Platform : ‘The Media Are Unfair’

HOLLIE AINBINDER

Associate director, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, Los Angeles

The news media are unfair because many voices are locked out of national debates, such as the voices of women, minorities and public interest groups. Journalists tend to rely on the same sources over and over, mostly government spokespersons and Establishment think tanks.

FAIR is a national media watch group. Recently we did a study of National Public Radio, which is supposed to give access to the voices that are unheard on commercial radio. We found that 85% of their regular commentators were white males. Women were only 20% of their news sources and only 7% of their news sources were public interest spokespersons. It is true that there is a rigid “politically correct” agenda within the media. But contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not set by women, minorities and public interest spokespersons. In fact, these groups are nearly invisible within the “pundit elite,” those news shapers who appear on Sunday morning shows, PBS public affairs programs and opinion pages.

THATCHER DARWIN

Chairman, American Conservative Party and member, Accuracy in Media. Lives in Laguna Hills

I’ve been a media watcher for 50 years. Every day I read the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, the Wall Street Journal and sometimes the Christian Science Monitor. It’s very interesting to see the considerable differences in the way these publications treat the same stories. A study found that approximately 85% of the working members of the media call themselves liberal or “inclined to be” liberal. So it’s logical to conclude that most news stories are slanted toward a liberal viewpoint.

Since Cable News Network came on the scene, there’s been an evolution in the electronic media, once dominated by the three main networks with their documented extreme liberal bias. CNN relied on independent video reporters who didn’t know who would use what they recorded, so they didn’t slant their reports and were more objective. Viewers aren’t stupid, and now CNN is regarded as our most reliable news source.

JOHN SEELEY JR.

Media sociologist, West L.A.

The electronic and print media are very ready to accept ready-made stories and public relations handouts. And the only people who can provide them are those with the money to hire public relations people--in other words, government, corporations, and other Establishment institutions. So the interests of ordinary people, who have no one to organize photo opportunities for them or write and slant news releases for them, are given short shrift. It’s easier for a reporter to get a quote from a group with an office and staff. So established groups get the news play.

To critique the media environment, you also have to bring in entertainment. TV news is driven by the same things as entertainment shows--ratings, ratings and ratings. So there’s a ratings-driven diet of violence that misrepresents how useful violence is in resolving differences. It’s becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy that is unfair to the whole human race.

Also, despite post-riot lip service to diversity, there’s a lack of class and ethnic diversity. And even if you have a TV anchor with a Latino surname, it doesn’t guarantee that the perspectives of Latinos in Pico-Union or East L.A. will be represented.