and common sense make for good sources when used well.

gandalf

I chose other.

I normally check several different sources for a news story each of which will have a different viewpoint and opinion. IE for Iraqi stories I'll check the BBC, The Independent (UK one), Sky News, Fox, Al Jazeera and then some other bulletin boards I frequent and I form my own opinion on stories.

For Irish Stories I'll check all the major papers sites and RTE.

I never just one story/site/paper/journalist for the truth, I try to tease it out myself.

Gandalf.

flogen

oh Im under no illusions about bias news, I know that all articles and tv pieces are twisted, even in the slightest, to some agenda. The fact is that even a piece that is bereft of intentional bias on the reporters part is still somewhat bias, due to a lack of info from one side or another, or because the editor had (or perhaps 'had') to cut something out.

I was just wondering which source you think tends to be the least bias, at least as far as your concerned.

RTE may be slow, but it seems to be quite neutral, to the best of its abilities. the likes of Sky News, ITV and TV3 are all tabloid TV in my view. I personally try to catch every angle, even sky news (despite my hatred for it), and tend to sift through teletext every few hours, and read any papers I can get my hands on, mainly the Irish Independent though

Flogen

Capt'n Midnight

It also depends on the program - the quality varies a lot.
On ITV compare the Trevor McDonalds thingy after the news with the program on Sunday morning that was hosted by the MP with the speach impediment ..

Newsnight on BBC2 beats the BBC1 evening news, then there is
Channel4 news at 7 and that's really about it from the UK - the rest is too visual/tabloid and there is very little difference of views on many stories.
EuroNews / RTE can make a nice contrast and at least RTE1 are moving away from "but first, today in Northern Ireland"

Are there any US news channels that aren't (from our point of view) completely right wing, gung ho and - well have you seen the coverage that Greneda got - in the US media it was all high altitude aerial photos, the UK camera crew were wandering around on the runway wondering what all the fuss was about.

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It's a shame really - you do need need a mass media news service - the point of journalists is to dig up, analyse and distill stories down to thier essence and present clear concise accurate truthful stories in context bearing in mind their importance. Yes web sites can bypass some media moguls - but they can't gain access to politicians in the way the recognised media can ..

star gazer

oh Im under no illusions about bias news, I know that all articles and tv pieces are twisted, even in the slightest, to some agenda. The fact is that even a piece that is bereft of intentional bias on the reporters part is still somewhat bias, due to a lack of info from one side or another, or because the editor had (or perhaps 'had') to cut something out.

flogen

yip, plenty of shades of grey! one needs a refined filter to get to the 'truth' in these media. To be fair though, i think we have a good mix of media, left and right, pro and anti government. We in ireland have a better chance of getting the truth than many other palces.