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Peter Jennings Admits He Doesn't Require Reporters To Be "Objective."
KETV / ABC-TV 7 in Omaha ^

Posted on 10/20/2004 6:28:43 AM PDT by MindBender26

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- ABC news anchor Peter Jennings said he's getting an earful on media coverage.

Jennings is on a swing through battleground states, including Iowa and Missouri, where polls show the race could go either to President George W. Bush or Sen. John Kerry.

Jennings gets questions about a CBS report on Bush's National Guard service, for which CBS news anchor Dan Rather later apologized and said the story was a mistake. He's also asked about Sinclair Broadcasting's decision to air a controversial documentary on Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam war record. Another big question regards an ABC internal memo from the political director suggesting that reporters need not "reflexively" hold both sides of the presidential election "equally" accountable.

Jennings said the media is now under the hot lights.

"I'm a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective," Jennings said.

Jennings said that everyone -- even journalists -- have points of view through which they filter their perception of the news. It could be race, sex or income. But, he said, reporters are ideally trained to be as objective as possible.

"And when we don't think we can be fully objective, to be fair," the anchorman said.

Does the public think network news is fair? There are a number of opinion polls that show news consumers feel that the media does have a slant.

Jennings maintains those polls may be driven by groups with an agenda.

"There's a whole industry of conservatives saying, 'Ah, it's those damn liberals,' and a whole group of liberals saying, 'It's all those damn conservatives,'" Jennings said.

The problematic response, Jennings said, is the way people tailor the way they consume news.

"If you tailor your news viewing, as some people are now doing, so that you only get one point of view, well of course you're going to think somebody else has got a different point of view, and it may be wrong," Jennings said


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
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To: PersonEatingTastyAnimals

Well, what say we give ABC's chain a yank...

E-mail World "News" Tonight at: NETAUDR@abc.com


21 posted on 10/20/2004 7:01:53 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
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To: MindBender26
"And when we don't think we can be fully objective, to be fair," the anchorman said.

Slanted, but fair - the latest MSM oxymoron...

22 posted on 10/20/2004 7:02:19 AM PDT by trebb (Ain't God good . . .)
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To: SE Mom

Is Jennings a member?


23 posted on 10/20/2004 7:03:36 AM PDT by thingumbob (Kerry/Edwards are sKerry/Leftwards)
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To: MindBender26
" 'I'm a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective,' " Jennings said.

Jennings was one of those talking heads who refused to wear a flag lapel pin as a show of solidarity after 9/11/01, because it would ruin his objectivity.

24 posted on 10/20/2004 7:04:47 AM PDT by cake_crumb (UN Resolutions=Very Expensive, Very SCRATCHY Toilet Paper)
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To: MindBender26
"And when we don't think we can be fully objective, to be fair," the anchorman said.

The end is hopefully near. They have been pretending that having 90% Democrats in a newsroom or university administration was of no consequence because they were trained to be objective. Hopefully this is a sign the cat will be officially out of the bag and even the nonpolitical savvy will see they are being manipulated.

25 posted on 10/20/2004 7:12:08 AM PDT by briant
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To: MindBender26
have points of view through which they filter their perception of the news.

We can lie if we want...relativism is killing our coun try. Go back to Canada Peter!

26 posted on 10/20/2004 7:12:30 AM PDT by ThomasMore (Pax et bonum!)
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To: MindBender26
the way people tailor the way they consume news"

What a whiner!

Isn't it awful that the audience can actually make choices these days about news they consume? Just about any choice one makes will no longer peg the meter to the Left as it did in the MSM heydays!

Too bad, Petah!

HF

27 posted on 10/20/2004 7:15:45 AM PDT by holden
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To: 1Old Pro

Jennings, Rather and Brokaw no longer hold the franchise.


28 posted on 10/20/2004 7:18:33 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: vrwinger
Agreed. But for me it became very easy to detect the reporter's bias as I got older.

The newsreader (Jennings, Brokaw, or Rather) would announce something along the lines of how people are hurting (almost always during a Republican admin) over name your subject etc. and now we go to Anywhere U.S.A. for a report about how people are hurting concerning whatever. The first person interviewed would be moaning and whining about something, many times mentioning how some cut in some gov program was hurting them. Then they'd interview someone from the admin saying the opposite.

Then the last soundbite would always be the original person being interviewed or some liberal or far-left hack who commiserated with the interviewee. That would also be the opinion of the network doing the "objective" report. Then the reporter would end the interview with a sad face confirming for everyone how the nasty, anti-poor, tax cut had hurt this average American and millions like him or her. And of course the newsreader would look thoughtful and caring as the reporter concluded his or her misinformation. That's how they've done it for many years and still do it on the Big Three.

29 posted on 10/20/2004 7:21:04 AM PDT by driftless ( For life-long happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: MindBender26

Bump/ping for later read.


30 posted on 10/20/2004 7:22:01 AM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace (Michael <a href = "http://www.michaelmoore.com/" title="Miserable Failure">"Miserable Failure"</a>)
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To: driftless
Bernard Goldberg's Bias discussed this approach to "reporting" in great detail. The thing was, it never occurred to the reporter to do it any other way. They agreed with the "hurting" person's perspective and presenting it another way was just out of their world view of reporting such things. But, I think, it is slowly changing based on all the attention it is receiving.
31 posted on 10/20/2004 7:30:01 AM PDT by vrwinger (Need some wood?)
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To: MindBender26
"I'm a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective," Jennings said.

No wonder FNC's "Fair and Balanced" concept has taken off like a rocket!

32 posted on 10/20/2004 7:33:20 AM PDT by TXnMA (If your highest virtue is tolerance, then you have no others.)
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To: MindBender26

Jennings, Mr. Canadian. He may be a U.S. citizen now, but he's still a Canadian in his thinking.


33 posted on 10/20/2004 7:35:50 AM PDT by Jenya (I'm a newbie here, but not to life. Don't even think of imposing your seniority on me.)
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To: Peter Jennings
The point isn't that they were sloppy, it is that they would never have aggressively gone after a story like this against a Democrat.

The non-story of Kerry's SF180 is proof of this...

34 posted on 10/20/2004 7:38:19 AM PDT by TXnMA (If your highest virtue is tolerance, then you have no others.)
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To: MindBender26
Snippets of a quote found in Jaques Barzun's "From Dawn To Decadence" p. 684....notice the date!

"The main business of the Press, supposedly is news."
"....the newspapers print an awful lot of phoney news. News is what the Press produces. Most of the world's "news" is manufactured by the press itself...."
"A large part of the Press has in effect abandoned the pretence of dealing exclusively with facts." - T.S. Mathews (1959)

Beating a dead horse, I know. Old media has been dying for awhile, I'd say.

35 posted on 10/20/2004 7:45:23 AM PDT by 1john2 3and4 (Proud member of PAJAMAREPUBLIC)
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To: MindBender26

Jennings didn't finish high school, so forget about 4 years of J-school.


36 posted on 10/20/2004 7:45:36 AM PDT by Cooter
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To: MindBender26

37 posted on 10/20/2004 8:03:15 AM PDT by JoJo Gunn (Help control the Leftist population - have them spayed or neutered.©)
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To: MindBender26

If you tailor your news viewing, as some people are now doing, so that you only get one point of view, well of course you're going to think somebody else has got a different point of view, and it may be wrong," Jennings said

Exactly. When the public caught on to the liberal slant--and found they had a choice with internet and Fox news--they voted with their feet, leaving the MSM.


38 posted on 10/20/2004 8:27:13 AM PDT by wildbill
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To: MindBender26

Ok!!!! here is the reason the media keeps saying the country is so "divided." Because NOW they are being openly questioned about their objectivity by enough voices that are loud enogh to be heard over their propaganda. The "alphabets" (ABC,CBS, NBC) no longer have a monopoly on the news media. They no longer have the influence to dimiss those who disagree (alternative news sources) as "kooks". What we are seeing is a long overdue demise of their agenda.

"CRASH-N-BURN SNOTTY MEDIA ELITES!!"...your ratings are only going to get worse.


39 posted on 10/20/2004 8:35:45 AM PDT by Doberman
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To: MindBender26
"If you tailor your news viewing, as some people are now doing, so that you only get one point of view, well of course you're going to think somebody else has got a different point of view, and it may be wrong," Jennings said

Jennings is describing his own viewers.

Sanctimonious liberal snot.

40 posted on 10/20/2004 8:46:12 AM PDT by Tom Bombadil
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