The General Political Thread

[Edwin]

Can you back up the claimed existance of that bias by actual scientific, methodological sound, research? And not by 'Should be clear to anyone!11' or 'just read this article I don't like'. I know of only one study, in Belgium, that showed no left-wing bias and a very slight anti-sitting government bias.

I don't need one for The Guardian - they're quite open about their bias https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/06/1 and considered themselves the "voice of the left" for several decades.

As for the BBC, the outlet has faced almost non-stop controversy over its biased reporting, to the point where they even caught the attention of government regulators ~ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/22/stop-bias-against-brexit-face-fine-bbc-warned/

Not that I need even post any of those links. All the empirical required to infer bias could be collected by oneself, given that we define media bias as "the bias or perceived bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered." The disproportionate coverage of topics and events conferring a postmodernist or progressive message against those of a conservative nature, proven by the quantitative amount of articles produced by each platform's outlet, would be sufficient to infer bias within itself. Not to professional standard admittedly, but to a sufficient degree for a dying internet forum. I'd conduct it myself but it's not my definition of a good Saturday evening.

Would you rather I post an amateur study group for you to compare their methodology against this week's PoliSci lecture notes?

[Duuring]

There are multiple scientific studies reasearching media bias. So I can, yes. But I find it suspect to hold out for objective scientific methodology here when the media outlets tell you by themselves - look at endorsements of political candidates and you will find the political biases of the media outlets. Also, in that same vein, it is not realistic to say that Fox is an unbiased source, but if we hold out for objective methodology I guess it is

Endorsing political candidates or issues does not mean the articles they write have a bias. They could, but A does not automatically mean B.

Also, in that same vein, it is not realistic to say that Fox is an unbiased source, but if we hold out for objective methodology I guess it is

The correct conclusion is 'we don't know'.

[Toffee]

The thing is that we operate under the guise that it’s solely the media’s responsibility to give an impartial perspective. Any well informed person knows to take news with a grain of salt since politics is the most opinionated topic in the world and the person writing the article is no different to our discussions on here.

My take on it is that media has always been and will always be a bias, if you try and control that then you’re restricting free speech which goes against the very nature of what we all stand for. An intelligent person should not blindly take their opinions for what they read but use that and similar articles which take different perspectives to formulate their own opinion on a topic.

[StevenChilton]

Macron admits the French would probably have voted to leave the EU as well had they been given a vote...
https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/955019112031244288

[Duuring]

No he's not. Listen to what he says 'In a similair [British] context, but our context was very different'. They voted overwelmingly for a pro-EU president when they could have elected one running on an anti-EU platform, so suggestions like this are pretty meaningless.

[StevenChilton]

By context I'm assuming he meant the French Presidential election rather than a referendum. The last referendum on the EU in France was of course won by the eurosceptics...

Britain voted to leave the EU yet UKIP only ever got two MPs, both of which were defections from the Conservatives. They peaked at slightly under 13% of the vote. Just because Le Pen lost doesn't mean a more moderate, Eurosceptic figure couldn't win the presidency.

Tbh everyone's waiting for the Italian election results which will probably return the most eurosceptic government in Italian history, ever.

[Duuring]

The last referendum was over a decade ago.

So UKIP just triggered another leadership election. I wonder why they don't just abolish the party by now.

Tbh everyone's waiting for the Italian election results which will probably return the most eurosceptic government in Italian history, ever.

And even they ruled out a referendum on the Euro.

[Theodin]

UKIP without Farage isn’t worth keeping around. It’s only function was to be purely euroskeptic in the EU parliament, but that’s not needed anymore is it

[Duuring]

Daily Mail claims Farage is gonna form a UKIP 2.0. But without a European Parliament to win seats in... Seems like a pointless exercise.

[StevenChilton]

Tbh everyone's waiting for the Italian election results which will probably return the most eurosceptic government in Italian history, ever.

And even they ruled out a referendum on the Euro.

M5S haven't, it's still party policy and the leader said he'd vote to leave. Lega Nord are likewise still anti-Euro. Granted though it's a very close election so hardly any of them are being clear about it-Berlusconi bashes the Euro but says Italy should ultimately stay in, M5S want to 're-negotiate' the terms and hold a referendum should that fail, while LN and Brothers of Italy haven't put it at the front of the campaign. Makes more sense to bash the EU over migration and Macron/Merkel liberal agenda.

It's increasingly obvious Europe is splitting into two cultural camps, Merkel-led liberals vs Eastern/Central European conservatives. Italy's about to jump ship from the former to the latter. She'll no longer be the de facto leader of the EU once the next Italian government is in place.

[Duuring]

It's increasingly obvious Europe is splitting into two cultural camps, Merkel-led liberals vs Eastern/Central European conservatives

This has been the case since eastern expansion and before that with the UK, the Netherlands and in a lesser degree the Swedes.

[StevenChilton]

It really hasn't, at least not to such an obvious and extreme extent as is happening currently.

[Toffee]

Can someone explain German politics to me because you say Merkel is more of a liberal? Do you mean solely in regards to the EU or in her general domestic policy because I thought her party were centre right?

[joer5835]

Merkel's CDU is a Christian-Conservative centre-right party that does also pursue a market Liberal economic policy, which I believe is what is being refered to here.

[Toffee]

Merkel's CDU is a Christian-Conservative centre-right party that does also pursue a market Liberal economic policy, which I believe is what is being refered to here.

Ah I see, thanks for clarifying.