The Dome veers right
Conventional wisdom argues against picking fights with organizations that purchase ink by the barrel. So it's with some trepidation that I challenge what appear to be clear political biases at the O-No! Under the Dome blog. The truth is, I wish I didn't have to spend time with this. But challenge I must, because after an auspicious entry into the brave new world of the interTubes, the Dome has taken a hard right turn. I don't believe it is intentional, but it is nonetheless real.
In a quick study of Dome content focused primarily on the US Senate race over the past thirty days, I found a total of 80 posts. Eight were clearly neutral. But among the remaining posts, those expressly representing the interests of the Dole campaign outnumbered those representing the Hagan campaign by a factor of four.
I didn't make judgments about the language used (which in my view tilts hard to the right) at all. I simply evaluated the objective content of the post. For example, the posting of a Dole campaign commercial from one of the campaigns was rated strongly pro-Dole.
I'm going to tackle Perdue and McCrory next. After scrolling through a month of posts, I'm suspecting it'll be even more tilted in favor of Republicans than I found in the Senate race. I hope I'm wrong.
- James's blog
- 2774 reads
I'll be adding more to this later today
I just did month of August for every post and putting that together now. It's an eye-opener.
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
It's even worse for think tanks
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Jesus Swept, so you can come clean.
Your breakdown
I'd be interested in seeing your breakdown of the posts.
I take exception to labeling a post that simply shows a TV ad as biased, though. I have posted every ad that's run on North Carolina TV stations. (As a policy, I don't post national cable ads such as the ones McCain's run.)
Thanks!
— RTB
The breakdown I have is the breakdown I've reported
I'm not saying any particular post is biased, I'm saying your blog gives disproportionate coverage to Dole's campaign. By reporting whatever shows up on your doorstep, you've set the Dome up to be used by whichever campaign is willing to throw more stuff your way. And we all know Dole is good at shoveling.
I get that you're between a rock and a hard place. You have to go with what you get. And I also admit that the right wing in North Carolina is flat-out better at manipulating the media than the lefties are. O-No!'s continuing over-reliance on JLF "experts," for example, shows that old habits die hard.
J
PS I set up a coding scheme ... just like I used to do in J-school ... to get as objective a look as possible. And I'm trying to get a class at the school to test my hypothesis in a more disciplined way ... over a longer period of time. I'm sure some professor would be happy to encourage that research if you asked.
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Jesus Swept, so you can come clean.
The breakdown
I think I wasn't clear. I see how you've coded the posts, but I don't know which posts you are saying were pro-Dole, pro-Hagan, etc.
Thanks!
— RTB
Perhaps that run of 19 out 0f 20 conservative leaning
posts over at the Dome that I spotted back in early July wasn't an anomaly after all.
Try some honesty. It is what it is.
You've looked into the darkness one time too many. (probably can't help it being an NO employee.)
Person County Democrats
Environmental Defense Fund
Cell phones will be to the 21st century what tobacco was to the 20th.
Don't worry
Two highest-profile stories to come out of North Carolina in the last couple of years were the Crystal-Mangum-rape-hoax /Mike-Nifong-rape-frame and the John Edwards affair. Both were right under the nose of the N&O. They jumped on the first and were badly badly wrong until facts forced them to acknowledge it and they studiously ignored the second until facts forced them to acknowledge it.
With reporting like that, their creditably is zero. The N&O is shedding readers, ad revenue and staff. Don't worry, they won't be around for much longer. They, and all the other newspapers, are going to have to give up their news monopoly and figure out how to compete with plenty of other voices. And that includes BlueNC. (You do notice, don't you, that I am over here interacting with people with whom I'm bound to disagree. Ten years ago, I couldn't really do that in the N&O.) I, for one, look forward to the day when dead trees don't show up in my driveway every morning.
If you think the N&O is some kind of right-wing newspaper, you do realize how out of touch you are with so much of the rest of the state of NC, don't you? Maybe they've finally figured out that half the state leans conservative and/or votes Republican on occasion. Maybe this is their last ditch effort to save themselves by showing a tiny little bit of balance.
Locomotive Breath
Hmmmm.... They write more positive stories about Republicans than Democrats and you call that balance?
Journalists shouldn't play to the base and call that balance. Sure things won't be perfectly even, but it should be close at least on a monthly basis. Now, I keep in mind that the Dome is a blog and some opinion is going to play out with any facts reported, but if that is the case then RTB and Bill should shout from the rooftops that The Dome is a partisan blog and not a neutral news source.
That's the problem really. It isn't that The Dome leans, it is that The Dome lies about the fact that it leans by denying it.
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
Exactly the difference between us and them.
We are a Democratic blog. You will find posts here that deal in facts, you will find posts here that are merely passionate, but you won't find anyone here going out of their way to be fair to Elizabeth Dole. I'm sure she has done something worthwhile during her time. But, she has done a lot of harm and that is what we are going to focus upon.
The N&O and its associated blog are supposed to be news. Now, I don't mind if they write a blog post ripping Kay Hagan's ad to pieces because it was unfair. So long as they are doing the same thing with Liddy Dole. I really think the purpose of news is to investigate, report, and editorialize. Yes, editorialize.
I hate these news shows that bring in two people from opposing sides, ask them leading questions, let them yell at each other for 5 minutes and then move on to the next topic. That isn't news. But, at the same time if you report the news and then editorialize for one candidate in a positive way and the other candidate in a negative way, then that is propaganda.
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
The Dome dis-cusses
Good for Ryan for shining a light on this issue on his own blog. The Great Oz has even stepped out from behind his curtain with a comment that's almost funny, in a smarmy sort of way.
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Jesus Swept, so you can come clean.
There is a lot at Stake in our State
The pressure must be on to make sure folks "know" the truth. So if we dont send enough fluff to the news outlets, it is too bad for us.
You would not want folks to actually vote Democratic would ya? the Republican Party works hard to keep the journalists informed.
Thanks James for alerting us. I knew there was a reason I rarely read that paper. After thirty years I canceled my subscription. too biased.
TurnNCBlue