Media Bias

BY- Phillip Detweiler & Shane Kelly

Article Used - http://billoreilly.com/column?pid=24605

We found that the information contained on this article, regarding John McCain and Sarah Palin was difficult to determine if it was accurate because Bill O'Reilly failed to note any sources, and made almost no quotes, using almost all blind sources. This can be seen for example in this quote, "On the right, some Republicans believe that Palin is simply not smart enough to win a national election and they don't want to have to deal with her again in 2012. So, if she can be marginalized now, that is a good thing for them." O'Reilly is here using his favorite tool of masking his own opinions by saying "some republicans" and introducing a personal bias to his writing, by not using any polls or public opinion data. This quote also illustrates a lack of context, because he is not talking about any specific members of the Republican party, instead he simply makes a broad generalization, when in fact many people in the party disagree with O'Reilly's positions. He backs up his allegations of McCain staffers with his interview with carl cameron, however he does not quote any experts, or opposing opinions to back up his attacks on the alleged liberal media who he claims put a target on Sarah Palin's back. This article helps to reinforce the status quo/stereotype of the mass media having a far-left political agenda as he writes, "the left wing media hammered her during the campaign because the obviously favored Obama." This simply adds more weight to an already lopsided argument on Bill O'Reilly's famously biased journalism.