[BC] Station Positioning

[cld@admin.umass.edu]

Kirk wrote:

"Actually, I agree with those studies.  NPR is, overall, more centrist 
than the big three, Reuters and AP have become."

I usually can discern a bias in the folks chosen to discuss a given topic, not 
the topic itself.
Yet, it's fairly silly to think of media outlets who call themselves balanced 
and yet seem to structure their discourses like this-

discussion on abortion= 3 evangelicals and a republican senator
discussion on DeLay's improprieties= two republican senators and someone from 
National Review
discussion on the war= two former generals one Washington Post writer

Occasionally you *might* see a moderate democrate or a David Corn invited to 
the table, but it seems that the only appearences of so- called liberals I see 
are on the Daily Show or now on Colbert's. Maybe I just keep missing it.

Why is it that we have to watch documentaries months, if not years later, to 
see dissenting voices such as those heard on small independent media offerings 
like Democracy Now?

I've seen this kind of things on MSNBC. I had to laugh during one presidential 
state of the union last year when they had Scarborough (who at times can be 
rather agreeable and is no doubt one of the brighter bulbs on the 
media tree) along with three republicans and Leslie Stahl, who comes across 
like the Dr. Laura of conservative news reporting. Of course, the cheerleading 
was raised to a din- with Scarborough being the only "critical" voice, 
actually bringing up discernable points as opposed to offering abstract 
wreathes of glory.

Chuck Dube
WFCR, Amherst