Fox News, MSNBC Biased Yesterday, Must Be Accurate Today, Insist Americans

I find it fascinating that half of Americans scoff at Fox News as a source for slanted, distorted news and outright lies while the other half of Americans scoff at MSNBC as a source of slanted, distorted

Each half of America is sure the other half of America has it wrong.
Courtesy Hard Rock Libertarians.

news and outright lies. Yet the half of Americans that yesterday scoffed at Fox News today believes its coverage of the alleged mail bombs to be basically accurate, correct and reported with some newly found journalistic integrity. And the half of Americans that yesterday scoffed at MSNBC today believes its coverage of the alleged mail bombs to be basically accurate, correct and reported with some newly found journalistic integrity. The only real difference is in how they assign blame to one side or the other side. 

Why the sudden acceptance that what's shown on TV today must now be the truth when just hours earlier people were so sure the TV news was feeding them almost nothing but outright lies?

UPDATE: Squirrel Hill

And now the Squirrel Hill shooting. This story is so emotionally disturbing that the media must be reporting it truthfully. The media may be slanting, distorting and lying about almost everything else - but not this story. The reporting on Squirrel Hill synagogue must be accurate...and the mail bombs - accurate. It's everything else that is slanted, distorted or a lie. And Pulse Nightclub. The reporting on Squirrel Hill, the mail bombs and Pulse Nightclub is 100% accurate. Except for those stories, all other news coverage is slanted, distorted or a lie. Oh, and except for the Las Vegas shooting - there were no holes in the reporting for the Vegas shooting. And the migrant caravans - biased news coverage. Except for those stories, everything else shown on the TV news must be accurate, correct and reported with journalistic integrity...

Follow @PaulEntin

Subtle Media Manipulation, Part 1: Syria

Fox News Anchor Martha McCallum asked recently how we got to the point where we’re about to invade Syria, then turned to a timeline of events. It was certainly a sensible idea to regroup and assess the facts. 

However, the timeline began with the rebels engaged in fighting the Assad regime. This implies that we, the United States, are mere bystanders in a civil war, that we are heroically and grudgingly entering a conflict already in progress to set peace in motion. There is no discussion about events that predate the Fox timeline, no questions asking how the rebels secured weapons and money, why they would fight against Assad or from where these rebels came. The Fox News timeline leads to the conclusion that we must remove the evil Assad from power to save his oppressed people. 

But if the timeline were shifted back to the left then it would be clear that the United States via the CIA played a key role in destabilizing Syria and promoting the rebellion. This helps explain why the President supports arming and funding these rebels today. We've been doing it for years. But none of it adequately explains why American lives and money must be spent in Syria. 
  
Special thanks to the person (unknown) who created the image.
Follow @PaulEntin

Poor AP Reporting of Fatal Train Accident

Came across an AP story in the PD&D Design Daily email that stated the train engineer who drove his passenger train into a freight train (http://www.pddnet.com/Scripts/ShowPR~RID~25979.asp) sent 43 text messages from the cab that day and spent ample time talking on his cell phone. I was more bothered by the AP reporter, per this letter I sent to the editor of PD&D:

David, I know it's an AP story so this complaint really is with AP's reporting but since I found it via PD&D Design Daily, I'll state it for you (and your readers if you like): the AP reporter quoted only one person in the piece, a union representative who - what a surprise - wants two engineers on the payroll to perform the job of one engineer. Is there no one anywhere in the world the reporter could have quoted to comment on whether that's a good idea? Now I'm not a trained engineer but I'm pretty sure talking on a cell phone and sending 43 text messages while driving a train increases the risk of a deadly collision or other accident. How odd the union representative neglected to comment on the engineer's performance or its potential impact on the accident. And why that wasn't the lead in the story may lead one to infer the AP reporter carries a union card.
Regards,
Paul Entin
www.eprmarketing.com
Follow @PaulEntin