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I agree with this post to some degree. Bedreviter makes Norwegian press sound a lot worse than it is.
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Our biggest newspaper is VG, a tabloid which focuses on huge headlines, big dramatic pictures and journalists that have without a doubt a very limited understanding of the complexity of many of the political issues they cover. You honestly feel that VG is covering US politics in a satisfactory way?
I also feel it is a problem that the biggest TV-station is run by the government, and its programming is heavily influnenced by the socialistic democratic ideas.
Something like 70% of journalists and journalism-students say they support SV, the party far left on the scale that has support in from about 8% of the population. Yeah, Im very critical of the Norwegian press.
Those Norwegians that claim that I am overly critical of the Norwegian press; have you ever compared the level of reporting in the American press like USA Today, NY Times or WSJ with that of VG, Dagbladet and Aftenposten?
If you have been to the US yourself and know a little about the country then you know that there is a lot of misconseptions among Norwegians about the US, and if not the press is to blame then who are?
[/ QUOTE ] I had not planned to talk more about Norway, but the way you use statistics needs a comment. Besides, it seems like a few people enjoy our navel-gazing argument.
You say 70% of journalists vote for SV (this is the most leftist of the mainstream parties). That is not true. Almost 70% supported SV or AP in 2003. (AP is the second most leftist of the mainstream parties.)
Link for reference (in Norwegian). SV and AP together had, at the time these statistics were made, support from around 45% of the population according to the closest poll I managed to dig up.
Link for reference in Norwegian again. Almost 70%/45% or 70%/8%. That's quite a difference. And there is more. Around 23% of the people in Norway (according to this poll) supported the right wing populist party (FRP). This party has almost no support among educated groups, be they journalists or others. So It's not reasonable to expect anything close to a proportionate percentage of journalists should support FRP. Your statistics are falling apart.
To answer your question about VG: No. I don't think VG covers US politics in a satisfactory way. But I don't feel they inspire hatred against the US either, just over-simplified thinking. I don't know how that compares to US newspapers, since I've never read them, but I'm more qualified to compare television. And I don't think US television looks any better than Norwegian television when it comes to over-simplified thinking.