Monday, May 19, 2003
TV News Bias
The BBC is owned by the British government, and one might have expected it to support that government's policies. In fact, however, it tried hard - too hard, its critics say - to stay impartial. America's television networks are privately owned, yet they behaved like state-run media.
The BBC doesn't mix patriotism and politics with news coverage. One reason I think the Right labels the BBC as being bias is that it covers news on human terms, showing the human side of events from different perspectives. There are a lot of personal stories and segements. Yes, this means you hear people you may regard as the enemy speak, or people say bad things about America or Britain but this makes the news well rounded, not bias.
The BBC is owned by the British government, and one might have expected it to support that government's policies. In fact, however, it tried hard - too hard, its critics say - to stay impartial. America's television networks are privately owned, yet they behaved like state-run media.
The BBC doesn't mix patriotism and politics with news coverage. One reason I think the Right labels the BBC as being bias is that it covers news on human terms, showing the human side of events from different perspectives. There are a lot of personal stories and segements. Yes, this means you hear people you may regard as the enemy speak, or people say bad things about America or Britain but this makes the news well rounded, not bias.
