Bloggers often criticize the MSM, or mainstream media, for what gets covered and how. Certainly there’s a lot to critize–but not necessarily along the political barricades bloggers typically man.
For example, FoxNews is often criticized as the Orwellian opposite to its “fair and balanced” slogan, generally promoting the Republican/conservative line.
But what’s more interesting in terms of the news that doesn’t get covered by Fox (and other Fox-owned news outlets like SkyTV and the NY Post) are issues of democracy, religious liberty, human rights, forced sterilization under the one-child policy and anything else touchy on China.
As the world’s largest Communist country, China, like North Korea and Venezuela, would be a natural target of Fox commentators, but according to reporters at the equally conserative Wall Street Journal, “News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has a well-documented history of making editorial decisions in order to advance his business interests in China and, indeed, of sacrificing journalistic integrity to satisfy personal or political aims.” Fox has been conducting a China news blackout for years.
On the other side of the political divide, the Los Angeles Times is typically seen as a liberal publication. Yet respected reporter Nancy Cleeland is leaving the publication in frustration at the Times’ lack of labor coverage. Money quote:
“The Los Angeles region is defined by gaping income disparities and an enormous pool of low-wage immigrant workers, many of whom are pulled north by lousy, unstable jobs. It’s also home to one of the most active and creative labor federations in the country. But you wouldn’t know any of that from reading a typical issue of the L.A. Times, in print or online. Increasingly anti-union in its editorial policy, and celebrity — and crime-focused in its news coverage, it ignores the economic discontent that is clearly reflected in ethnic publications such as La Opinion.”
Of course, she’s leaving with 55 other editorial staffers, a cutback in the face of structural change and dire revenue loss . But things haven’t changed much in the 30 years since my father, a teacher’s union chapter chairman, told me that you’ll never see fair labor coverage in a newspaper because they’re employers themselves.
Whether a media outlet is left or right-leaning, commercial considerations always always influence editorial direction.