Yell but stay home
The recent story concerning the drop in CNN's rating numbers brings up an interesting question. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism (www.journalism.org), CNN is more fair and balanced than either MSNBC or Fox News.
Because Fox is now the leader in cable news, does that mean that people are being informed in a less accurate manner? Possibly. However, it is just as likely that people are tuning in to Fox or MSNBC for entertainment and getting the facts from somewhere else. For example, during the 2008 presidential election, the media average for negative reporting concerning Obama was 27 percent. For Fox, this number was considerably higher, at 43 percent. MSNBC came in lower at 16 percent. The opposite was true for positive stories, where the media average was 38 percent. Fox had 24 percent of reporting on Obama deemed positive, while MSNBC had 40 percent. By comparison, CNN hovered near the average for both positive and negative, making it the most "fair and balanced" source of cable news.
One of the keys to a successful democracy is an informed electorate. So should we be worried that most Americans seem to be getting their information from biased sources? I don't think so. My hope is that the misinformed, such as the "death panel" shouters and the "birthers," are the exception. I hope they yell loudly and don't participate.
Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann are entertaining but they're not journalists. I have to trust the American public to be able to tell the difference.
TERRI RICHMOND
Bakersfield
