The News Hour, Extra Credit

Based on watching the PBS show The News Hour it seems a lot less bias than the most popular news channels like Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. In fact, most of the time it seems like they are not biased at all. They have their own opinion on things, but don't voice them over everyone else like how Fox News does. Their interview style is also a lot different from the other stations. They interview the people personally, instead of on a tv screen. This is a lot different from fox, who interviews a lot on tv screens and talk over the people that are being interviewed. They usually throw four people's faces on the screen and let them fight over the given topic. They are also more laid back, and don't attack the people that they are interviewing. I would assume though that this station tends to lean more towards the left. They seem more to the left because I don't think that any station can be as far right as Fox News. Also, the anchors went right into the issues of the day, instead of having a big opening.

The issues that were discussed every night were the main issues that were going on in the United States and around the world. They would also interview one person of the night. On the first night, they interviewed the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The first night, they talked about the war in Afghanistan and other top news stories. The second night, they first talked about the oil spill. Most topics all nights were over the oil spill, since it is the most talked about issue right now. Other topics included the Supreme Courts Ruling that juveniles cannot receive life sentences, Iranian sanctions deals, the turmoil in Thailand, the immigration debate, and the problem with the stock market. They cover all the main topics that are going on in the world.

I usually get most of my news from the internet as opposed to watching it on television. My news comes from MSNBC.com. MSNBC is definitely more of a liberal news source. PBS on the other hand doesn't seem very biased as the main stream news sources like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. PBS takes more of a subjective perspective from the issues that are going on. The anchors do not insert their opinions every chance they get. Instead of attacking the people they are interviewing, they try to find the truth from them.

When talking about federal agencies, or the bureaucracy, they seem to have a little more criticism about them. This was shown when they were talking about the agencies involved in regulating the oil company BP, as well as the company who built the oil rig.

Overall, I learned a lot from watching the news hour. They take a less biased approach in news coverage which is a relief from other news station. I don't think this is the only time i'll watch the News Hour on PBS. I think I'll watch it a lot more often from now on.