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Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

washingtontimes.com

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Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#71

Post by untog »

unlinker wrote: post #48
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #2

I suspect this may be an unpopular opinion, but given that in my experience, the Trending tab tends towards garbage and clickbait instead of real news, one would imagine Fox News hysteria and Facebook's Trending news would be a match made in heaven, and if it weren't for personal curation, we would see even more garbage as a result.

It's funny how BuzzFeed or Vox shit is deemed reasonable by the left while Fox News shit is treated as, well, shit. No. Both are shit.

I'm not sure when I've ever seen someone deem Buzzfeed's shit "reasonable".

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#72

Post by MisterBastahrd »

talmand wrote: post #54
MisterBastahrd wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still haven't shown that there's any sort of anti-conservative bias. Finding a trending topic and using the best source available to represent the information is not the same thing as bias. Conservative sites are, by definition, not the best sources available.

Well, other than Facebook admitting to the possibility of bias.

Well, that's why everyone who's ever been on trial for murder is a murderer.

Wait, that isn't correct? Neither is the Washington Times headline... but then, the Times is about as mainstream as it gets for the right-wing fringe. The content of the article disagrees with their headline.

Saying that there's a possibility is not the same as saying that there's a certainty. Except when it comes to political nonsense.

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#73

Post by hackuser »

redthrowaway wrote: post #59
kailuowang wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious how many of these medias actually admit that they are biased themselves?

My anecdata suggests conservative outlets tend to acknowledge their bias, as a counterweight to liberal bias in the "mainstream" media, whereas liberal outlets tend to believe themselves to be unbiased. Given how much liberal outlets scoff at the notion of there being a pervasive liberal bias in the MSM, I suspect they legitimately just don't see it as they're surrounded by people with the same political views and so…

> pervasive liberal bias in the MSM

The biggest cable news channel, the most popular newspaper (I think WSJ leads; EDIT: and certainly it dominates the business world), and almost all talk radio are highly conservative. They try to paint themselves as underdogs, but it's a little silly.

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#74

Post by duaneb »

unlinker wrote: post #42
duaneb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, but not their own recognition of the bias (which is the useful part).

Do you think they'd recognise their own bias? That would be like saying "we can't do journalism properly", because proper journalism is unbiased.

> That would be like saying "we can't do journalism properly", because proper journalism is unbiased.

I'm not entirely sure about this. Trump's been eating the media's lunch in interviews; perhaps a more biased approach acknowledging his interview games would actually lead to better reporting.

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#76

Post by buro9 »

nostromo wrote: post #15

It's interesting how media outlets are spinning this news. People that read conservative media are left thinking that Facebook has admitted bias. People that read liberal media are left thinking the opposite. Washington Times: "Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives" LA Times: "Facebook investigation reveals no evidence of bias against conservative topics, company says" NY Times: "F…

Is bias illegal?

Should it be?

Whatever the answer the political class would like to apply to Facebook, should it not also be applied to the traditional mass-media?

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#78

Post by maxerickson »

Kalium wrote: post #30
bpodgursky wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glen Beck actually wrote a piece after the meeting saying he took Mark at his word, and complained about the tenor of the other conservatives in the meeting: http://www.glennbeck.com/2016/05/19/what-disturbed-glenn-abo... > But until then, based on our research and my personal experience with Facebook, I believe they are acting in good faith and share some very deep, fundamental principles with people who believe in…

I was quite surprised at the very reasonable position Glen Beck took. Very interesting.

Whatever else he is, he is intelligent and cynical.

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#79

Post by Alupis »

hackuser wrote: post #55
nostromo wrote: post #15

It's interesting how media outlets are spinning this news. People that read conservative media are left thinking that Facebook has admitted bias. People that read liberal media are left thinking the opposite. Washington Times: "Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives" LA Times: "Facebook investigation reveals no evidence of bias against conservative topics, company says" NY Times: "F…

When I think liberal publications, I think Huffington Post, Salon, the Intercept, Vox, etc. What are they saying? The NY Post and WSJ are Murdoch/Fox/News Corp publications; they are on a mission. Last I knew the Washington Times was owned by the cult leader Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church - I never understood why anyone takes it seriously. But there still is apolitical journalism in the world; it's hardly…

> The NY Post and WSJ are Murdoch/Fox/News Corp publications; they are on a mission

And Huffington Post, Salon, Vox are not on a mission?

Re: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

#80

Post by vidarh »

unlinker wrote: post #42
duaneb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, but not their own recognition of the bias (which is the useful part).

Do you think they'd recognise their own bias? That would be like saying "we can't do journalism properly", because proper journalism is unbiased.

There is no such thing as unbiased journalism. Without bias, what you have is cacophony of competing interpretations of events. Even reporting "just the facts" consists of making judgement calls that introduce bias with respect to which facts you report, and what you accept as fact.

I'd rather have reports from sources that don't try to pretend to be unbiased.

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