HI charles,

>Walter, you are a very intelligent man. Surely you know that 'listing facts' is as subject to selectivity and slant as anything and is more subject to manipulation that analysis or opinion which is labelled as such.

The only subjective, thing that could happen in theory is not listing all facts and they choose not to list facts on the news. The TV news is not tied to any political party, etnicity etc at all. We've got the government founded stations and the commercial stations. I never did notice any significant difference, but I identify the government founded one the most informative.

>Choosing what to put on the news, what is "newsworthy" has a built in bias. Not through evil intent, but simply because all choices reflect the world view of the chooser.

Well, you really need to talk to the journalists making the TV broadcasts to have the final answer, but the decision what to list on the news is not by any means determined by any political influence at all. It is determined by the importance and significance for the average dutch viewer (what ever the exact criteria might mean). Again, no influence from any party who might have any interest in controlling the news. The TV news is totally independed (except financially) from anyone.

>In matters of domestic issues, how objective are very branches of the media in the Netherlands?

TV news. Very, very objective.
TV infotainment, Objective, but with some basic analysis of an expert invited to the discussing that might tell his founded opinion on this matter.

News papers. Though there are papers with a political colour, in general they still are very objective depending on the subject (Columns not taken into account, becaused they by definition are personal biased). In general I could not even tell the political colour from reading the content of the paper though.

>How many different television news sources are there?

Appart from regional news there about 5 or 6 TV news sources. And about a dozen of infotainment programs discussing issues in the news.

>Are they entirely independent and are they all as unbiased as you mention? (these questions are sincere as I know very little about Dutch domestic politics.)

The TV news IMO is absolutely unbiased. Infotainment might be less strict, also depending on the program. In fact the infotainment generally is so unbiased they analyze the mud throwing from bush to kerry, its foundations and history. I must say. You'll learn a lot then.

I think the difference is in how our society works. Political parties do not sponsor TV programs at all, do not hire journalists, have no influence on the media at all. They might have hired some sending time to promote their party (as in a commercial) but it is very different from the american versions: No (personal) mud throwing.

Walter,
Walter,