what would be some examples. all the mainstream media outlets are heavily biased. on tv cnn, msnbc, major networks. in print washpo, nyt all very biased. I'm having a hard time thinking of a moderate publication or channel
I think US "mainstream media" does have a left bias, although not necessarily very strong. (Disclosure: I consider myself probably a slightly right of center, but definitely left of Fox) Personally, I consider "mainstream media" to be the following: NYT, WaPo, USA Today, WSJ, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, NPR, Fox. (You could argue Time, Newsweek, Reuters, but I haven't heard of anyone reading Time/Newsweek in years, and Reuters is more news for news orgs and not directly accessed by consumers). I think when people say "mainstream media is left" they mean politically. According to [1], all of that list is left except for WSJ (center) and Fox (right), so 80% of "mainstream media" is left.
If you want to argue that people mean that more broadly, [2] gives mainly the same result, except that few become center-left.
I would certainly not call anything on the right side of middle in either of those graphics mainstream besides WSJ and Fox. (And frankly, I think it's arguable whether those two are mainstream) So for the US, anyway, it does seem credible that "mainstream media" leans left.
The "complaint" is on point. Most of the major US mainstream media outlets are indeed biased in a particular direction. See for yourself: find a list of major news outlets [2] and check their political leanings [3][4]. Fox is mostly an outlier.
You could perhaps argue that they are more "woke" than "progressive".
What is “mainstream media”? Media that doesn’t fit your biases? Because I constantly hear this “mainstream media” trope from conservatives, but it is only applied to liberal news sources, never RT, Fox, Breitbart, etc.
I’d assume newspapers, radio, and cable—the media with social currency in american society. There is certainly no shortage of criticism to be had from the left, either, so this attitude that “there is only conservative bias in mainstream media” is a little head scratching to me when ever I hear it.
I beg to differ. A Harvard study confirmed that news sources have been overwhelmingly left-leaning, especially since Trump.
Even former President Jimmy Carter has said so.
So no, there is no unbiased, high quality mainstream media. There is only biased reporting from the right (Fox) and the left (just about everybody else).
I see. How do you define “mainstream media”? Outlets with a very large audience? In the sense that large media outlets covered Barack Obama one way, and small media outlets another?
I am unaware of any mainstream American news outlet that skews far enough left to be considered to have an Anarchist, Syndicalist, or Communist bias. Maybe Jacobin magazine, if you count it as "mainstream."
I cannot think of a single mainstream provider that is worth paying for nowadays. What I would like is some neutral fact based news. Without titles implying that one side is better than the other. (If you want an example, open CNN and read any headline about Trump).
Such a Fact based news organization doesn't exist anymore. Ever since the 2016 elections, each outlet had to dig deeper into their partisan trenches.
Since then I get my information from a mix of reading multiple news outlets, together with some independent long form podcasts that don't have as much an agenda as mainstream newspapers.
Do you want your news primarily provided by companies controlled by rich, white old men?
What conflict of interest might there be if your news sources come from a tradition which favors the American white professional class over other people in the US?
Note that historically both the powerful left and right in the US were anti-segregation. Eg, much of the US labor movement was against racial equality. So just looking at left/right doesn't give a good understanding of the biases you might come across.
There were a handful of news outlets thoroughly reporting issues between DNC and Bernie Sanders such as Huffington Post and al-jazeera.
I suppose these are not 'mainstream'? Perhaps mainstream media is defined by having a dedicated TV channel, or at least primetime TV show? Isnt it almost customary for such outlets to prioritize ratings over comprehensive coverage?
The media outlet that a person finds unbiased completely gives away their politics. FOX news = Trump base, MSNBC, CNN = Trump opposition base. NYT = moderate liberal, WSJ = moderate conservative.
That is because every media outlet is biased. I have yet to find a news source that doesn't seem to lean in one direction or the other.
With respect to "mainstream" media, it has become demonstrably more homogenized. If nothing else, because of the media conglomerates that have become increasingly dominant.
By and large, they're also correct that mainstream media is moving to the left.
Fox News yes, Breitbart nope. They haven't been in the zeitgeist for years.
Its worth nothing that although there are no strict definitions of what counts as mainstream vs independent, the populist wings of both parties loosely group them in the same buckets.
A lifetime ago, I used to consider myself populist-left and since then there hasn't been much if any difference in what I consider as mainstream.
I'd think "mainstream" would be the ones which still posit themselves as un-biased (CBS, NBC, ABC, NY Times, Wash Post, etc.).
I say the more the merrier. Let people decide.
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