Comments on: What’s in a Name?

By: MInTheGap

MInTheGap — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:49:58 +0000

I totally agree with you. Which is why you need people to be straightforward about what they believe or where their biases are, and stop pretending that they aren’t biased. Balanced I can believe– if both sides are represented.

By: Loc

Loc — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:25:54 +0000

Honestly Min, I don’t think its possible. Even if the news is just reporting facts without interjecting any opinion, the news is still choosing what facts to be presented.

By: MInTheGap

MInTheGap — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:08:14 +0000

I don’t have a problem with the media espousing a point of view– if that is declared. For example, there are plenty of shows all over cable that state that they have views from the right or the left. When a news organization feigns being unbiased and yet is biased, then it’s lying to its audience, and that shouldn’t be tolerated.

That leads me to a corollary question: Do you think that news can be reported in an unbiased fashion?

By: Loc

Loc — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:18:58 +0000

Thanks for the link Min. Now that that’s clear up, I have to say I don’t agree with you. The media has just as much right as anybody else to take a side, and I don’t feel that we should be critizing their expressing their opinion. Critize the opinion yes, but the expressing of it no.

By: MInTheGap

MInTheGap — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:06:11 +0000

Anti-life was an example, and I’m sure that it hasn’t been used. Anti-Abortion’s easy though. Here’s an article from Time. Did you check out the article I linked to in the post? Brian Williams made the comment that their news desk was not going to use the term on their news cast.

By: Loc

Loc — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:49:56 +0000

Glad to know I was missed, and sorry about the late response, my email is notirolusy hard to check.

On the subject. Could you give me a link to an article or a video were the news has used the terms anti-abortion or anti-life. I’ve never heard the term used.

By: MInTheGap

MInTheGap — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:49:13 +0000

Which is why, to me, the whole “let’s not call it pro-life” in the media is so repulsive to me. The media know how strong terms are and that’s the very reason why they choose to use and not use the terms they do.

The article was all about whether or not to call what’s going on in Iraq a “civil-war”– why? Because the term has connotations and is inflammatory. A lot of people in online debates use name calling and terms precisely because they know that it’s a way to get people fired up.

All I’m saying is that if you are pretending to be balanced you should use the common terms and not slight a side that you disagree with.

BTW - Nice to see you again, Loc.

By: Loc

Loc — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:24:59 +0000

I’m not the biggest watcher of the news (no TV), but I’ve never heard the term pro-abortion used. Even the enemies of pro-life (even if it is a misnomer, no one is anti-life) refer to the pro-abortion side as pro-life.