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Where can I get unbiased news?

thegatesnotes.com

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Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#41

Post by zzzmarcus »

ewanmcteagle wrote: post #23
zzzmarcus wrote: post #19

Really? There are no unbiased media sources. Bill Gates of all people should recognize that every publication he mentioned is biased and be aware of, and mention, their perspective. I read some of these publications, but I'm at least cognizant of their leanings and know where to go for an alternative point of view. The Economist is great if you want the Keynesian perspective on economics and not much else. Per wikipe…

How is the economist Keynesian?

This isn't definitive, but search economist.com using Google for the following:

Keynes - 1640 results

Adam Smith || John Stuart Mill (classical economics) - 992

Hayek || Milton Friedman (Chicago school economics) - 858

Mises (Austrian economics) - 431

Of course it's better to read it and form an opinion from the actual content for yourself but I think these results are fairly indicative.

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#42

Post by nir »

swernli wrote: post #6

In my opinion: The Daily Show and/or Colbert Report. I guess you could say their only bias is toward comedic pessimism. Is it sad to say that a comedy network has become what I believe to be the least biased news? Or is it just our modern evolution of what has always been the place of good satire: to criticize, under the guise of comedy, that which "serious" outlets dare not discuss?

>Is it sad to say that a comedy network has become what I believe to be the least biased news?

Both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are very biased, by their own account. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but they can't really be seen as unbiased.

Personally, I think the rise of comedy news shows isn't a good thing. Stewart & Colbert's first commitment is to entertainment, and they choose stories that are good comic material, not ones that are necessarily important.

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#43

Post by rikthevik »

jackfoxy wrote: post #9

"Scientific American" is a sad shadow of it's former self. It has gone mass market and PC.It used to be closer to one step below a peer revue scientific journal.

What do you guys think of Seed magazine? I've seen the ads for it a million times on ScienceBlogs, but never gotten a subscription.

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#44

Post by arghnoname »

jackfoxy wrote: post #9

"Scientific American" is a sad shadow of it's former self. It has gone mass market and PC.It used to be closer to one step below a peer revue scientific journal.

I read "American Scientist," which because of the similar name is confusing, but the content is more rigorous.

http://www.americanscientist.org/

It would be helpful to have some science background in reading it, but most here hopefully have that.

I can't vouch for the site itself one way or another, I get it in dead-tree form.

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#45

Post by pyre »

zzzmarcus wrote: post #19

Really? There are no unbiased media sources. Bill Gates of all people should recognize that every publication he mentioned is biased and be aware of, and mention, their perspective. I read some of these publications, but I'm at least cognizant of their leanings and know where to go for an alternative point of view. The Economist is great if you want the Keynesian perspective on economics and not much else. Per wikipe…

> Really? There are no unbiased media sources. Bill Gates of all people should recognize that [...]

I read that conversation as:

  Q: Which sources are unbiased?
  A: Well, these are the sources I go to...

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#47

Post by cschmidt »

zzzmarcus wrote: post #19

Really? There are no unbiased media sources. Bill Gates of all people should recognize that every publication he mentioned is biased and be aware of, and mention, their perspective. I read some of these publications, but I'm at least cognizant of their leanings and know where to go for an alternative point of view. The Economist is great if you want the Keynesian perspective on economics and not much else. Per wikipe…

If you think the Economist is primarily about economics, then you clearly haven't read it. It is the best way to keep up on world affairs with an international perspective.

The Economist certainly has a point of view, which is clearly stated in the opinion "Leaders" at the front of each issue.

However, that point of view is not liberal in the sense that Democrat = liberal, Republican = conservative. They are liberal in the sense of Liberalism. They are not aligned with Democratic party at all.

If you doubt that, their presidential endorsements should make it clear. They endorsed Clinton, Dole, Bush, Kerry, and Obama. All while consistently sticking to their clear world view, which is well worth checking out.

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#48

Post by swernli »

benkant wrote: post #33
swernli wrote: post #6

In my opinion: The Daily Show and/or Colbert Report. I guess you could say their only bias is toward comedic pessimism. Is it sad to say that a comedy network has become what I believe to be the least biased news? Or is it just our modern evolution of what has always been the place of good satire: to criticize, under the guise of comedy, that which "serious" outlets dare not discuss?

I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there. Aside from not really being news, it's hardly unbiased. Perhaps the real issue is that there is no such thing as unbiased. Personally I read The Economist and subscribe to a bunch of sections on news.google.com. In the end you have to make up your own mind.

Good point. I made the classic mistake of forgetting to correct for my own bias :). That said, I at least appreciate that they make fun of the parties on both the left and right, which are more and more becoming paradies of themselves rather than collections of reasonable human beings interested in debate and compromise. However I think the most important point is exactly what you and several other people have said: get lots of input and make up your own mind. I'm not sure how many people are interested in doing the legwork though...

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#49

Post by ewanmcteagle »

zzzmarcus wrote: post #41
ewanmcteagle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the economist Keynesian?

This isn't definitive, but search economist.com using Google for the following: Keynes - 1640 results Adam Smith || John Stuart Mill (classical economics) - 992 Hayek || Milton Friedman (Chicago school economics) - 858 Mises (Austrian economics) - 431 Of course it's better to read it and form an opinion from the actual content for yourself but I think these results are fairly indicative.

You realize, of course, if I ran a website criticizing something it would show a lot of hits for that thing right? Quantity alone doesn't tell us much here.

Re: Where can I get unbiased news?

#50

Post by zzzmarcus »

ewanmcteagle wrote: post #49
zzzmarcus wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't definitive, but search economist.com using Google for the following: Keynes - 1640 results Adam Smith || John Stuart Mill (classical economics) - 992 Hayek || Milton Friedman (Chicago school economics) - 858 Mises (Austrian economics) - 431 Of course it's better to read it and form an opinion from the actual content for yourself but I think these results are fairly indicative.

You realize, of course, if I ran a website criticizing something it would show a lot of hits for that thing right? Quantity alone doesn't tell us much here.

Sure, which is why I qualified those results by saying they're not definitive. I have read The Economist, come to my own conclusions (that the publication is strongly Keynesian) and thought it would be interesting to see if that bias showed up in a simple search for Keynes' name. Turns out it did.
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