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I wonder about the following types of things here:

Does the news media have too much power? Do they use their power to influence events and people’s perceptions?

Are we too sheep like and lap up whatever the MSM puts out there? Hardly anybody here has anything good to say about Obama in spite of all the great coverage he has gotten. Maybe people at Free Republic actually think for themselves, or can see through the media created aura that surrounds Obama, and aren’t influenced by it?

Does the media have an obligation to be more fair and balanced?

Does the MSM get too invested in their templates and story lines? For example, Obama’s win in Iowa showed that he could win in a largely white state, and also punctured Hillary’s balloon of inevitability. These are media perceptions; after Iowa and New Hampshire, only 1% of the nation’s voters had weighed in with their votes or caucus attendance. Maybe we all get too influenced by early primaries and the MSM narrative.

bottom line - everybody think for yourself. I know everyone here does, but it’s good to remind ourselves that God gave us our brains, and we should use them.

>> Does the media have an obligation to be more fair and balanced?

That’s a darn good question.

IMO the short answer is “no”. It’s an un-nuanced “no” for any form of media that is freely open to competitors (e.g. newsprint).

It may be a nuanced “no” in the case of broadcast media, where there are a limited number of broadcast channels and the government controls who gets access.

Advancing technology is rendering the “limited spectrum” issue moot, though. Satellite radio, cable, etc. will soon provide /essentially/ unlimited spectrum, and will soon be available to essentially everyone, so they’re open to competition and all viewpoints will be heard.

I hope and fervently believe that once the more sensible and workable ideas of conservatism are truly available to all, liberalism will atrophy and die out. Liberalism just doesn’t compete well in a free marketplace of ideas. It /needs/ a slanted propaganda machine to survive.

Does the media have an obligation to be more fair and balanced?

Ideally, I suuppose they would. One book I would recommend to people is "Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876" by the late William Rehnquist. The newspapers back then were very open about whom they supported and backed. Really fascinating stuff.