Brussels Bombing

jegga

Pakistan has this on its doorstep to deal with <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waziristan'>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waziristan</a> 
It's hard to feel much sympathy for their secret service and government when they get up to stuff like this <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Indian_embassy_bombing_in_Kabul'>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Indian_embassy_bombing_in_Kabul</a> 
If they like sharia law so much the obvious solution is to fuck off to a country that already has it .

NTA

Pakistan is trying a balancing act across all sorts of socio-political issues, while drinking Muslim KoolAid and prepping for India to wreck their shit at a moment's notice. And that was BEFORE the Talibs fled Afghanistan.

JC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="567903" data-time="1459155486">
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So, more arrests in Brussels, but in Pakistan they must be wondering what their strategy is going to look like now. Assuming the Talib and other extremists would just hide in the mountains isn't apparently a thing any more. 

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Although they've let go the guy they arrested re the actual bombing.
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35911401'>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35911401</a>
 
Shame he didn't fall down the stairs a couple of times while he was locked up.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JC" data-cid="567943" data-time="1459198433">Although they've let go the guy they arrested re the actual bombing. <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35911401">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35911401</a> 
Shame he didn't fall down the stairs a couple of times while he was locked up.</blockquote>
At this point I'd happily reach for Baron's bacon sandwich plan... Water, and bacon sandwiches. Nothing but.

Baron Silas Greenback

I was amused/irked last night at a BBC reporter on the news. He described some protesters as 'thugs'.... probably quite correct. Did not seem like they were being very pleasant. But since when has it been ok for the BBC to use pejorative terms like that? Do they refer to ISIS as women and women murdering Islamic Asshats? .. also quite true.
 
The bias at the BBC is getting worse.

jegga

The BBC has been a biased joke for quite a while , I see Al Jazeera is laying off 500 staff which apparently due to low oil prices .

Catogrande

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Baron Silas Greenback" data-cid="567947" data-time="1459199002">
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I was amused/irked last night at a BBC reporter on the news. He described some protesters as 'thugs'.... probably quite correct. Did not seem like they were being very pleasant. But since when has it been ok for the BBC to use pejorative terms like that? Do they refer to ISIS as women and women murdering Islamic Asshats? .. also quite true.
 
The bias at the BBC is getting worse.
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I dunno about bias as such. Leftitst PC bollocks all the way I'd agree with. Can't be seen not to cheerlead for the underprivileged. However that might be perceived by this in their ivory towers.

NTA

I don't think there are many media outlets left that don't have bias. Too much competition, need a point of difference, and clickbait is more important than truth when $$$ are totalled.
 
Some will lean to the right. Some will lean to the left. A percentage of the population won't agree with both.

Crazy Horse

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="567988" data-time="1459209111">
I don't think there are many media outlets left that don't have bias. Too much competition, need a point of difference, and clickbait is more important than truth when $$$ are totalled. 
Some will lean to the right. Some will lean to the left. A percentage of the population won't agree with both.</blockquote>
 
Too right. People don't want a balanced report. They don't want to be educated, they want to be entertained. 
You see the same sort of thing here on the fern. The posts that generate the most responses are often the ones with a strong opinion one way or the other. Winger for example...

jegga

Wingers a big fan of Russia today or whatever rt is called . I could be wrong but I've detected a bit of bias there in the past.

Baron Silas Greenback

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="567988" data-time="1459209111">
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I don't think there are many media outlets left that don't have bias. Too much competition, need a point of difference, and clickbait is more important than truth when $$$ are totalled.
 
Some will lean to the right. Some will lean to the left. A percentage of the population won't agree with both.
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Most TV outlets have a clear left bias IMO.
 
Look at the supposed derision Fox News gets, just because it has a right bias. Yet the stations that have a left bias get a much easier ride.
As for the BBC they have ZERO excuse to be biased, they are publicly funded. I would be pretty ticked off if I was a British tax [payer seeing what they have become.

Rancid Schnitzel

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Baron Silas Greenback" data-cid="568014" data-time="1459212417">
Most TV outlets have a clear left bias IMO. 
Look at the supposed derision Fox News gets, just because it has a right bias. Yet the stations that have a left bias get a much easier ride. 
As for the BBC they have ZERO excuse to be biased, they are publicly funded. I would be pretty ticked off if I was a British tax [payer seeing what they have become.</blockquote>
 
Same with ABC in Australia. If a commercial media player wants to go left or right I couldn't give a shit. But when a publicly funded broadcaster refuses to be balanced then that is a disgrace. 
What I also find amusing is that Fox News cops shit for being biased, but apparently the NY Times, Guardian, BBC, CNN and NBC etc. are considered independent and impartial.

Baron Silas Greenback

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rancid Schnitzel" data-cid="568031" data-time="1459215693">
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Same with ABC in Australia. If a commercial media player wants to go left or right I couldn't give a shit. But when a publicly funded broadcaster refuses to be balanced then that is a disgrace. 
What I also find amusing is that Fox News cops shit for being biased, but apparently the NY Times, Guardian, BBC, CNN and NBC etc. are considered independent and impartial.
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But that is also why Trumps attacks against the media are finding fertile ground. People can judge impartiality for themselves.

antipodean

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Baron Silas Greenback" data-cid="568040" data-time="1459217030">People can judge impartiality for themselves.</blockquote> Cognitive bias.

Baron Silas Greenback

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="568062" data-time="1459220138">
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Cognitive bias.
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What about it?
 
Generally nowdays more and more people just throw out the term cognitive bias when what they really mean is 'I don't agree with them but cannot explain why .. so therefore I will use a complex term I barely understand.'

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rancid Schnitzel" data-cid="568031" data-time="1459215693">
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Same with ABC in Australia. If a commercial media player wants to go left or right I couldn't give a shit. But when a publicly funded broadcaster refuses to be balanced then that is a disgrace.
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Depending on where you stand on the political spectrum, your view on "balance" is going to be coloured.
 
Partly because the political spectrum here doesn't really have a middle ground any more - a place where the parties could come together on more issues (outside offshore detention) and get a bit of progress happening. Like, I dunno, giving a shit about the people they're meant to serve? Either party tends toward spending the first half of any public engagement talking about how shit the other side are. Frustrating.
 
 
Rather than ignore some of the stuff Fox trots out, opponents go screaming about its bias. Kind of legitimises them and gives the whole thing oxygen. In contrast, networks like Fox are mostly dismissive of the rest, and fall back on arch conservative values, which are warm and cosy for their supporters. 
 
 
 
EDIT: and I realise we've extensively covered Q&A previously. There are some episodes, as I said at the time, that I had little time for, mostly due to the tone of the questioning. At least with the scientists on, there is the chance to learn something (Brian Greene was awesome), but with the politicians is the same slanging match every week.

canefan

An Egypt Air flight from Alexandria to Cairo has been hijacked with a suicide bomber apparently on board. Will be interesting to see if ISIS claims responsibility

jegga

Good to see the Egyptian authorities asked some serious searching questions of their security after the Russian airliner crash and ensured a similar thing could never happen again.*
 
 
 
 
 
*If it turns out he is a nutter pretending to have a bomb I probably wont take any of that back.

jegga

Now there's an Indonesian boat hijacked off the Phillipines .

Hooroo

Where did you see that, Jegga? Stuff is being slow to update.

The Silver Fern

Brussels Bombing