Within the span of 40 seconds, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams reported on two politicians caught in scandals, one a Republican the other a Democrat, but he gave the party affiliation of only one of the troubled politicians. Can you guess which one? linkI can :-)
Saturday, February 01, 2014
Completely Fair and Totally Unbiased Media
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6 comments:
while that has every appearance of bias ... assuming the mayor is a Democrat ... it is worth noting that many, if not most, cities do not have partisan races, and therefore his party affiliation may not have been announced. And ... if it wasn't announced on the ballot, I don't think it's indicative of bias. I'm sure NBC was happy not to do it ... but if you don't have the D next to your name on the ballot, you're not technically a D.
The governor of Missouri is a Democrat, and is completely left out of *this* story. I wonder if Governor Ah-nold, or any other Republican governor, would have been given such a pass:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/02/missouri-executed-this-man-while-his-appeal-was-pending-in-court/283494/
The mayor of New Orleans is not elected on a non-partisan ballot.
If that's true, then it is obvious bias.
Why does it matter either way? Either elected officials are identified by party or they're not. If only one party is identified, it's bias.
It matters, because offices that are declared non-partisan, are just that. That may be a distinction without a difference, but if it is a non partisan ballot, then it would not be appropriate to mention the official's party -- there are reasons for not citing party affiliation on ballots, and I think good ones. Mainly, that it gets people out of the habit of just voting for the person whose letter matches their own party affiliation, rather than actually having to do a little research ... and it opens up races more to third parties with good ideas. So, if it was on the ballot ... bias. If it wasn't, then that's fair, if disingenuous journalism.
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