Our local newspaper, the Duluth News Tribune has been accused by many, of being biased and letting that bias drive it's reporting. Any objective reader from the right or center will observe an obvious left bent to the entire management of this paper. It is apparent in editorial comments, article placement, article content and interpretation, it even shows through in their selection of photographs. If the article is about a person from the right, the photos are nearly universally unflattering. If the article is about someone from the left, it is nearly always a favorable, smiling photograph.
How does this result in damage? If they are succeeding in promoting their agenda, it is largely based on a lie. If they intend to present news, it will always be taken with a grain of salt and likely verified through some other source by those on the opposite side of the fence. Obvious, flagrant bias will alienate the lion's share of readers as those in the center or right will dismiss or unsubscribe. This has already borne itself out with Knight Ridder as a corporate interest. Stocks are flat, readership is down and the reputation has been irreversibly damaged.
The Publisher of the Tribune, Marti Buscaglia, claims this bias is necessary to appease the liberal dominated Duluth area. She represents the bias as a necessary business approach to ensure continued sales. So, what she is saying is, we can't handle the real news and we are not intelligent enough to make our own judgements. What's worse, by admitting the bias, one must only infer that the real news, presented in an unbiased manner, would not lead people to support her political agenda and by extension, she admits to publishing propaganda. The counterpoint that the Tribune is losing subscribers and damaging it's reputation is wholly dismissed. The Tribune is supposed to be a "news" paper, when it is, in-fact, selective in it's presentation of news. As consumers, we are not getting news, we are getting bits and pieces of information, carefully screened and edited in a way that promotes a given philosophy. This is ultimately, a disservice to the community and an admitted propaganda campaign.
The fact that Ms. Buscaglia admits and defends the bias should be evidence enough to the citizens of Duluth to wholly dismiss the paper and begin cancelling our subscriptions in earnest. Unfortunately, too many of us still enjoy sitting down to a cup of coffee and reading the "news" paper. Many now access the paper on-line to avoid subscribing but this doesn't fill the morning void of reading a paper. Further, we can't all sit down to our Cheerios with a laptop in front of us. In our home, I read a section, my spouse reads a section, our son, reads a section and our other son reads the comics. It pains me to continue subscribing to a paper that I know is indoctrinating a community but we all still like to sit down with our "paper".
I suppose there will come a time when we will cancel our subscription. After our children are grown and have moved out, there will be no need for a physical version and we will instead go to the cyber copy. The damage of bias is that it has cemented a bias throughout the community, lead to a foundation of ignorance and will ultimately be the undoing of the Publisher and the Company.
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8 comments:
I agree with you that the editorial board is somewhat left of center, but I think there news reporting is pretty straight forward. I think you are seeing bias when there is none.
“The fact that Ms. Bascaglia admits and defends the bias should be evidence enough…” What is your source for this? Would you post a link to an article that backs this statement up?
Knight Ridder did the best reporting on the lead up to the war in Iraq and the phantom weapons of mass destruction. Knight Ridder also owns the Pioneer Press, a paper with a right of center editorial board.
I really like the look of your blog.
Tony
What do you think the odds are against Bascaglia responding? I'd guess the odds of her responding publicly (as opposed to a phone call) are less than 10%.
I hope I'm wrong though.
This was a conversation with me and one other person, so no, there would be no link. However, Ms. Bascaglia was pretty cavalier about the whole thing and passed it off as necessary for business.
As cavalier as she was about the subject, she might still cop to it, you'd have to ask her. I find her paper's conduct recently so repugnant, I cannot find it within me to tolerate further conversations with her until they clean up their act.
Knight Ridder and all the liberal leaning press have conveniently ignored the hundreds of thousands found in the mass graves, the bodies of little children who were lined up and shot and unceremoniously bulldozed. The mas graves the size of three football fields where thousands of Iraqis were gathered and murdered.
They have conveniently ignored the fact that Saddam Hussein admired Adolph Hitler. They have conveniently ignored the many stories of successes in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They have failed to report the hundreds of tons of high explosives destroyed by our forces in Iraq. They have conveniently ignored everything positive in Iraq, not to mention, that since 9-11 we have not had another terrorist attack on American soil.
They have conveniently failed, again and again to report anything positive about what is going on in the world around us, the Hurricane Proof economy, the growth in jobs, everywhere but here in Duluth.
They have swept under the rug, the biggest challenge facing Duluth, reporting on it, only when the discussion of it reaches a roar, then quickly letting it die out.
If you feel there is balance anywhere in this paper, you must either be an employee or a DFLer. Scott Thistle's reporting on politics has such an obvious bias it is laughable.
I spoke with a representative from Connect Duluth about Scott Thistle's "interview" with him. The only way to characterize it would be confrontational. He had his mind made up before ever discussing the issues.
Yes, the Tribune is biased, Ms. Bascaglia admitted and defended it to me personally and at the time, one other person. It is an undeniable fact. Any outsider coming into Duluth would need only read it for a week to conclude the same thing.
Oh, and subdude, I couldn't help but click on your identity and check out your blog. You refer to people from the right as "idiot windbags". I assume you are biased to the left, which would explain your displeasure with my article.
PH&C:
The only people I refer to as “Idiot windbags” are right wing radio hosts.
The reason I had doubts about the veracity of your post is because I couldn't believe a publisher would say such things, but I guess she did. I can't believe Ms. Bascaglia would be so foolish. Did she actually admit to you that the reporting was biased?
The Washington Times is a moonie owned right wing paper, it's editorial page defends the administration at every turn, but it's actual reporting is pretty straight. Most reporters, unless they work for Faux News, make every effort to write and report without bias.
One more question: Why the link to the putz blog? That blog is a joke. No one reads it and no one posts comments there. Do you really think that blog is worth reading?
Aloha,
Tony
subdude,
By the way, cool name. Marti only admitted the paper had a left bias.
The link to the putzblog is there as it seems the author has tuned into Duluth and Minnesota. Mayor Bergson and "Don" Ness have both made the page. I find the general tone of the blog to be a little much but the chosen "putzes" seem appropriate. I don't know if Bergson ranks up there with Osama, but given time, who knows;)
PC&H:
Thanks for the quick reply.
I was a submariner a long time ago. I'm also a lifetime member of the VFW, but I rarely go the meetings.
I think the paper would do well to do something like what Erik H suggests in his latest post on this topic. It does seem that there are many people who are not happy with the DNT, and appointed a citizen representative would be a good idea.
Aloha,
Tony
The Tribune editorial board has secluded themselves from the mainstream in the city of Duluth and especially the rest of the Country. They owe it to themselves to make a real effort to bring some balance to their editorial approach.
A citizen representative might be one way but I would suggest they actually recruit an articulate person from the community who has a right lean to them as an advisor.
The key here is, we all have our own bias, at least to a degree. I think we would all like the assurance that every effort is being made to ensure balance.
The way to do that is not to surround yourself with yes people. The Tribune seems incapable of bringing people into the fold with different points of view, therefore, when they are about to do something really stupid, like assassinate the character of a well-respected person in the community, simply because this person has a different view, there is no check prior to publishing. So, right before they step in it, they all have little chuckle, pat each other on the back and go ahead with the stupid stunt. This is damaging to their reputation and credibility.
There has to be some give and take on their part or they will continue to lose credibility. The way to achieve it, would be to have a co-Publisher with equal editorial authority to the current publisher. Unless the format is approved by both, it won't fly. The co-Publisher would be somebody from the right side of the aisle. They would have to reach consensus or they would quickly be out of business.
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