From left to right:
The Real News Network – left-wing, anti-war, anti-racist. Lets ordinary Black people talk at length, and Black scholars too. Examines racism in Baltimore at length. Knows about Cointelpro. Good on US foreign policy and Islamophobia.
Democracy Now! – left-wing, anti-war. Good on police brutality and US foreign policy. During the Ferguson protests they let ordinary Black people talk at length, unlike MSNBC.
Al Jazeera – left-wing, timely, good fact-checking. An Arab BBC but without, of course, being pro-Israeli. Good range of world news. Understands US imperialism. Unlike most news outlets, it covers the US working class.
The Young Turks – centre-left, a bit to the left of the Democratic Party. Cenk Uygur “gets” racism, especially the Fox News sort, yet has no Black people in front of the camera. He is good on Islamophobia but is an atheist bigot. Good on war and US foreign policy. Too reactive to headlines.
DailyKos – centre-left, good on facts. Presents Black viewpoints. A thinking man’s Huffington Post.
The Raw Story – centre-left. Good on US crime.
Huffington Post – centre-left summary of the Web. Its web pages are overbuilt and therefore unusable.
Stephen Colbert – centre-left parody of Fox News. Great for laughs but for entertainment purposes only. Although he “gets” racism, there are still cringeworthy moments. Jon Stewart is pretty much the same.
MSNBC – centre-left counterpart to Fox News, but with fact checking. An Obama mouthpiece. Has Black news anchors, like Melissa Harris Perry, Al Sharpton and Joy Reid, but they stay within the Democratic Party line.
The Root – Black but in a way acceptable to Whites.
New York Times – centre-left, Democratic Party line, thick White lens. State Department mouthpiece. Soft on police, government and big business. Pro-Israeli.
New Yorker – centre-left, anti-war, thick White lens. It will print Jelani Cobb, Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, Zadie Smith, Jamaica Kincaid, etc, but nothing too “angry” (anti-White). A friend of mine, Whiter than any White person I know, read only the New Yorker. He had no idea that Anna Nicole Smith was dead. Not sure if that was good or bad.
BBC – centre-left, timely and good on facts, but pro-Israeli. Good range of world news.
CNN – centre-left, racist, pro-war. Terrible on US crime. I barely watch it. Its web pages are overbuilt.
Time – worth looking at as part of US mainstream culture.
Twitter – huge range of information and opinion. Hard to beat, but you have to do your own fact checking.
Tumblr – Like Twitter in range and lack of fact-checking, but hard to search. That means its quality depends on who you follow. On the other hand, it allows for longer-form pieces.
PBS NewsHour – centre-right, pro-war. Elite White lens.
Daily Mail – right-wing, good on US crime.
The Economist – right-wing, neoliberal, pro-war, pro-Israeli. Good on world news. Soft on the US but not as soft as most US sources. Sometimes appeals to racist stereotypes in place of facts.
Fox News – naked, right-wing, racist, pro-war propaganda. To the right of the Republican Party. Shockingly terrible fact checking. Pro-Israeli, pro-Christian, Islamophobic. Terrible on US crime. Good on right-wing opinion.
– Abagond, 2014.
See also:
Abagond, for clarification, when you say “left” or “right” are you using that as “big gov.” or “small gov” definition? Because if you are I wouldn’t say FOXNEWS is far right, at least not the people that run it and own it. because imo the biggest excuse for big government is the military industrial complex, which has expanded government overreach. So much so it has spilled back into our own country. ie tanks and weapons of war on our streets, the patriot act, surveillance, NDAA indefinite detention of americans if suspected of terrorist ties, etc. I would say those are far left in the traditional sense and totalitarian soviet russia ussr far left. jmo.
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The Young Turks – good at depicting the white liberal lens, even regarding Asians and blacks. I have to take what they say with a grain of salt about blacks and Asians (because I am not sure if they check their facts).
Al Jazeera is a nice break from the main US networks.
I agree that CNN is rather racist about 80% of the time, but sometimes they make some commentary (mostly opinion) that helps to balance it out. Well, it doesn’t really balance it out, but it is not all 100% one sided. some of the opinion is very one-sided with no counterpoint.
Which left-wing news sources are worse on fact checking?
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Ugh, Fox news. It’s so dishonest and biased. I’ll stick to my Canadian news broadcasts thank you very much. Go CBC!
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@Leigh:
Yep!
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“He is good on Islamophobia but is an atheist bigot.”, ” Pro-Israeli, pro-Christian, Islamophobic.” Strange that you would call one an atheist bigot but give the other a pass because their bigotry is ‘christian’! The Fox crew are christian bigots.
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Fox News or Faux News: UGH! I love MSNBC and I kind of am liking AL Jazerra.
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Time Magazine has become very pop culture oriented these days. It has changed dramatically. It used to be very serious with contents about science, politics and social issues. But when i get Taylor Swift and Beyonce on the cover i think they have done a total 360.
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@ gro jo
I called Fox News “racist” and “islamophobic”. I do not see that as giving them a pass on their bigotry.
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I agree that the Fox crew are Christian bigots. Christian bigot just sounds like an oxymoron. That is like honest politician.
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@ Dave
For the purposes of this post, right and left are on a US scale where the Republicans are seen as centre-right and the Democrats as centre-left.
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@ Jefe
AL Jazeera and Democracy Now are pretty trustworthy on their facts.
The Real News Network generally repeats what the mainstream media says but then has left-wing commentary on it. Guests speak in their own right – there is no fact checking on what they say. Some are scholars and journalists, who presumably have a respect for facts, but some are not.
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I agree about the New Yorker being a “thick white lens” and nothing to “anti white.” And if one can master the crossword in the New York Times lots of people are impressed by that. ROTFL about the “whiter than any white person friend not knowing Anna Nicole Smith was dead. Hmm……. I don’t think it’s a good thing because that person is very short sighted. Anna Nicole Smith is viewed as a pop culture piece of fluff. Still the fact that Abagond’s friend didn’t know she was dead, gives me pause. One of those things that make me go Hmm……..
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*Nothing too white* ^^^^ typo
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The fact that the New Yorker features authors like Zadie Smith and Edwidge Danticat and Junot Diaz all of them are prolific authors and people of color. I guess they don’t want to be accused of being labeled as lacking diversity, and not just some white upper class publication.
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I’ve never heard of the Real News Network. Can anyone tell me where to find that network?
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You say Jon Stewart is pretty much the same as Colbert, but I disagree. Stewart overall is much better than Colbert. There’s big difference between them. Colbert does a lot of funny satirizing, but Stewart really hits the point, largely due to having multiple African-Americans on the cast. Stewart is just so much better and doesn’t descend into transphobia like Colbert does sometimes.
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Never heard of the “The Real News Network” have to check them out.
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@Abagond
Don’t you like those Christians and Jews who are being persecuted and murdered by Muslims all over the world?
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I get confused about who is the right wing and left wing. I have to remember the Democrats are the left and when i see statements on message boards or different media sites using the words “leftist” and “liberal” and “conservative.” I need to learn the basics about how the media works.
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Excellent post, abagond, but you’re far too lenient with the BBC. Their (fairly) subtle bigotry and bias are advanced largely by what they omit and exclude rather than content they broadcast or publish at which one could point a finger.
Pro-Israel bias is the tip of an iceberg.
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I wonder where NPR would fall on this spectrum? Is there any news outlet that is more neutral with no bend ( right or left)?
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Half the “news” agencies listed are nuttier than the DPRK’s.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJoQOQHQ8oA)
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I personally think foxnews is a facade. Let’s say you own a small farm or small business that makes spaghetti sauce. They fool these people into thinking they are for less regulations and taxes and less government big brother surveillance looking over their shoulder, but really they are run by crony “capitalists” that could care less about the little guy. More and more I think the “left””right” paradigm is a facade and it’s no more real than the good guys vs. the bad guys. in professional wrestling that get a beer together after work.
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The other thing to me that is confusing is “classical liberalism” more resembles libertarian leaning conservatives. Liberal used to mean someone who loves liberty for all. There are more people like that in the republican party than the democratic party. That being said, they are very few and far between. Ron Paul Justin Amash, and only a handful of others including Ron’s son Rand. I do fear that Rand is getting corrupted trying to play multiple sides. Hopefully he is just telling “white lies” to play or game the establishment into thinking he will play ball like Obama did. What scares me is Senator Obama sounded alot like Rand Paul of today, a freedom fighter for the constitution for all people. I hope it’s not just lip service. It seems like obama looks towards the neocons like Lindsey and McCain and frankenstein Kerry for foreign policy decisions. I hope Rand if elected would stand up to their butt.
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John F. Kennedy and Dennis Kucinich were Dems that imo were more like Classical Liberals Like Thomas Jefferson and I dare say Ron Paul.
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At the end of “Forrest Gump” Forrest says that he isn’t sure if it is his mom or Lieutenant Dan, who is right about fate or making your own luck. He comes to the conclusion that it is both happening at the same time. Individual rights must be protected, so should be the collective against a powerful individual at the same time. Ultimately we live in a society that should protect the rights of the individual as well as the good of the community at the same time. If you are just in your convictions this song should be for you. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2hYDIFDIU)
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Had “Forrest” listened to the people who would tell him “you’re handicapped” “you shouldn’t be in a regular school” “Those crooked legs are something you need to accept, that is the hand you were dealt” like Lieutenant Dan and others might say “that is your fate, accept it” he wouldn’t have excelled like he did in the movie because of the faith and conviction of his mom. Now you can say that is just a movie.. but there are many real life against the odds success stories that can be told, that have been accomplished through the free will of the individual and the human spirit. Left vs. Right have evil on both sides. People should find the good in each of them and support those principles on both sides accordingly. When you pick one or the other, imo, you are letting the vampire in. It may make devout Christians somehow accept abortion. Or on the other side accept illegal wars and torture of innocents. All because you followed some narrative on some network that doesn’t have any of your best interests at heart at all.
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It’s funny you should say that about PBS. I know for a fact that it had some staff/characters that work on Sesame Street openly talk about White Privilege and hiring practices to maintain White Power in an bulletin/info ad. Something I’ve never seen from anywhere else in mainstream American media…
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Nice summary. Some Major International News outlets you missed with unique PoV:
– Al-Arabiya (Saudi English-News Channel. Right-wing except on Israel where it is too afraid to tread, interesting mainly for it’s vicious smears against Iran and Qatar)
– BET, lol.
– Ha’aretz (The oldest, most honest and prestigious Israeli journal. Reports from the centre of conflict, including a very wide range of left/right opinions)
– Interpreter (Translations of anti-government figures throughout Russia. Pro-American, neo-Liberal and ostensibly left-wing)
– Ma’ariv (Israeli Centre-Right paper, local issues. Good to keep up with general governmental opinion there)
– PressTV (Iranian English-News channel. Good on Middle-East developments, lots of exclusive stories, particularly on Syria. Depicts Iran only in terms of garden festivals and car shows but worth seeing for dirt on it’s local enemies)
– Russia Today (Informative and slickly produced English-language Channel with a populist angle. Many different programs varying widely in seriousness and tone. Hosts many high-quality exclusives and lengthy interviews with distinguished guests. Must watch for Ukrainian media counterpoint.)
– The Times of Israel (Rabid-Right Wing source staying within the limits of acceptability. Briefly went way over with a swiftly deleted “When Genocide is Permissable” column from a NY columnist)
Abagond, it worth seeing Gilad Atzmon’s take on the subtle Jewish bias behind “The Real News”. It’s a worthy channel but it’s poor resources show up a few times.
– Why exactly is the TRN considered ‘anti-racist’ but “Democracy Now” is not?
– I can’t see how The Huffington Post is worthy of inclusion, it’s just a leech that aggregates information from mainstream-leftish sources.
– The Young Turks’ host means well, but the show’s format is unbearable obnoxious and wastes a lot on celebrity fluff.
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The funny thing about Fox News is that it’s owned by an Australian (Rupert Murdock). Yet, the right is proclaims themselves as “pro-American”.
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-Cable news is partisan trash. For some reason it seems to be more susceptible to the perversion that accompanies money and big business.
-TYT was cool until it became more like TMZ. I’m not religious, so Cenks anti-Christian bigotry doesn’t really bother me.
-The Economist is really nice, though you are right. They do come off as subtlety racist when covering non-white developing countries.
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Interesting post (though terminology used is clearly not neutral–i.e., it makes it seem like the most left-leaning news sources are the best, while in real life the radical left is responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths in the modern age). This really drives home how under-represented right leaning thinkers are in the media. Despite white people supposedly controlling the media, it’s only a certain kind of white people. No way PBS is to the right of public opinion. Fox News is also stuck in an “equalist” mindset. It’s telling that Abagond doesn’t list any media outlets further to the right, though places like CH play a more important role in defining the range of discussions that take place here than Fox News does.
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Kiwi,
That makes it even funnier.
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The National Inquirer! Fabulous washroom reading material. Not much different from the major news!
@ Biff:
How about stormfront? Ultra right wing enough for you?
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Herneith, love the guilt by association (without any association having been admitted) and implication that anything to the right of Fox must be equivalent to the front. Anyway, they are more of a special interest group, like PETA or FEMEN, though the later groups are much more socially accepted.
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You didn’t answer my question.. . do you read the National Inquirer? If not, why not? Just what constitutes a ‘really right wing’ news media outlet? Carry on!
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@ Jethro
Islamophobia is a huge bias present in English-language media, which is why I point it out.
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@ Biff
What is CH?
What media sources would you recommend?
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@ Kushite Prince
The Real News Network is on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealNews
They also have a website:
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@ Hammurubai
Interesting list.
RT.com is good sometimes too. They covered the protests over the Kimani Gray shooting in Brooklyn, for example. They have no trouble calling out the US or Israel.
I need to check out Press TV.
I called the Real News “anti-racist” because they cover racism directly, not merely its side effects (protests, shootings, etc) as Democracy Now! mainly seems to do.
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There is news you-can-use (weather, traffic, scores, dates for elections, economic information, school closures and the like) and everything else is commentary on events that are largely irrelevant to the daily lives of the average reader/viewer.
Even a front page New York Times “straight” news story is just as much commentary as it is information. The fact that it is on the front page is an editorial decision. The way they frame the story is an editorial decision. For instance do they say “illegal” immigrant or “undocumented” immigrant. Do they continue to follow-up on the story day after day or let it die. Who do they interview in the story? Who do they not interview? The Times editor decides what he thinks is important and the Times regular readers trust the Times to tell them what is important, but that doesn’t make the Times unbiased. It does though, mean that the regular reader appreciates the bias of the Times over say the bias of the Post.
But do you need any of the “news” we are fed? Not really. The truth is beyond news you-can-use you don’t really need most local, national or international news on a daily or even weekly basis. Turn off your TV news channel for a month, don’t read a news story in a periodical for a month and see if at the end of that time anything has happened that would a) impact your life, and b) would influence you to take action. Probably not. Sure global warming may one day impact your life, but not tomorrow.
People are starving in Syria, the United Nations is screaming for donations. You watch the story, do you donate? The last Panda is about to be shot in China are you going to stop it? No. Alabama just tightened its rules on voting, are you protesting? No. EPA regulations for greenhouse gas emissions were just loosened by coal state Democrats, will you write your congressperson? no. And that’s okay. Because you have a job to get to in the morning, a mortgage to pay, kids to take to practice, a mother whose sick and in the hospital, a hemorrhoid flare up and a car that takes 5 minutes to start on a cold day. Plus, if you had 2 cents to spare and a few days to fly around wouldn’t you rather help out your uncle that’s fallen on hard times, or spend time with a friend you haven’t seen since the birth of your 3rd baby?
The truth is, unless you’re directly impacted or a college student with tons of time and no responsibilities, the news is background noise. But we watch it, read it, and absorb it constantly, why? Bill O’reilly has the #1 rated show in tv newsfotainment, why? Because it’s entertaining watching him yell down leftists. We watch news for the controversial stories, the violence, we gawk just like at car accidents. It once took me an hour on the highway to get by a car accident and traffic wasn’t even stopped on any of the thru lanes. Everybody just had to slow down and see.
I watched an hour of Ferguson burning on CNN. I got the story in 5 minutes but I kept turning back to CNN between timeouts of a game I was watching even though there was never anything new to report. Why? Probably because during the next timeout another building might catch fire or a full on battle would take place between the police and the demonstrators and I didn’t want to miss that important new information…. But nothing new ever happened and Don Lemon’s a dweeb so I stopped switching over.
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Most NEWS that’s aired, on radio or TV aside from the weather is BS.
If it’s NEWS you should know about that impacts your life (and you’d benefit from knowing about it) you’re least likely to get it from any major mainstream news sources.
The idea of “news” is to keep you in the dark as much as possible! It serves to control and manage (Group-Think) society with not much else besides consumerism via advertising for corporate profits!
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@Just Me
Agree 100%.
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abagond
@ Biff
What is CH?
——————————————————————————–
Abagond, “CH” is Chateau Heartiste. Its basically a white supremacist blog that pretends to be a pick up artist/manosphere site.
Its composed of white guys who got kicked out of other mens rights/PUA sites for being racists. Its basically a white male pep rally; they aren’t really into girls except hating on them.
Matter of fact, its so pro white male that they sometimes come across as quite homoerotic. Three weeks ago, in a major shift, they banned anyone who refused to worship white c__k.
So now the site is mainly theater with the same 3 or 4 regular posters, and their sock puppets. It looks like a lot of participants but its not. Its heavily moderated and new people cannot get in. VNN had to do the same thing years ago.
To sum up, the articles are just a false as the participants. What started as a somewhat noble organic movement has now degenerated into “white male masterpiece theater.”
As a matter of fact, “biff” may be one of the regulars?
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Abagond,
How about Free speech TV and AXIS TV….I like Al Jeezera and Democracy Now. BBC is good for an overall international glance. MSNBC sometimes can be the flipped script to FOX anything…they need to be watched with some scrutiny. What I’d like to know is …HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT OF NOT HAVING FREE SPEECH AND REAL NEWS. Edward R Morrow is turning in his grave I’m sure.
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Just Me
Agree with you last comment 100%. News is nothing but a pretty face (sometimes with a low cut top and garish jewelry) reading a teleprompter and acting as if they are talking to you in your living room. Dumb…that’s why journalism is dead
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Abagond,
Could we start a petition to make Don Lemon, Juan Williams and their ilk just go away? Does anyone have a mobster friend who would talk to them? Or do we just let God and irrelevancy take them out? PLEASE!! IDK
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I do wish we could get rid of Don Lemon too.
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thwack is (or was) one of the regular posters at CH. His reception there was similar to what he gets here, but I respect him for sticking to his guns, rather than trying to be Mr. Popular at either site.. I don’t post there… However, I have seen several references on this blog to CH.
Therealnews.com is currently ranked 29,568 in the U.S. according to Alexa, while CH is at 17,781. Incidentally, Return of Kings is 7,115 and is the highest ranked red pill blog I’m aware of. WND.com is ranked at 1500 and the more mainstream drudge report is ranked at 142.
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biff
Therealnews.com is currently ranked 29,568 in the U.S. according to Alexa, while CH is at 17,781. Incidentally, Return of Kings is 7,115 and is the highest ranked red pill blog
———————————————————————————————–
“Shut up old man!
and why don’t you tell all these nice folks why y’all been duckin me?
This country wants to keep me down; keep everybody WEAK”
CH is doing his readers no favors by banning anyone who EFFECTIVELY challenges his positions because in the real world, you can’t delete some ones comment, you can’t ban some one from speaking and/or asking a question.
Chateau Heartiste is now for all practical purposes a theme park; I was the only person forcing those guys to train and lift; now all they do is fight “set ups” bums and women.
I am ranked #1 in world; I’ll fight them anytime, anywhere, for nothin
But this country don’t want no real champion…
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-ntFroiHOA)
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@ Jacque
I think Don Lemon is a good argument against watching CNN. On the other hand, while Sharpton, Perry and Reid on MSNBC might not be as bad as Lemon or Williams, they walk a line too.
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Ugh. “Center” makes me think of those mindless stand-for-nothing, thoughtlessly-agree-to-whatever’s-most-popular moderates. I feel like most of the guys you described as “center-left” are pretty fair or neutral, call it where it is be it democrat or republican, but I guess pro-fairness is a left thing isn’t it Ha!
So I’m “center-left” then since I like most of these guys? Though I seem to match up with liberalism. I guess to the right is the moderates, farther right the republicans, and further the conservatives and fascists. To the left those kooky anarchists. So huh. “Center”
I hate the fake opposition Jon Stewart imagines. He sees Fox as right, MSNBC as left and CNN supposedly in the middle. CNN seems more right usually than left or just supposedly in between. Those rich folks at CNN want those republican tax cuts, among other things. They’re a little (or very) sneaky.
Wow. PBS, right-wing? But republicans have been trying forever to kill PBS. Hmm, interesting. I ust read your article on that show.
I would say TIME and BBC are more to the ‘left’ than CNN or left of where you put the New York Times. Twitter and Tumblr, especially almost-anything-goes Tumblr, too but I guess since anyone can post there they’re center, right?
The New York Times is often so right-wing, pro-war and neoliberal. That’s how I see them
Abagond, have you read Madame Noire? Heavy BLACK lens, I think you’d like them. I get the feeling that you read them or some of their writers read you.
@Mary Burrell – TIME is still so rich with science and geopolitics.
@Dave – You sound like a tea partier. America is one of the biggest countries in the world in area, population and consumptions, that’s one of the biggest reasons America has what you called “big government”. And because without it what could hold the states together as one nation? Then, civil war, feudalism, states warring with other states, number of Fs being given about the national constitution dropping… and @Abagond – that’s all I think I’ll say. I understand this post is not the correct one to discuss the flaws in the tea party II’s philosophy.
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@ Jacque @ thwack
I deleted your comments on South Africa as off topic.
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@ Kiwi
I deleted your comments about penises.
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@Abagond
Why do you call Al-Jazeera “left-wing”? Is there a liberal bias in its coverage of current events?
I haven’t watched much Al-Jazeera, but from what I have seen, I always considered it as mostly objective journalism, covering a wide range of current events.
@Dave
“when you say “left” or “right” are you using that as “big gov.” or “small gov” definition? Because if you are I wouldn’t say FOXNEWS is far right, at least not the people that run it and own it. ”
That’s exactly what I was thinking after I read this post. “Right” and “left” are no longer useful analogies for Republicans and Democrats because both are for big government, both are pro-war and both want less freedom.
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Abagond,
Counter Point is a good news source …check it out.
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The Colbert Report was a perfect show and I will miss it when it ends next week. Stephen Colbert seems like a decent person, you have to remember that he’s playing a character, unlike John Stewart.
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Daily Mail is awful, and is well known in the UK for demonising British ethnic minorities. Used to use it, but some of the comments on there were disgusting, and I was getting tired with xenophobic stories. Much prefer The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/).
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Is Fox News as bad at fact checking as CNN and other news agencies claim it is?
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/18/media/fox-apologizes-for-anti-islam-comments/index.html
Fox News apologizes 4 times for inaccurate comments about Muslims in Europe
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I have learned to watch all of them so i can learn all the different perspectives even if i don’t agree with them. Fox News is not reliable because they are so inaccurate in their information. But i know what they are about so that is a lesson right there.
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