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CBC and bias


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This discussion started in the "Anchorwoman killed in Iraq" thread in the US Politics forum. I felt that it should be continued here.

I have actually looked at various national news networks in Canada because of this issue. Those that refuse to watch the CBC because it is "run by the Lie-berals" might be surprised to learn that the CBC tends to give a rougher ride to the ferderal liberals than any other network, on almost any given day. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.

First off, I must confess I seldom watch CBC news, and the reason is not that it's "run by the Lie-berals". The reason is that CBC's presense in Alberta has become all but irrelevant. Their evening news package is actually a mish-mash of both Calgary and Edmonton news items, as their cutback left them with just a skeleton staff in Calgary. The notion that two cities of now more than a million people each would be served by a single local newscast was a major miscalculation. I do not use the CBC for local news because their product is inadequate to the market. People who look at the CBC news' abyssmal ratings in Alberta might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that it's because Albertans think the CBC is "Pravda"; they should consider that the local news package sucks. Global and CTV both deliver vastly superior products in Edmonton and Calgary, and the ratings are first and foremost a reflection of this fact.

I do, however, watch CBC Newsworld from time to time, and have seen little to support the opinion that they're more critical of the Liberals than the privately-owned media. Certainly the CBC doesn't shrink from critical stories; I question whether they pursue them with the same vigor as CanWest, however. (Some will claim this is because of CanWest's slant, not CBC's).

CBC also gives a lot of air-time to left-leaning features and documentaries, and a platform for left-leaning academics. I would be very skeptical as to whether they've given a similar platform for people with opposing views.

-kimmy

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I used to watch the National and the Journal all the time. I liked getting a Canadian perspective on world events and CBC seems to be the only organization in Canada with enough funding to do the job. Unfortunately the gross bias gave me too many headaches so I quit watching. I don't know how anyone could argue that the CBC isn't blatently anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-Conservative. (Which is probably why no one else has responded to this thread).

CBC Watch

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I don't know how anyone could argue that the CBC isn't blatently anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-Conservative.  (Which is probably why no one else has responded to this

How do you define anti-Israel? Is presenting critical reports of the actions of the Israeli government sufficient to be anti-Israel? Or does it require a systematic effort to present that actions unfairly to be considered anti-Israel.

What level of criticism against American policy is tolerable, without it becoming anti-American? Any at all?

What level of criticism of "conservative" policy is tolerable, without it becoming anti-Conservative? Any at all?

My problem with your post is that time and time again on these forums, you've leveled accusations of anti-americanism against anyone who criticizes any aspect of American policy. So, you'll have to forgive me if I get the impression that all things american and conservative are sacred calfs to you, and thereby beyond criticism.

Suppose CBC did a program on the USA's current disregard for the Geneva convention as relates to prisoners of war abroad, and with regards due process for those detained at home. The conclusion of the program is that the USA is in violation of international law.

Would this be anti-American?

And, to be fair, I don't see how you have argued that the CBC is any of those things you mention. You've merely made unsupported claims. Care to support them?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I have the time next week, I'll sit down and record various newscasts and look at how they portray the same issues differently. Perhaps someone who disagrees with me on this should do likewise, and we can discuss particular examples?

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My problem with your post is that time and time again on these forums, you've leveled accusations of anti-americanism against anyone who criticizes any aspect of American policy. So, you'll have to forgive me if I get the impression that all things american and conservative are sacred calfs to you, and thereby beyond criticism.

False. In fact I critisize many of the US's policies.

Well, what is your evidence?

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple. For example a special on "Why the World hates the US". Then portraying stereotypes of the violent US soldier with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Shouldn't the question be "Does the World hate the US?" Or the show with Ian Hanamansing on interracial marriage where he asks an inter-racial couple from Alberta: "Growing up in Calgary, I can imagine it was difficult to have an inter-racial relationship". Or a report describing George Bush's "cowboyisms" rather than George Bush's "comments". Or the many times I've watched a panel of 3 liberal experts with only one or no conservatives. Or the loaded questions or the so often used statement of fact of: "many are questioning" of "some are saying".

CBC Watch provides other examples but here are some more:

CBC Blames Israel for Abu GhraibMacDonald Bias

Jews oppose MacDonald

Other anit-religious bias

...and more

When I have the time next week, I'll sit down and record various newscasts and look at how they portray the same issues differently. Perhaps someone who disagrees with me on this should do likewise, and we can discuss particular examples?

You've got too much time.

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I liked Kimmy's comment. The CBC is just not very good.

The few times I have watched CBC TV News, I get the distinct impression that intelligent people have decided to make it simple because otherwise, they feel, the audience won't listen. IOW, they talk down.

I liked the National Post when it first started because it didn't pander.

I usually listen to CBC Radio. This is sometimes better but I must admit that it too reminds me far too often of a high school teacher. The morning combo of Shelagh Rogers and Anna Maria Tremonti is truly weird. Rogers is chirpy and Tremonti is on a mission. (She went to Cuba on the US election day last year.)

Radio Canada isn't like that at all. I have always liked Bernard Derome (but even Stephane Bureau was good). The major issue in Quebec is sovereignty and Radio Canada covers it very, very evenly - and IMV, very well.

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Off the top of my head I can think of a couple. For example a special on "Why the World hates the US". Then portraying stereotypes of the violent US soldier with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

You mean like this? Oh wait: that's the NY Post, a Murdoch-owned, Bush friendly rag. My bad.

Shouldn't the question be "Does the World hate the US?"

Well, when the polls show widespread antipathy towards the U.S., isn't that question already answered?

Or the show with Ian Hanamansing on interracial marriage where he asks an inter-racial couple from Alberta: "Growing up in Calgary, I can imagine it was difficult to have an inter-racial relationship".

I didn't see that , I can't comment. But yeah, that smacks of sterotyping, but then, perhaps ian knows something we don't?

Or a report describing George Bush's "cowboyisms" rather than George Bush's "comments".

Please. Bush's "down home" expressions ("we're gonna smoke 'em outta their holes") are a deliberately crafted part of his public personae. Did you hear him call Chirac "a good cowboy." the other day? C'mon.

Or the many times I've watched a panel of 3 liberal experts with only one or no conservatives.

I've seen David Frum on the CBC more than I ever wanted to. I've seen people from the Fraser Institute, the Taxpayer's federation, the Conservative Party and more.

Or the loaded questions or the so often used statement of fact of: "many are questioning" of "some are saying".

Give me a break: that's standard questioning on any network.

CBC Blames Israel for Abu Ghraib

Actually, the CBC interviewed somebody who said Israel was involved.

MacDonald Bias

Most of the allegations of bias concern MacDonald's "Viewpoints" articles: in other words, opinion pieces.

Other anit-religious bias

...and more

Well your sources are unimpeachable and surely don't have an agenda of their own...

From Life Site:

The Communist (oops!) er, Canadian Broadcasting Network contracted with WYD to be the host broadcaster for the six day event.

From the Canada FreePress (good thing it's free, 'cause I ain't buying it)

But first glances can sometimes be deceiving and on closer examination the CBC still managed to show its anti-religion, anti-American and anti-conservative biases before MacNeil wound the piece up with her put down of those who read the Bible.

But then I can't expect high standards from someone who'd craft this sentence:

MacNeil was making the argument that no one, especially those Christians, do not have any deeply held religious beliefs, specifically about gay marriage.

:huh: huh?

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Objective? Slanted? Pravda?

Pravda with scrubbed faces ad better teeth.

$900 million annually and this is what we get?

I don't object to the existence of the CBC, if that is what you need then knock your socks off. But I do not want to pay for it through taxes, especially since CBC TV looks the same as any other commercial station, but with pathetic made-in-Canada programming.

Nope, if you like it, you pay for it.

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Objective? No.

Slanted? Yes

Pravda? Bingo!

The CBC's anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism is embarrasing. Try and call a Palestinian who blows up a busload of Jewish school children a terrorist on the CBC forums and the word terrorist will be deleted.

Who could ever forget the CBC ranting against the Fox News Channel (3 times) on the day that the Liberal-controlled CRTC finally lifted its 5 year ban of the FNC?

And of course there is the 5th Estate's constant rants about Bush, Halliburton and oil. Mysteriously, they are utterly silent when it comes to reporting that Chretien's son-in-law's father is the biggest shareholder in France's TotalFinaElf oil company - a company that was in bed with Saddam Hussein.

The sad thing is that Canadians are forced to pay for this propaganda. :(

Suppose CBC did a program on the USA's current disregard for the Geneva convention as relates to prisoners of war abroad, and with regards due process for those detained at home. The conclusion of the program is that the USA is in violation of international law.

Terrorists are NOT covered by the Geneva Convention. Really...how hard is it to go and look it up at their website?

Well, when the polls show widespread antipathy towards the U.S., isn't that question already answered?

More nonsense from you. The world does not hate the US. If they did, they would not be so hungry for American culture, nor would they be flocking to the US to live.

It is not hate. It is pure envy. Jealousy is a strong emotion.

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First off, I must confess I seldom watch CBC news, and the reason is not that it's "run by the Lie-berals". The reason is that CBC's presense in Alberta has become all but irrelevant. Their evening news package is actually a mish-mash of both Calgary and Edmonton news items, as their cutback left them with just a skeleton staff in Calgary. The notion that two cities of now more than a million people each would be served by a single local newscast was a major miscalculation. I do not use the CBC for local news because their product is inadequate to the market. People who look at the CBC news' abyssmal ratings in Alberta might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that it's because Albertans think the CBC is "Pravda"; they should consider that the local news package sucks. Global and CTV both deliver vastly superior products in Edmonton and Calgary, and the ratings are first and foremost a reflection of this fact

CBC does local tv broadcasts? I honestly don't think they have one for BC.......5 pm is normaly the Simpsons and 6pm is national news........daytime maybe?

I don't mind Politics on Newsworld, but I prefer Question Period on CTV......

Other then those two programs, I get all my local news from Global BC (Can remeber Tony Parsons from when I was young) national news from Global National with Kevin Newman (which I have to flick too during the commercials of the Factor) and International News with FOX.

As for the CBC Liberal Bias itself, I find Robert Rabinovitch's ties with formor Chrétien campaign director and Power Corp stooge John Rae to be quite telling........

Hey if the left can play the old Halliburton/Bush/Cheney word association game, why can't the right?

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CBC also gives a lot of air-time to left-leaning features and documentaries, and a platform for left-leaning academics. I would be very skeptical as to whether they've given a similar platform for people with opposing views.

-kimmy

You should consider the possibility that you may think of objectivity as biased sometimes.

I notice that a lot in right-of-center thinkers. They look at anything that doesn't have a conservative bias as naturally biased the other way.

It's quite amazing.

In terms of the CBC news (you can hear it on the radio also) they are very straight-shooting and as another poster said actually give the liberal government embarrassments or critisizms by others quite a lot of coverage.

And I've heard rightwing views as well as leftwing views on the radio shows.

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I would much rather watch the BBC for world news then the cbc.

Whats this Life Network channel I see on my TV . Must be owned by Gay people. Is it goverment Funded ?

Seems like its only mission is to normalise homosexuality.

may I ask what is wrong with gay people earning a living? And while the show Dogs with Jobs may sound realy Gay, it probabley is not promoting homosexual behavoir with little spike, so you can relaxe on that front.

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You should consider the possibility that you may think of objectivity as biased sometimes.

I notice that a lot in right-of-center thinkers. They look at anything that doesn't have a conservative bias as naturally biased the other way.

It's quite amazing.

Hey if your not right, your wrong. But to be hoenst CBC is biased like any other news station out there, what Kimmy and others may be looking for is a balance in that Bias, and the question would be in a publicly funded channel and program is there a balance and if there is not a balance shoudl a program that is publicly funded be allowed to have a blatant and consistent bias in oen direction with out fair measures taken and alloted for a rebuttal to be provided?

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CBC and the Globe are the only unbiased news sources in Canada of any stature. Can West is definitely biased and owns mosts of the newspapers , TV and Radio stations. Their bias towards Israel is no surprise; the owners are Jewish. I think it is disgusting and very bad for getting true balanced information from a news service that is controlled by one source.

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You should consider the possibility that you may think of objectivity as biased sometimes.

I notice that a lot in right-of-center thinkers.  They look at anything that doesn't have a conservative bias as naturally biased the other way. 

It's quite amazing.

Hey if your not right, your wrong. But to be hoenst CBC is biased like any other news station out there, what Kimmy and others may be looking for is a balance in that Bias, and the question would be in a publicly funded channel and program is there a balance and if there is not a balance shoudl a program that is publicly funded be allowed to have a blatant and consistent bias in oen direction with out fair measures taken and alloted for a rebuttal to be provided?

The CBC is not biased they proved that when a couple of days after 9/11 80% of their picked 'experts' said the US deserved to be bombed. :blink:

If the CBC wants to be a left leaning media at least they should finance it themselves instead of using public money to say we should all think liberal.

The CBC is like the liberal majority governments running the country that says liberal is the only way to look at everything.

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  [The CBC is not biased they proved that when a couple of days after 9/11 80% of their picked 'experts' said the US deserved to be bombed.  :blink:

What? What "experts" are you refering to? There must be transcripts out there, please provide a name so that we can go get the transcript and help you back this statement up.

Of course without back up it sounds ridiculous. :lol:

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Bias.

Is the news media biased toward liberals? Yes. Is the news media biased toward conservatives? Yes. These questions and answers are uninteresting because it is possible to find evidence--anecdotal and otherwise--to "prove" media bias of one stripe or another. Far more interesting and instructive is studying the inherent, or structural, biases of journalism as a professional practice--especially as mediated through television.
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No the premise is that "no matter how much we may try to ignore it, human communication always takes place in a context, through a medium, and among individuals and groups who are situated historically, politically, economically, and socially. This state of affairs is neither bad nor good. It simply is. Bias is a small word that identifies the collective influences of the entire context of a message."

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The preceding three posts are the most sensible things I've seen in this thread.

'DOG and SHAKEY, good job.

As I inferred in my first post in this thread, there doesn't exist in North America a single, truly, completely unbiased source of news.

IMHO the CBC is worse than few, and better than most.

I've seen and heard them totally slam the Liberal government. I've heard CBC radio give extensive air time to Conservatives of various stripes, and conduct these interviews fairly and respectfully.

Editorial and opinion pieces aside, I think their news REPORTING is at least as good, and as balanced, as that of any other source.

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Once you recognize that all media is biased, you can understand how those structural biases influence the news. For instance, the CBC is a public (that is, government-owned) broadcaster: as such, it will tilt towards the ruling party (IIRC, there were similar allegations of toadying up to the Mulroney Tories in the '80s). FoxNews, CBS, etc. are corporate entities. They will tilt towards big money advertisers and the ruling elite (who are generally associated with the "conservative" side of the spectrum) in order to maintain revenues and access to information. Basically, the overall maxim that guides the modern mainstream media is "don't sh*t in your own nest".

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BlackDog and ProckRock, I agree with you.

In a way, the multiplicity of television news sources today gives us the luxury of actually having bias in our news, IMO. How much did you hear accusations of 'bias' 10,20,30 years ago ?

But I don't agree with the author of the linked article that the individual is capable of detecting bias in the news. The fact that most Americans voting in the last election believed that Iraq had WMDs speaks to that. ( For the righties, feel free to supply an example of the Liberals in Canada as I'm sure there are many. )

I believe that we need a more nuanced model of the individual citizen in society: one that acknowledges the common susceptability to propaganda, but also puts faith in the individual to vote for the party that he/she thinks best represents her/him.

An analogy would be the way the government designs roads: they create guardrails, and roadsigns to guide us down the road, often making worst-case-scenario judgements about the vision, intelligence and reaction times of drivers. But they do assume that drivers want to drive in a safe and considerate manner to reach their destination.

We haven't yet come up with a template for information flow that achieves similar goals.

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An analogy would be the way the government designs roads: they create guardrails, and roadsigns to guide us down the road, often making worst-case-scenario judgements about the vision, intelligence and reaction times of drivers. But they do assume that drivers want to drive in a safe and considerate manner to reach their destination.

We haven't yet come up with a template for information flow that achieves similar goals.

Isn't that what we commonly call the education system? Meaning that you want to introduce more thorough models of critical thinking into the education system?

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