withoutaface said:
The problem is that the two left wing channels are government funded, whereas the right wing channels survive because there's a public demand for that kind of a slant. It doesn't matter how right wing other channels get, the ABC and SBS should always do their utmost to remain independent, because:
a) most people only watch one news broadcast. If you're having a left wing news hour to balance out a right wing one you're simply creating twice as many voters who are fed biased garbage, rather than actually performing a service to the community and informing voters of what the issues are in an impartial manner that lets them make up their own mind.
b) if there was a demand for left wing news, it would find its way into a commercial network, and people would watch it. If noone's going to watch such news on a commercial network, what makes the ABC any different? It just ends up transmitting to the homes of a very small percentage of the population and changes sweet fuck all, because people see bias on all networks and get discouraged from watching news altogether.
c) it is taxpayer funded. If taxpayers are paying their hard earned cash for a news program, the least they should expect is that it reports in a manner that helps them understand issues better rather than being brainwashed.
You do realise, that if SBS went commerical they would be sustainable. One of the best things about SBS is its lack of ads.
as for
a) i dont know how you can come with that statement? i watch sbs news, and channel 9 news. anything else is just on random basis.
b) there is demand for 'left-wing' news, its just that the as its called 'Special broadcasting service' it has different objectives than commercial stations. Commercial stations will do anything for money - sacfricing the quality of shows. on the other hand SBS is funded has a base income, and can focus on producing some brillaint footage.
c)as i said earlier it doesnt matter who funds it? in the end the cash flows are the same. i dont think there is any brainwashing going on, if there is any then its form the commerical stations - that paris hilton gettin punched is more important than a murder in sydney.
d) all news are biased, simply cos its not possible to cover everything going on in the world. So u report one thing , u have leave out something else - u only half an hour or something on the commerical stations. This leads to bias. I dont see it as a problem. The news is hardly a reliable source. one day they something and the next its completely the opposite.
