I love watching Jon Stewart's continued picking apart of the bias in cable TV news, notably in Fox (the YouTube clips should suffice as explanation). Now, Seth talks about how Cable TV News' attitudes can be seen in any board room around the world:
- Focus on the urgent instead of the important.
- Vivid emotions and the visuals that go with them as a selector for what's important.
- Emphasis on noise over thoughtful analysis.
- Unwillingness to reverse course and change one's mind.
- Xenophobic and jingoistic reactions (fear of outsiders).
- Defense of the status quo encouraged by an audience self-selected to be uniform.
- Things become important merely because others have decided they are important.
- Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel).
- Ill-informed about history and this particular issue.
- Confusing opinion with the truth.
- Revising facts to fit a point of view.
- Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time.
From Seth Godin's Blog
I'd say there are a good few educational and Governmental establishments where at least 11 of these hold true in day-to-day practice. Shouldn't every organisation, public or private, check itself on a regular basis against these statements? If you did it on your own one right now, how many statements can be seen in your work?
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Fox News Fear Imbalance | ||||
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[Video not available outside US]
Jon Stewart pointing out the bias in others. That's rich!
Posted by: Dan | November 04, 2009 at 01:07 AM
Well, no. The difference with Jon Snow is that you know it's satire, you know it's coming from a stance. It does not advertise itself as a news programme (even though it is America's most popular source for finding out what's going on in politics for under 25s).
Fox News on the other hand pitches itself as news when nearly all of its content is editorial. *That's* the point.
Posted by: Ewan McIntosh | November 05, 2009 at 08:48 AM
Read Stephen Cotterell's book 'Hit the ground kneeling'all about leading in a slower and more considered way. It's a christian perspective because the author is the Bishop of Reading but it's not necessary to be a christian to appreciate what he's proposing about good leadership and management.It should be in any management syllabus.It's a tiny but powerful book. I keep it in my purse at all times at the moment and take it out on trains etc. It has helped me with sensitive situations at work and with my family.
Posted by: michelle gilmour | November 08, 2009 at 09:11 AM