Seeing what ones expects to see
This morning a friend posted to Facebook:
I'm just wondering why Obama is getting a pass from the media when Bush was harshly treated for similar actions.
... followed up with further clarification:
Our American media criticized Bush for going into Iraq for "protecting our interests" whereas with Obama they say nothing about going into Libya.
Then someone left a comment to the post saying,
I was just thinking the exact opposite! Wondering why Bush got a free pass to invade Iraq and Obama is being criticized.
Reading this exchange reminded me of the saying, "People tend to see what they expect to see." I Googled the phrase and came across a blog post that sums up some of my observations on the topic:
"The Right has convinced itself that the problem is "that liberal media", but that is obstructive rhetoric. Sure, there are a multitude of examples of media bias that favors the Left...but there are also a multitude of examples of media bias that favors the Right. People notice what they expect to see.
This isn't a problem of personal bias; biases are unavoidable and don't fit a left/right matrix, anyway. Ultimately, criticisms of Left/Right bias are tactical attacks against symptoms, not the problem itself. Crying "that liberal media!" delegitimizes our more fundamental criticisms. The problem isn't a biased media. It is a media that has lost sight of the role of journalism and reporters. If there is even a question of whether they should be extremely skeptical of political claims, then they aren't really a Fourth Estate at all. They've just become enablers of the Estates to which they are attached." ~ Jon Henke
Of course, the pessimistic part of me is afraid that too many of my readers are going to read that and ask, "what's the fourth estate?" Such thinking is already making me sigh heavily.
I'm just wondering why Obama is getting a pass from the media when Bush was harshly treated for similar actions.
... followed up with further clarification:
Our American media criticized Bush for going into Iraq for "protecting our interests" whereas with Obama they say nothing about going into Libya.
Then someone left a comment to the post saying,
I was just thinking the exact opposite! Wondering why Bush got a free pass to invade Iraq and Obama is being criticized.
Reading this exchange reminded me of the saying, "People tend to see what they expect to see." I Googled the phrase and came across a blog post that sums up some of my observations on the topic:
"The Right has convinced itself that the problem is "that liberal media", but that is obstructive rhetoric. Sure, there are a multitude of examples of media bias that favors the Left...but there are also a multitude of examples of media bias that favors the Right. People notice what they expect to see.
This isn't a problem of personal bias; biases are unavoidable and don't fit a left/right matrix, anyway. Ultimately, criticisms of Left/Right bias are tactical attacks against symptoms, not the problem itself. Crying "that liberal media!" delegitimizes our more fundamental criticisms. The problem isn't a biased media. It is a media that has lost sight of the role of journalism and reporters. If there is even a question of whether they should be extremely skeptical of political claims, then they aren't really a Fourth Estate at all. They've just become enablers of the Estates to which they are attached." ~ Jon Henke
Of course, the pessimistic part of me is afraid that too many of my readers are going to read that and ask, "what's the fourth estate?" Such thinking is already making me sigh heavily.