Current affair-style shows: are they as bad as they are here?
 

In australia we have two competing current affair shows. both constantly outdo each other with biased stories, obvious product placement and digs at rival television stations and their shows. countless times these shows have been caught out for fabricating their "stories" and making up statistics to support them. we do have a couple of unbiased current affair shows on some of the lower rating channels, but these attract nowhere near the viewing that a current affair and today tonight do.

so i ask you, are the current affair shows in your country this crap?

Australia is fucked up.

I'd say The Daily Show but I am aware of my own liberal bias (i.e. young liberals that are defining more than half of US politics today). I think American competition is suspended more between whole channels with their liberal bias versus Fox News' conservative bias. No American is aware of current affairs without digestion.

no, current affairs TV in the UK is pretty good, much better than our print media

I think the UK might be ok relative to the states or Australia, but I feel like TV media is pathologically negative; while it's good to have a media that can, and do, openly criticise the government and the opposition, I think the recent MP's funding scandal has meant the media is the government's bully, regardless of the people's wishes. Paxman is capable of being a genuinely insightful interviewer, but he's also capable of being a hectoring do-nothing.

The editing jobs are the best/worst part of them. I wish I could think of an example of how shitful they are but I rarely sit down to watch any of them.

Think high school media class.


The 'lower rating channels' are unbiased because they aren't allowed to be. Well, the ABC probably sits a bit further to the left of centre, but SBS to me is smack bang in the middle.

hilarious;

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1...onfounds-Yanks

*loses further faith in america*

There was a study not long ago of the ABC regarding that old chestnut, its a myth: ABC journalists favour the Coalition and centre-right policies.
You only have to look at the ABCs debate program: moderated by Tony Jones (favours Coalition), one member from Labor & one member from Coalition (factions of the Business Party), someone from a conservative think tank or industry group, one of Murdochs scenthounds, and some blowhard media personality ("the left").

that doesn't account for the entire ABC though, just the journalists.

ABC journalists traditionally favour the left. Always have and probably always will.