Friday, June 22, 2007

News Media Bias

News Media Bias

Further proof of the bias of the news media, and the need for a mandatary enforced Code of Ethics for Journalists. A Code of Ethics exists, but it is voluntary.

Every major occupation has a Code of Ethics, except journalists.

http://narj-clirus.blogspot.com/

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MSNBC.com investigative reporter Bill Dedman
Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113455

The following 144 journalists made campaign contributions from 2004 through the first quarter of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records studied by MSNBC.com.

MSNBC.com checked the Federal Election Commission records from January 2004 through the first quarter of 2007 and attempted to contact each journalist. If a person donated during that period, earlier donations are also listed here.

MSNBC.com limited its search to:
— Federal candidates, PACs and parties, not state or local campaigns.
— The period January 2004 through the first quarter of this year.
— Donors in news jobs, not corporate executives or publishers, who are allowed by nearly every news organization to donate.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113485/

MSNBC.com identified 144 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 17 gave to Republicans. Two gave to both parties.

But with polls showing the public losing faith in the ability of journalists to give the news straight up, some major newspapers and TV networks are clamping down. They now prohibit all political activity — aside from voting — no matter whether the journalist covers baseball or proofreads the obituaries. The Times in 2003 banned all donations, with editors scouring the FEC records regularly to watch for in-house donors. In 2005, The Chicago Tribune made its policy absolute. CBS did the same last fall. And The Atlantic Monthly, where a senior editor gave $500 to the Democratic Party in 2004, says it is considering banning all donations. After MSNBC.com contacted Salon.com about donations by a reporter and a former executive editor, this week Salon banned donations for all its staff.

What changed? First came the conservative outcry labeling the mainstream media as carrying a liberal bias. The growth of talk radio and cable slugfests gave voice to that claim. The Iraq war fueled distrust of the press from both sides. Finally, it became easier for the blogging public to look up the donors.

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