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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

#111

Post by adamnemecek »

viggity wrote: post #56
adamnemecek wrote: post #5

To be honest, I'm a.) somewhat surprised that people are surprised by this b.) not sure why there is a government probe into this. Also the irony of Glenn Beck bitching about bias in media is definitely not lost on me.

Look, I used to really like Glenn Beck, his conspiratorial tendencies for the past 8 years or so have driven me nuts. However, he is completely open about where he comes from, he is biased and admits it. He doesn't claim to be some neutral arbiter or a journalist. The problem arises when people claiming to be journalists, or neutral (NYT, facebook) change stories based on their own biases without stating what they re…

I don't really follow this closely but did FB ever indicate to be unbiased?

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

#112

Post by [deleted] »

talmand wrote: post #64
horpulous wrote: post #14

I'm totally fine with this. If you want to advocate for a world in which all resources are privately-owned (leaving no commonly-owned space for discourse) and that a global, multi-billion-dollar social media service has the same free speech rights as a mom and pop grocery, then you deserve to reap the rewards of your own ideology.

It's not always that. Most of the thinking I've heard about this is not to control what Facebook may or not do. Many critics say that Facebook is a private company and can do what they want. The complaint among them is that Facebook lies about it.

[deleted]

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

#113

Post by ChrisArgyle »

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…

Honestly this is more likely due to the actual outcome being too complex for a headline.

"Facebook denies systematic bias but admits their current process allows bad actors to apply bias and takes remediating steps"

Doesn't work. Although WSJ came kinda close.

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

#114

Post by sjm-lbm »

unlinker wrote: post #57
horpulous wrote: post #14

I'm totally fine with this. If you want to advocate for a world in which all resources are privately-owned (leaving no commonly-owned space for discourse) and that a global, multi-billion-dollar social media service has the same free speech rights as a mom and pop grocery, then you deserve to reap the rewards of your own ideology.

This is not about free speech in any way.

You are correct, but the conservatives calling Facebook out on that are trying to tell everyone it is:

> I believe they are acting in good faith and share some very deep, fundamental principles with people who believe in the principles of liberty and freedom of speech.

http://www.glennbeck.com/2016/05/19/what-disturbed-glenn-abo...

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

#115

Post by bduerst »

nickff wrote: post #68
atf104 wrote: post #10

I'm still waiting for the Fox News bias probe.

Evidence seems to indicate that MSNBC is actually the most biased news network.[1] [1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/14/five-facts-a...

The problem with this study is that the data wasn't controlled for being about a president vs. a candidate.

There's going to be a number of mundane stories mentioning the president (i.e. bills being signed, travel, meetings, etc.) that are outside the scope of what's also being reported on a candidate.

The result is that any organization that is reporting on the president will inevitably mention the president in articles that are less biased, skewing the results comparison.

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

#116

Post by talmand »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #101

I don't know if it made any difference in this story, and I hate both parties in the US, but I notice that the "right-wing" posts on FB are normally a notch or two uglier than those from lefties. I've got quite a wide range of friends from my travels from the fox news contingent all the way to real communists. I speculate that it's because those on the right are more "ends justify the means" type of people. Curious w…

If you can generalize all people in a wide-area political spectrum as all are "ends justify the means", then I would suggest you meet more people in that spectrum before denouncing them as a group.

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

#117

Post by talmand »

howlingfantods wrote: post #104
redthrowaway wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Reality has a notorious liberal bias. Look at climate change, which went from scientific position to liberal position.

I'm going to have to remember this one.

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

#118

Post by bpodgursky »

kbenson wrote: post #108
bpodgursky wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you genuinely think NPR is the least biased news source available in the US, you have more serious problems.

So what's an example of a less biased news source, and why do you think it's less biased?

I find the CSMonitor to be a good source for review articles (not breaking news, but breaking news is rarely that informative IMO): http://www.csmonitor.com/

I read the Economist and while I won't call it unbiased, it's honest and usually presents both sides.

For day-of news it's tougher but direct Reuters pieces usually have minimal interpretation and are pretty good.

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

#119

Post by hackuser »

redthrowaway wrote: post #90
hackuser wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Yes, the big ones are conservative, because every other one is liberal. Conservatives flock to places like Fox and WSJ because they're a refuge from the liberal bias that pervades the rest of the media. If you're a liberal and you want to watch news that doesn't offend you, you can choose from any of the major networks save Fox. If you're a conservative and want the same, you're stuck with Fox.

> every other one is liberal

I don't agree.

First, there are plenty of smaller conservative ideological publications (two were listed in the original comment, plus endless more: RedState, Daily Caller, Breitbart, etc.). Almost all talk- radio, as I mentioned, is conservative.

Also I said in another comment, there is plenty of apolitical journalism.

  (!conservative) != (liberal)
The ideologues adopt a Manichean, binary view of the world: With us or against us. They say everyone is ideological and anyone who doesn't agree with them must be in the 'other' camp. They seek ideological conflict, to justify their beliefs and behavior. But the world is more complex than that and everyone is not ideological (most are not).

There are leftist ideologues, and they say the NY Times is conservative and there is no difference between the parties (as incredible as that sounds). Either you share their ideology, or you are in the 'other' camp.

The right-wing ideologues are the same: They define any journalism as not ideologically conservative as liberal. (They also call themselves outsiders when the control the 2/3 of the states and both houses of Congress). But it's not the case.

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

#120

Post by solipsism »

wry_discontent wrote: post #82

Why am I supposed to care? Facebook isn't a news source. They're a software company. They're under no obligation to be fair and balanced.

News organizations also are under no obligation to be fair and balanced (obviously). They don't even have to pretend they are if they don't want to. Some think they should be obligated, but that's a different discussion.
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