For-profit school vitriol and the media

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Petedude, Jun 30, 2011.

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  1. Petedude

    Petedude New Member

    [RANT]
    I had to restrain myself from making some political comments in the thread regarding PBS' Frontline special. But I will spill here.

    The media, much like the US as a whole, is becoming increasingly leftist and socialist. Anything that makes money is suspect, save for individual entertainers. Big business is vilified, and some of the largest for-profit schools are also run by large media entities that have conservative voices working for them-- so there's a natural target.

    So, for-profit schools are now the villain of the day, because the leftist media wants to take 'em down and they don't have any better conspiracies to crow about at the moment. What, are they done with BP? Don't tell me they can't spend an equal amount of time on Democrats like Weiner. Aren't there sports figures running afoul of the law?

    I'm surprised nobody's noticed the PBS agenda either-- they're a liberal entity that's a favorite sacred cow, AND they're government-supported. So of course, they'll defend the value of traditional public B&Ms-- they have to.

    I'd be surprised if there aren't better things to be dug up in Washington, but the leftist media is too friendly with the current administration.

    As I mentioned earlier, reforms ARE needed with the for-profits. That still doesn't mean there should be an all-out attack on them.
    [/RANT]

    You won't see me commenting much on politics publicly, but I've been pretty annoyed about the above topic of late.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 30, 2011
  2. Fortunato

    Fortunato Member

    Are we watching the same media? Because when I turn on the news lately, I see a bunch of corporatist shills working on behalf of their big conglomerate masters. The "liberal media" stereotype is so 1990s. Some of the news channels on cable exist solely to promote big business - see CNBC / Fox Business / Bloomberg / etc. And talk radio, which more or less didn't exist outside of small local programming 25 years ago, has become a large part of the media which is absolutely dominated by pro-business, conservative voices.

    As for the US becoming leftist and socialist, I'll just point out that the healthcare reform law that recently passed is basically the same plan the Republicans put forth as an alternative to Hillary Clinton's healthcare proposals way back in 1994 and that Republican Mitt Romney actually implemented as governor of Massachusetts. It's not the ideas became more liberal over the past 15 years, it's that the goal posts have moved - mostly to the right. I don't think you actually have to worry about this country becoming the United Socialist States of America anytime soon, but you wouldn't know it to hear the rhetoric coming from the right.

    Seriously, you think over the last month there has been more coverage of for-profit education than the gentleman from New York and his Twitter habits? For most of June, I couldn't turn on a radio or a television without hearing about the guy, at least until he resigned.
     
  3. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Living in Canada, and not being particularly interested / riled-up about politics anyways, I don't really care much about the liberal/conservative debate and so probably won't comment anymore in this thread ... however, since political debates can become so emotionally charged with subjective viewpoints, it helps to have all the empirical data possible. And when it comes to liberal/"leftist" media bias, I remembered seeing a recent UCLA study mentioned on a blog, which found:

    "Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal. Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter."
    Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist / UCLA Newsroom

    There's a couple other studies (Harvard, Washington Examiner, MSNBC) which reach the same conclusion listed here:
    What do studies tell us about mainstream media bias? « Wintery Knight
    (I read that site for his philosophy/theology commentary not his political stuff but I just recalled seeing the post recently)
     
  4. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Well, I stopped reading the second I saw the word "socialist." Yes, yes, I know, the reason why you stubbed your toe this morning and your milk went bad a day early is because the media is owned by neostalinists. I read the same nonsense on other forums about how conservatives are taking over and the world is doomed because of it. Go outside and take a walk. Bring some iced tea while you are at it, and sip it slowly as you smell the roses and say hello to your neighbors. Real life is an awesome thing, you know.
     
  5. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Can you provide an example to support your claim ?

    The most obvious example of a "large for-profit school" that is run by a "large media entity" is Kaplan University. And it's true that Kaplan is in many ways the "poster child" for abuses by for-profit schools.

    But unfortunately for your theory, Kaplan is owned by the Washington Post -- which is not usually regarded as a right-wing media outlet. On the contrary, the Post is commonly cited as a prime example of the "leftist media".

    Do you really believe that the Washington Post is trying to "take down" its own subsidiary ?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 30, 2011
  6. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    My view is that seldom does (nor perhaps should it) fact get in the way of a good political rant. Therefore arguing facts against a politcal rant is missing the point of a political rant. So, I suggest instead to reread MC's post.
     
  7. NorCal

    NorCal Active Member

    If I had the time to do so, I'm sure you could find for-profit schools that are in some way tied to the owner of a media conglomerate. I took an Intro to Mass Communications course, and I was amazed how many media sources were owned, either entirely or in part, by a wealthy business man back east who owns several huge companies. I took this course back in 2004, so I don't remember all the specifics, but some of our classroom projects included finding a story on an issue (Pro or Con) and researching whether the media source was tied to a stakeholder involved in the scandal, and then finding a different media source that had no stake in the issue, and comparing the two stories to see if there was a media slant.

    The objective of the course was to educate us on the complexity of media's link to big business. This was one of the most eye opening courses I've ever took, so I'm sure you could find for-profit schools that are in some way tied to the owner of a media conglomerate, but hey, I'm search you could find tobacco companies who also own cancer treatment centers; if there is money to be made, that's big business now a days.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 7, 2011

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