Celebrity News Craze: 'Indistinguishable from the journalists?'

Monday, May 12, 2008

'Indistinguishable from the journalists?'

Karl Rove, the former main political strategist for President Bush, has now joined the media.

In an article about Mr. Rove becoming a news analyst, The New York Times wrote about the trends in television news that encourage non-traditional journalism.

"At times clearly partisan, at others apparently offering down-the-middle analysis, Mr. Rove in his new role as a media star marks another step in the evolution of mainstream journalism, where opinion, 'straight news' reporting and unmistakable spin increasingly mingle, especially on television."

According to The New York Times, Mr. Rove's new role in media includes his job as an analyst for Fox News, as a contributor to Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal, a book deal in the works, and at least one radio show appearance.

Let's see how Mr. Rove, a highly divisive figure in the world of politics, decides to practice journalism, where there should be no expression of bias.

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Media Bias in the United States

According to Wikipedia, this is how we can think of media bias:

Media bias in the United States is the description of systematically non-uniform selection or coverage of news stories in the United States media. Claims of bias in the media include claims of liberal bias, conservative bias, claims of mainstream bias, and claims of corporate bias. There are a variety of watchdog groups that attempt to find the facts behind both biased reporting and unfounded claims of bias, and research about media bias is a subject of systematic scholarship in a variety of disciplines.

What can independent website publishers and bloggers do that the mainstream media can't?

In an interesting blog post on Daily Kos, a blogger acknowledges the sensibility that is emerging about critics of the mainstream media: that there is a valid role for bloggers and independent website publishers in reporting the news.

This blog will aim to add to that conversation from the perspective of other bloggers and independent website publishers.

Where I'm starting out is from the perspective of society's and the media's shared obession with celebrities. How does this focus on celebrities blur our concentration of other subjects?

Disclosures

I am a registered Democrat, and I have long had an interest in the media.

I've read a lot about a bias in the media lately revolving around the U.S. Democratic Party's primary campaign. But even before this, I was lucky to have worked for the journalist Aphrodite Jones, who wrote a book about media bias. Although I will rely on that book to give some context to this blog, I hope the scope of this blog can encompass a larger conversation about fairness and accuracy in the media.

Thank you for visiting Celebrity Media Craze.