Bias should be a major concern. News, by definition is what happened, not somebody's OPINION about what happened. The truth is the product, if the product is defective, the provider will lose credibility and go out of business, and should. News organizations need to be held accountable for mistakes/misinformation, just as you or I are responsible for our negligence. But in the case of news, bias is more intentional than not, so there is a malicious component to it as well. If you don't believe that, watch that idiot Keith Olberman.....

Tailoring in India is a dying profession. Its ready made and with India's vast ethnic and cultural backgrounds, its myriads of choices. Saree is not just a cloth, its a particular cut and the designs, type of fabric and prints available to Indian women is simply mind boggling. If you like variety, India is the place to be. Far more so than the dull and typical clothes in other parts of the world. Of course, sadly the younger generation now prefer western clothes, usually the latest designer brands which are freely available here but the traditional Saree and Salwaar is still preferred especially for occasions. Cost is no object, never has been for the well to do but now even the upwardly mobile middle class is into spending big time. Indian marriages are among the most lavish affair and average women's wedding dress goes for anywhere between $15000 to 30000 and sometimes even more depending on the party. Then there is the jewlery and other stuff including feasting for 4 days.

About consumer rights. Its the foreign multi national companies that are more guilty of the selling junk and making a run for it. However recently some big laws have been passed which have empowered consumers to great extent. The biggest improvement is that litigation aspect has been improved vastly. Special quick acting courts have been setup just for the legal issues regarding consumers. It still has a long way to go but recent court decisions against the likes of Samsonite, BMW, Skoda etc. have been highly favorable for the consumers. Airlines for instance are now bound by strict laws. If a passenger gets delayed, he or she can take them to the courts and the compensation given is quite healthy. So its heading in the right direction, thats for sure.

Truth is relative. The news business lost real credibility a long time ago. They also do pay for their errors.
Bias is absurd. Fox News is conservative leaning, but it's not like Fox News doesn't report things liberals do, and never has liberals on. Every television news organization has point/counterpoint on its news programs. Bias is in tone, like the softball questions Wallace asks conservative guests v. more aggressive questioning of liberal guests, but I don't care about that. I can recognize it and dismiss it. It doesn't affect the answers. I think most intelligent people can separate the information from the means the reporter extracted it.
And that doesn't even consider that the news media is an outlet. They don't generate what goes in. That's how the administration was able to use them, it's how Clinton was able to use them, it's how anyone with the wherewithal can use them. So if any and all sides can use them, there is no bias.
The real problems with the news are 1)they don't cover world events, and 2)they don't inform even when they are supposed to be. Bill X is being hotly debated. They get Congressman X and Y to tell you why it's good or why it's bad. They don't tell you what Bill X is. They don't tell you what Bill X does. You get that from the party spinners on the show.
Americans have virtually no idea how they are perceived around the world, or why they are perceived that way. When my cousins lived in India, they knew far more about what America was doing globally than the average American. They knew what was happening in Africa or Russia much better than I did, and I actually sought out multiple news sources. Still didn't get as much news as they did.

Olberman is like O'Reilly, neither of which is news.

Been there, done that, have multiple tee shirts. And you know what I learned?

That what foreigners think of my country is something that I care very little about. People will say anything depending on their mood, their tummy, the ambient temp, who won the latest athletic event, their astrological sign, WWJD, etc.

It matters a hell of a lot more what nations or people do, not what they say.

B

No need for the question mark at the end of that sentence.....

I care very much about it. What people do is dependent on what people think. Since nations are groups of people, I care what they think too.

I find it makes it much easier to deal with someone if you have even just an inkling of how they perceive you.

Other's perception is important when you need friends across the globe for any mission. Even though US has the power to go at it alone, a general consensus always helps so perceptions are important.

....and so it would be biased.

Tom W

Not at all. You got the point, but as usual whenever a point is made you deny that it is a point if it disagrees with yours. And if a question is asked that you don't want to answer you just dance away.

Never admit a point is made against you and in your mind you never, what?, lose?

Funny I thought we were having a discussion, not particiapting in a game where score is kept and there are winners and losers.

Tom W

Heres a little something I learned in oh about 9th or 10th grade....

Anytime anyone says anything to me I assume they are biased in one way or another, every human being on the planet is biased to their perception of the truth.

It's going to be an interesting future for "the media." If we just focus on the news divisions, then there is great cause for concern. Newsrooms don't make money. News as entertainment does, because it's a lot cheaper to have a talking-head, like Bill, Rush, Keith or Lou spouting off opinions and "feelings" than it is to have a real investigative reporter following the trails and writing the piece.

How much should we be paying for news reporting and not entertainment?

....on that we can agree.

Tom W

Not much. Most of the news is not especially important to me, though I often get agitated as though it were vital.

One time I took a job working in a foreign country in which I did not speak the common language. I was away from any outside communication for 10 days at a time and only back for a day and night (great incentive to learn a language). After 6 months I returned to the USA. Guess what the most important shift in common cultural symbols was during that time --- serialized television shows and television commercials. All of the local and national politics was pretty much unchanged as no great changes had occurred. International politics was just as incomprehensible as when I left. The same bunch of self-important clowns were preening in the warm glow of media lights.

Maybe changes had occurred but certainly nothing on the surface. I was not a mind-reader so I could not determine what they were thinking. Only what they said. It's one of my many shortcomings, being unable to determine what anybody else thinks about anything. Even my wife of nearly 34 years. Maybe my Mommy inserted an aluminum foil hat under my scalp preventing mind-waves from penetrating my skull.

Anyway, with the Internet we can access so many different sources of information that we can obtain more points of view than we are capable of synthesizing. I contrast that with the time when we had 3 news networks and 3 weekly news magazines and 1 or 2 daily newspapers. All of them shared common education to a great degree and shared cultural paradigms. The result was a consistent message from all sources. It was a simpler time.

B

A free press is vital to a democracy.

When a dictator takes over the first thing to go is a free press.

Tom W

You too?! Mine's on top of my head, B! I can't even pick up CNN............http://www.trailerlife.com/glb/cfb/m...people_3_w.jpg

:D