American Family Radio

[Majic Walrus]

Recently I've been trying to find a news radio station to listen to during my long commute to and from work. I stumbled by mere accident on this horrible piece of garbage Christian Conservative radio channel called American Family Radio. Perhaps you've heard of them they are well known and seem to be a pretty popular station for us who still listen to the radio.

In any case. The reason that I bring this up is because I really need help finding an actual news source and not a site that will continue to play political blame tactics against whichever administration they don't agree with. I know that's what they're doing too, because I did it for the past 8 years.

I blamed Bush for the state of the world and Republicans and Conservatives told me that it wasn't Bush's fault it was backlash from Clinton. Now few months into Obama's presidency and I hear these people from AFR doing the same thing to Obama. I realize this has gone on for years and years and probably won't stop but...

If I turn the radio station to something else I get something to effect of, "What?! Obama won! Well let's all **** rainbows until world peace envelops us in a blanket of warm charmin brand happiness and tolerance." And I'm not going to go for that either. One way or another I need to have some sort of news information source that doesn't try to pull me to the left or the right too far.

Now I know that that's fairly impossible to ask but what do you guys think?

 

[voyzovrezon]

One way or another I need to have some sort of news information source that doesn't try to pull me to the left or the right too far.

Now I know that that's fairly impossible to ask but what do you guys think?

Good luck with that.

I find NPR pretty balanced. They do present both sides, however, they may present them at different times. For example, during the campaigns, they did a report of a small town in the bible belt that was very pro-Bush and pro-Iraq war. They interviewed people who had loved ones in Iraq and they talked about God and country---you know, the usual god, guns and patriotic type talk. Being liberal, I was not too impressed and that "What is the message here?"

The next day, they offered a different perspective. They talked to another group of people who were anti-war but also had loved ones in Iraq and talked about the cost of it on the country and how they felt Bush and Cheney lied us into war and that the next generations will be paying the price.

In my neck of the woods, that's about it for "balanced reporting." Everything else talk on the FM dial is right wing. The only liberal station was on AM and came in lousy or not at all out of the city limits. It recently went to all sports. If you want liberal talk here in Maine, you gotta do live internet streaming or podcasts.

 

[Kelly]

NPR....is the closest to non-partisan as you are going to ever get.

 

[Kelly]

Hey Majic, do you mind if I change your title, to something that fits your question, and the discussion alittle better?

 

[Handsome Rob]

Recently I've been trying to find a news radio station to listen to during my long commute to and from work. I stumbled by mere accident on this horrible piece of garbage Christian Conservative radio channel called American Family Radio. Perhaps you've heard of them they are well known and seem to be a pretty popular station for us who still listen to the radio.

In any case. The reason that I bring this up is because I really need help finding an actual news source and not a site that will continue to play political blame tactics against whichever administration they don't agree with. I know that's what they're doing too, because I did it for the past 8 years.

I blamed Bush for the state of the world and Republicans and Conservatives told me that it wasn't Bush's fault it was backlash from Clinton. Now few months into Obama's presidency and I hear these people from AFR doing the same thing to Obama. I realize this has gone on for years and years and probably won't stop but...

If I turn the radio station to something else I get something to effect of, "What?! Obama won! Well let's all **** rainbows until world peace envelops us in a blanket of warm charmin brand happiness and tolerance." And I'm not going to go for that either. One way or another I need to have some sort of news information source that doesn't try to pull me to the left or the right too far.

Now I know that that's fairly impossible to ask but what do you guys think?

I think you may just have to look at different places for the same news item and come to the conclusion on your own. Hey, there are times when I listen to Rush Limbaugh, but I never let myself forget that he's presenting a conservative commentary on the news of the day--that way, I'm under no illusions that he is an objective news source.

And I'm a full-blooded conservative . . .

Another thing you can do is try and focus on the facts of the story rather than the opinions presented by the writer. This is tough to do, as leaving out facts can present a slant to a story. Or, the pairing of certain facts can slant as well. For instance, "the Dow hasn't dropped below 8,000 since 1998" can be a pretty objective statement. "The Dow hasn't dropped below 8,000 since the last time we had a Democratic President" is also a pretty objective statement of fact, but there's also the potential for bias in it, as it can push the reader in the direction of forming a causal relationship in his/her mind between the performance of the Dow and the political party of the President.

But, whatever you do, think critically. Analyze, analyze, analyze . . .

That's my two cents, anyway.

 

[VampElvis]

Though I haven't been able to listen to it in a few weeks (because of a wager I have with someone) I listened to fair amount of AFR in February and March (I'd just discovered them before my aforementioned challenge commenced) and I think you'll find a great amount of variance in their programming. True it all slants conservative, and though they all touch on the political some shows are more personal than political and some or the more focused on the application of faith and doctrine in the political arena than the news of the day or the purely political. Either way - you ain't gonna hear any pro-abortion gun-hatin’, open the southern border nonsesne on their airwaves.


I think it is important to remember that if you are listening to a personality on the radio, or watching one on television you are NOT getting news – you’re getting commentary. Unfortunately it seems many media outlets have debased their standards to the point of slanting the news through its selective presentation and in doing so lost the faith of many and compromised their ability to act as the de facto 4th estate. This is one thing Limbaugh has said that I agree with him on. The job of a reporter is to stand on the corner and tell me what happened. Not to interpret the events and try to tell me why they think it happened or what they think might happen next, or whose to blame for it all.

I’m still searching for that voice on the radio myself (don’t get to watch much tv). I’ll have more to say on the matter in a month or so.