Media Bias and Accuracy

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by geoffw, 11th May, 2020.

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  1. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    There has been plenty of coverage on the BLM protest. Every major news outlet, as far as I can see, has covered the planned protest, the court ruling, and the plans for the protest to go ahead.

    On the one side of the political spectrum, there has been plenty of outrage. Much of it is from the same people who would condemn the BLM marches irrespective of Covid-19.

    On tho other side, it has been pointed out that there are no confirmed cases of transmission from the protests which have already taken place. Six people who attended marches and who have Covid-19 have not had any transmission demonstrated to have come from the march.

    Transmission appears to be far higher for indoor events than outdoor. Most of the protesters wore masks anyway.

    I'd rather concentrate on keeping life safe for everybody. People saying that they have a right not to wear a mask are potentially far more dangerous than a small group of protesters.
     
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  2. MTR

    MTR Well-Known Member

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    Ok sounds you are not watching mainstream media
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 27th Jul, 2020
  3. MTR

    MTR Well-Known Member

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    I just hope the government does not buckle like last time where they did not fine any protesters. Poor leadership in all States.

    If there is a repeat, you will certainly see some very angry people. Whether there were reported cases from last protest or not is totally irrelevant.

    No wonder people are upset at these double standards. The reaction over masks and the reaction over BLM is chalk and cheese and evident even on this forum.

    We dont know the number of protestors and we do know it will be very hard to control a crowd and how do u self distance??
     
    Last edited: 27th Jul, 2020
  4. George Smiley

    George Smiley Well-Known Member

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    This. What they are protesting about should be irrelevant. The probability of transmission might be lower than other events/situations but it is still there so it looks rather selfish to me and sends the wrong message.
     
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  5. shorty

    shorty Well-Known Member

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    If you are Indigenous, you might have a view that police and the justice system pose a threat to your health that is worth protesting about. Others might support your cause.

    The cause is far from irrelevant. The timing is unfortunate though.
     
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  6. MTR

    MTR Well-Known Member

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    Yes

    But what is gobsmacking is such minimal coverage by media on BLM compared to the mask issue which has sent everyone into hysteria.

    lets see how government and media deal with this on the day

    its political hot potato
     
    Last edited: 27th Jul, 2020
  7. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    Minimal coverage in the media?

    I found coverage of the Sydney march, and of the court case, in 9 News, The Guardian, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News, 7 News, SBS News, and the Daily Telegraph. There are probably more. I wouldn't call that minimal coverage - except that it's limited to the Australian publications with Sydney or national reporting which I could think of.

    Yet people not wearing masks, not social distancing, and not maintaining hand hygiene are potentially far more destructive to the health of Australian society than a march in Sydney with a few hundred marchers.

    News media outlets are reactive, not prescriptive. They don't cover stories just because they want people to behave in a certain way. They know exactly what stories people read - they can count the clicks, and the amount of time spent on any given page. So they will write stories that make people want to read them. They earn their money from this.

    Of course, they have their biases. But people read them for their biases, and click accordingly. Outlets which are right leaning are outraged about the health risks of the BLM march - the same outlets who are outraged about the politics behind the BLM march. This is in reaction to the politics of the people reading those outlets.

    People will probably not tend to click on an article about how we should wash our hands, or be outraged about the number of people not wearing a mask. They do however click on stories about one outraged woman without a mask in Bunnings.

    It's not the media, it's the media consumers.
     
  8. George Smiley

    George Smiley Well-Known Member

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    Surely it just comes down to what way the outlet is genuinely aligned. Sky News, Telegraph, 2GB are probably all going pretty hard on the BLM protest.

    Poorly worded on my part. I was not commenting on the cause itself, I meant the protesters cause is irrelevant in relation to whether they should be marching or not during a pandemic.
     
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  9. turk

    turk Well-Known Member

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    What has grabbed the attention of the media consumers here, BLM or masks.

    @wylie, @geoffw , @MTR and @Lizzie what would the ratio of your comments regarding BLM to masks be?
     
  10. MTR

    MTR Well-Known Member

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    Yet the rhetoric in media is the last BLM never caused any new cases, that’s nice, slap on the wrist with a feather duster

    Just saying...... if government dont fine people and control this it will show lack of leadership and clearly double standards.
     
  11. shorty

    shorty Well-Known Member

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    No, I understood what you meant. Just pointing out that it's not necessarily a binary choice and there are other serious health risks for some people that are not limited to COVID-19. It's a very difficult issue because the BLM groundswell is happening now and there is probably a fear that it will peter out if the momentum is not maintained.

    I do agree that it's not ideal for protests to happen during a pandemic.
     
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  12. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    Yes, I'm sure that those outlets are outraged that it should be happening.

    While it is a matter of which way an outlet is aligned, there is also a feedback loop. People follow those outlets because they reflect their own opinions. If people started not to read stories, the viewpoint of the media outlets may well be changing.
     
  13. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm sure you could search for each user and find out.

    But I'm not quite sure how that's relevant to the thread topic of Media Bias and Accuracy?
     
  14. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    There is massive coverage - perhaps you need to expand your news sources

    As for "fining people" - well - the march hasn't even happened yet so a bit hard to fine people in advance. We don't live in The Minority Report yet (unless one is in Portland and gets bundled into an unmarked van "just in case" you might do something illegal)
     
  15. turk

    turk Well-Known Member

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    Reading this forum it seems to me that there is much more posted on the mask issue rather than the BLM issue and as internet forums are part of the media and the topic of this thread is 'Media Bias and Accuracy' how is it not relevant?

    I would suggest that you look up the meaning of media because if you are trying to limit the definition of media you need to work on your bias and accuracy.:D
     
    Last edited: 27th Jul, 2020
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  16. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    So any discussion on the media needs to include posts on Facebook, Twitter, discussion forums - any web page anywhere?

    And this discussion is no longer about the media in general, it's about what I am posting personally?

    Why would it be an issue if I've posted more about masks than about Black Lives Matter? Or vice versa? Masks have been a discussion point for quite a while now, they are relevant to everybody's safety, all the time. So I'm guessing that I'm not the only person to have posted more about masks than BLM. Why is that a problem?
     
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  17. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I'd say my comments would be about the same for each since both are current topics these past few days on PC, but you can check that if you wish. I can't imagine that one person's interest in one topic on one forum will prove anything though.

    Keep in mind that the BLM topic is newer than the issue of masks though, (seeing masks have been discussed for nearly six months now and the planned BLM protest has only been raised here few days ago) so perhaps it is not equal. I feel strongly about both.

    I haven't yet worn a mask, but that is because right now in Brisbane it is not an issue. When our cases start to rise (and I feel sure they will) I'll change my habits on masks.

    I would march and support any BLM issue, but not during a pandemic.
     
    Last edited: 27th Jul, 2020
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