The Pot Calls the Kettle Black - Gore Says Media Too Conservative!!!
 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,89895,00.html



WASHINGTON — As Rupert Murdoch seeks permission from Congress to expand his media empire of movie studios, television networks and the No. 1 cable news channel in the nation, former Vice President Al Gore is looking to start his own news network.

Time magazine reports that Gore wants to establish what he calls "a counterbalance to the fifth column of conservative media."

"[Gore] has met with any number of wealthy potential backers and from what I understand again from sources both here in Washington and in Hollywood, he is very much engaged in this idea, very energized by it, very excited about it," Karen Tumulty, who broke the story for the magazine, told Fox News.

"At this point, it's very exploratory; certainly both the financial and the practical obstacles of something big like this are enormous," Tumulty said.

Fox News has not independently verified talk of a possible Gore news network, but sources in the know refused to knock down the story. One observer opined that one can only hope "it's more interesting to watch than his debating style."


Mr. Sunshine says the media is too Conservative??? He must only watch Fox too!???

Your turn.

He's just one of the many people trying to make sure Fox News doesn't become the Official State News. Hurray for him for trying to bring some more choices to a market becoming more and more choiceless.

why doesnt he just become an analyist for a station?

Whaa? Are they just saying the exact opposite we are now?

Man, I wish Gore would wander off somewhere.
That being said, Rupert Murdoch is an evil fuck, ain't he? Media Barons are pretty fucking dangerous when you think about it. I don't want someone controlling the news I get.

Sure is. One time, he kicked my dog. I was all "Hey, don't kick my dog sir." then he said something about not liking minorities.

same here!
really though im scared of media barons, really scared, think of what we dont know!

Gore is right. The media is nothing but a mouthpiece for the conservative agenda. Well, except for CNN, ABC, NBC, UPN, CBS, MTV, and TLC.

Okay, put the Ann Coulter book down, and step away from the keyboard...

Calling MTV media is an insult to media everywhere :)

And what's that about the learning channel? some left-wing conspiracy again?

All those other organizations are too cowed by mean-spirited right-wingers who phone/e-mail by the thousands whenever Rush gets a hemorhoid, they don't take a stand for anything.

The left wing doesn't need the learning channel- They have the teachers unions in their pocket.

Tell ya what, I'll trade ya the teachers unions for the billionaire CEOs :P

"Conservative Media"???? wtf. That's an oxymoron (heavy on the moron) if I've ever heard one.

Done deal! The teachers union controls more money.

In what Bizarro universe would that be?

Yours! The amount that the federal and state governments spent on education last year totaled almost $580 Billion. That does not include local levies in some states which conservative estimates place at around an additional 25% ($145 Billion), Making the grand total $725 Billion dollars pushed around by the teachers union. That's about 18 Bill Gates.The total estimated worth of the top 25 billionares according to Forbes is around $390 Billion. (And that includes some non-americans!)

Since you're so hip with the figures ;) figure I'll ask a couple questions:

What's the percentage of that figure that goes towards teacher salaries?
What's the percentage of teachers that belong to unions?

I think your 725 Billion is going to shrink considerably after those two questions get answered...

Typically, in my area, salaries run approximately 80% of the total budget for a school district. All teachers MUST belong to the union (closed shop state). Many of the other employees belong to the union, in some cases only a very few supervisory and administration personel do NOT belong to the union. In many districts- my own included- some or all of the elected officials of the school board are card carrying union members. There are also many PRIVATE schools where the teachers are members of the union, whose numbers are NOT included in the above total. My number may be larger. Oddly enough, in many states the amount the state spends on education is around half of their total budget. Here's another big blow to the education is under-funded myth. As a % of the GDP, education spending has almost TRIPLED since the 60's and is more than DOUBLE the military spending of the U.S., while military spending as a % of the GDP has dropped by nearly 2/3. I helped my kid with a paper for high school on the subject. He got a "C" because the teacher didn't like his subject matter.

Here's your conservative media:

Michael Savage (has a show on msnbc!)
Ann Coulter
Rush Limbaugh
Bill O'Reily
Sean Hannity
Michael Reagan
Clear Channel
Country Music (and it's 2 television networks)

Rupert Murdoch
Richard Mellon Scaife
the WSJ Editorial Page
FOX News
MSNBC (to a lesser extent)

What Liberal Media? Are you saying that NBC Nightly News is a patently liberal outlet? Is there any liberal who's anywhere near as radical as Michael Savage on television?

And on a lighter note: Which Conservative Radio Host are you?

Well, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to reneg on our agreement, then. I mean, the children, they really are the future. :)

As far as % spending goes, states spend quite a bit more on education than the federal government, and a fraction of the feds on military. As far as education being double military spending, well, I wish we lived in a world where the gap could be even greater.

Check out this spreadsheet- the data is not current (2 years old)-
But it's kinda nice to know where your state is spending the money.

http://landview.census.gov/govs/state/01statess.xls

The fear is out of the fact that Fox news is untouchable in the ratings right now. It would seem that most people don't really care about its Conservative spin. That's what the liberals are afraid of. Personally I think if you get your news from one source only, you're asking for brainwashing. You've got to get it from as many sources as you can and then wade through the BS. Unbiased media doesn't exist.

Unbiased media might not exist, but unbiased news, or at the very least unbiased news reporting should exist. It's really a question of what is and what is not covered in news that makes a bias appear. These days, the news can't cover everything, and the selection of stories supposedly shows bias.

That said, the main reason is that with the forms of entertainment available expanding at an enormous pace, there's suddenly more to do than read the newspaper in the morning. People don't seek out news, don't desire nuanced understandings of what's happening, and don't make enough effort to distinguish style and substance. This trend has been noted for some time, but it's only getting worse.

This effects the news in an important way. Why just get the news when you can also be told what to think about it? It saves time, and news is more than just events, right? Here's where the danger is, and here's why commentary is more dangerous. Covering the news is one thing, but when reporters become advocates, they cease to be journalists, and become lawyers. Bias will always be there, but when you replace factual reporting with commentary, and assume that the viewers know what's going on, the debate becomes less meaninginful, not more meaningful, and partisanship increases.

In all fairness, I see as many liberals/unbiased commentators as I see conservatives commentators on Fox. That I know of, the weekday shows liberal/unbiased commentators are: Colmes, Smith, Susteran vs the weekday conservatives: O'Reilly, Hannity, Gibson and Cavuto. That's leaving two out I've never seen before, and this is just the weekday guys, but compared to the L.A. times there's no comparison in terms of biased media. I think it's just that conservatives there are so much cooler then their liberal counterparts =).

You said it much better than I could. Thanks.