Major Media Bias Towards NSA Defenders

from the and-they-attack-others? dept

Fri, Nov 8th 2013 11:18am — Mike Masnick

One of the more ridiculous arguments against Glenn Greenwald (and others, but mainly Greenwald) concerning the Snowden NSA revelations is that Greenwald is somehow "biased," rather than an objective reporter. Of course, there's this myth of the objective reporter out there, which in practice tends to not actually do journalism (the search for truth) but stenography (repeating what someone tells you). Too often "objective journalism" means he said/she said journalism, where equal weight is given to all kinds of ideas, no matter how ludicrous. If you're actually searching for truth, then there's no problem calling out something as being wrong when it is, in fact, wrong. But, even more ridiculous is that the claims of "objective media" also whitewash the fact that those media players are clearly extremely biased as well.

Take, for example, the episode of Face the Nation, which aired on Sunday, November 3rd. A major point of discussion? The Snowden NSA revelations. The guests to discuss it? Senator Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Mike Rogers, and former NSA boss Michael Hayden. Basically, those three are the biggest defenders of the NSA outside of current NSA employees. To argue that this isn't a clear "bias" is ridiculous. But at least Greenwald is clear where he stands. CBS and Face the Nation still pretend that they're objective.

That may be just one example, but a new study by the Columbia Journalism Review showed that major media sources were uniformly biased in favor of the government. They scoured the four largest newspapers in the US: the NY Times, USA Today, the LA Times and the Washington Post. They had a list of pro- and anti-surveillance words that they used to determine whether or not the general tone of coverage in these newspapers was to support the NSA or to be critical of it. It won't surprise many around here to find that it was overwhelmingly supportive of the government. The major newspapers apparently aren't that big on speaking truth to power.

USA Today led the pack, using pro-surveillance terms 36 percent more frequently than anti-surveillance terms. The LA Times followed at 24 percent, while The New York Times was at 14.1 percent. Even the Washington Post, where Barton Gellman was the first US journalist to break the news of the NSA’s surveillance, exhibited a net pro-surveillance bias in its coverage of 11.1 percent. Although keyword frequency analysis on its own is not always conclusive, large, consistent discrepancies of the kind observed here strongly suggest a net media bias in favor of the US and UK governments’ pro-surveillance position.

As CJR points out, this finding also suggests that the claim from NSA defenders that all of the hubbub over spying is merely a "media creation" may not be true either. The major media is leaning towards the NSA's side of the debate.

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Filed Under: bias, face the nation, journalism, media, nsa

31 Comments

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out_of_the_blue, 8 Nov 2013 @ 11:38am

You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
But I'm afraid that you (and apparently other noobs) think it's your original discovery. -- You conclude lamely that media is "leaning" toward NSA. That's why I read Techdirt, to have Mike's opinion validate the bleeding obvious. -- Big Media is not just biased, but utterly controlled by The Establishment. Almost nothing gets out except intended. -- AND relevantly here, when Big Media picks up a story, tends to indicate a wanted psyop. That's part of why I think the Snowden "leak" is a psyop: otherwise Big Media would resolutely ignore it.
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Aaron (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 11:47am

Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
That's why I read Techdirt, [sarcastic reason]

You raise a really good point here. Why do you read techdirt?
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JWW (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 11:58am

Disconnect
I think there is a serious disconnect about how the government and the media feel about NSA snooping and how the general public feels.
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Gwiz (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 11:59am

Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
Big Media is not just biased, but utterly controlled by The Establishment. Almost nothing gets out except intended.

I actually agree with you on this one. This is something I've been aware of since I was a teenager in the late 70's. It's why I've always supplemented my information with non-MSM sources. The truth usually runs somewhere in the middle of the two.

But, when a story becomes as widespread as the Snwoden revelations, it eventually reaches a point where it can no longer be ignored by MSM because it undermines their manufactured illusion of objectivity they need to survive. The internet age has greatly magnified this phenomenon.
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John Fenderson (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:01pm

Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
That's hardly an opinion that is unique to conservatism. It cuts across ideological lines.
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weneedhelp (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:05pm

Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
C'mon blue... what? Do you think MSM like CNN would "produce" the news as a propaganda tool to sell the governments position on things:
watch?v=ApZDJo5wsH4

I mean its not like they would use blue screens and place "anchors" in the same parking lot claiming to be a satellite interview:
watch?v=xdK26vO6wtQ

What kind of conspiracy would it take to keep all involved quiet:
watch?v=TOzRwwtk7q8

[insert life-sized sarcasm tag here]
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:08pm

Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
I dunno. Personally, I don't think anyone in the ruling class would willingly embark on an elaborate scheme to make themselves look like psychotic idiots. They're too egotistical to go along with a plan that includes making them look bad, and they're too self-centered to even consider making any sort of personal sacrifice for a larger cause.

As ever, I'm inclined to apply Hanlon's razor: the people running the US government are exactly as stupid as they appear to be.
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Namel3ss (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:10pm

Re: Disconnect
I think there is a serious disconnect between the government and the media, and the general public.

FTFY
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scrivener50 (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:25pm

As seen on Twitter...
MSM AWOL ON NSA/CYBERCOM CELLTWR NEUROWEAPON COVERT TORTURE, SCALAR ELECTROMAG WEAPONS(NEW NUKES): journo http://viclivingston.blogspot.com/2011/12/u.html
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scrivener50 (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:29pm

My post was just CENSORED via phony "comment moderation" message
This was NOT TechDirt's doing...but is the apparent illicit "tradecraft" of a covert military contractor/U.S. government censorship regime this journo has exposed here:

viclivingston(dot)blogspot(dot)com/2013/06/us-cyber-commandlockheed-martin.html
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The Real Michael, 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:36pm

This article immediately grabbed my attention
Just last night on the CBS Evening News, they ran a segment attempting to paint whistleblowers as compromising both the US and Britain's ability to eavesdrop on terrorists. They claimed that top British spies already thwarted something like 37 terrorist attacks. I believe that they're lying in order to cover their asses.

Judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7v2qZx4Rg8

I considered this "news" segment to be state propaganda.

There's absolutely no legitimate reason for the government to be allowed to erode our Constitutional rights under any circumstances.
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The Real Michael, 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:43pm

Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
My mistake: 34 attacks thwarted. Nevertheless, I'm not buying it.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 12:46pm

Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
Furthermore, if you actually watched the Face the Nation segment with Rogers, after letting that whopper of claim come out of his mouth last week about how a person's privacy can't be violated if they don't know that their privacy was being violated, not even once did they bring it up and ask him to defend that statement. Yet (and I am not saying that they should or should not be doing this one) they continue to hammer ad nauseum the President's words when he said that people could keep their existing health plans which appears to be largely true for the vast majority of people and has a very reasonable explanation as to why for the very small percentage of people where this turned out not to be true.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 1:16pm

Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
That segment isn't quite as bad as you make it sound. They are simply reporting on the claims that the British Intelligence is making. There really isn't much in there to implicate that they are supporting those claims. While I agree that they ARE biased, I don't think that that segment is a very good example of it once I looked at it.
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Baldaur Regis (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 1:32pm

Re: Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
There's a theory that states the larger the organization, the less personal responsibility each individual member feels towards the success of that organization, thereby enabling the Second Law of Dynamic Laziness: In the absence of sufficient motivation, a person's laziness trends towards maximum entropy.

The MSM aren't individually stupid; there's just no reason for them to do more than the minimum requirement for their employment: reading whatever press release someone hands them.

Likewise with the NSA - it's just easier for them to, for example, walk into the Level 3 Communications office and demand they install a tap, rather than do something cool and clandestine like digging up a fiber bundle out in the woods and actually splicing their own fucking taps.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 2:37pm

Selling Access for Compliance
This has been known as a dirty trick going on since at /very least/ the W Bush days. Give access to exclusives for those who report what you want to and slam the gates on any actual journalists. Really this abuse is long overdue for equal press access laws to the white house. Left unchecked it ends up a regime of censorship through legalized bribery (they make money on those exclusives and a bribe is a bribe whether in cash, gold, illegal drugs, hookers, or act-able/salable information).
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The Real Michael, 8 Nov 2013 @ 2:38pm

Re: Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
This is by no means some one-off event; it's become a recurring theme with MSM outlets. You'd be hard-pressed to single out a mainstream news show, particularly any of the primetime ones, absent a segment without pro-government spin. Even the local news shows are riddled with thinly-veiled political agenda.
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[REDACTED], 8 Nov 2013 @ 2:41pm

Re: My post was just CENSORED via phony "comment moderation" message
Thank you for your interest. Currently, all of our "the-government-is-poisoning-our-brains-via-cellphone-towers" crackpot theorist positions are filled. If an opening becomes available, rest assured we will consider your application at that time, and no further communication is necessary.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 3:46pm

The US isn't the only place where this is happening. Not only are the media not interested in pointing out obvious lies and flaws, but here in Denmark they translate statements wrong. Take for example the news about Angela Merkel's phone being tapped. The original statement is something along the lines of "We do not and will not in the future tap her phone" leaving out the obvious: but what about in the past?... here it was translated as "we have never tapped her phone" which changes the statement drastically.
In my eyes it is the medias duty to at least translate it correctly and in addition, to point out the obvious wordplay used to mislead.
It can easily be done in a neutral fashion without taking sides, allowing people to make their own decisions; like so: "Actions taken in the past were not mentioned".

With so much focus from the people in power on using misleading words, we need the media to do their jobs and ask the hard questions. Right now it just feels like they have been bought.. even here.
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JackOfShadows (profile), 8 Nov 2013 @ 4:22pm

Not suprising
It isn't surprising to find that the interests of the media and the state are best served together. Media, and I'm speaking of the classical case not internet, requires access to those in the state and the coin of the realm there is publishing the views of those that serve the state. It doesn't hurt in the more modern (internet) sense that the threats to classic media do not usually have such access. BTW, the state understands the bargain quite well, snubbing "lesser channels" in favor of the established media.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 5:33pm

No risk of objectivity here
They should look towards TD for real bias in 'journalism'.

if you can call Government hate speech 'journalism', or what Masnick does to be journalism.. I don't.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 5:56pm

Re: No risk of objectivity here
I knew this would come... Techdirt has never pretended to be neutral. This is a blog expressing a point of view in the subject of powerful people who abuse their power.
The more general media does however claim they are neutral and are, in my country, considered public service. Public service is supposed to represent as much of the public as possible and not take sides.

Lastly I do not see you loving your government... if you did, you would want to improve it, not just keep silent and fall in line. A government is not the people in power. It is a concept; one which has been eroded and malformed.
You are impressively ignorant if you think that we want no government just because we protest its actions.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 6:33pm

Re: No risk of objectivity here
" or what Masnick does to be journalism.. I don't."

Journalism is the search for truth? No?
Yet you're not arguing he's wrong, so it must be good journalism, maybe even the best kind.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 7:03pm

Re: Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
out_of_the_blue doesn't "read" Techdirt. He's made that clear on multiple occasions. He uses it as a medium to showcase his idiocy.

Why does he do that, though, is anyone's guess.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2013 @ 7:10pm

Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
Try not to stop any more terrorist attacks on your way through the parking lot!
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Ali Sternburg, 8 Nov 2013 @ 9:00pm

Who are the idiots at the EFF?

We have global surveillance, and the best they can get is 22 people?

This is why we keep losing, our views are too nuanced.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Nov 2013 @ 5:01am

Re:
We have global surveillance, and the best they can get is 22 people?

Ok - who is the "we" you are speaking of? And who are the 22 people?

This is why we keep losing

Again who's the "we" and what is that "we" are "losing"?
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The Real Michael, 9 Nov 2013 @ 5:16am

Re: Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
Do you consider around 1.6 million people losing their health coverage to be a small issue? I'd also like to remind you that the full effects of the ACA won't fully kick into gear until sometime next year, which was done by design in order to mitigate political fallout.
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The Real Michael, 9 Nov 2013 @ 5:25am

Re: Re: This article immediately grabbed my attention
Well don't worry, pretty soon they'll have drones, body scanners and TSA squads to molest you everywhere you go. For your own safety, of course. Just like the people in California and New Mexico whom the police recently subjected to anal cavity searches. One poor guy they did it to eight times in a row, including a colonostopy. And get this: they sent him the bill for the procedure.

What a country.
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techflaws (profile), 9 Nov 2013 @ 11:18pm

Re: No risk of objectivity here
At least Mike's opinions are based on facts rather than inane hyperbole. Can't say that of your ramblings.
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Pragmatic, 11 Nov 2013 @ 3:44am

Re: Re: Re: You are slowly re-capitulating the good parts of 1980's conservatism.
Methinks the plan is to win followers to a political movement that's all about bashing Mike, teh googlez, and "The Rich" and worshiping copyright for its own sake, or something.
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