Does the mainstream media have a liberal bias?

Example 1) The prison abuse scandal story is broken by CBS. For the next 10 days, it is on the front page of almost every major newspaper in the country. A short time later, Nick Berg is beheaded, which is pushed into the back pages after a single day. An artillery shell containing a gallon of nerve gas is found, this also ends up on the back pages after a single day. Today, in my local paper, the prison abuse scandal is still front page news while the arrest of people tied to the Nick Berg murder is not even in the first section of the paper. The nerve gas discovery is on page A-11.

Example 2) Iraq is currently in the midst of an economic boom. New businesses are being created. Employment is increasing. Hospitals, schools, and infrastructure are being built rapidly. More and more people are getting reliable utilities. Several public opinion polls have shown that the majority of Iraqi's think the coalition troops shouldn't leave yet and that thing are better now than they were under Saddam. The vast majority of the country is stabilized. Yet most print media and abc/nbc/cbs/cnn report in such a way as to imply that the war is being lost and that Iraq is in chaos. They would have you believe that nothing good is happening in Iraq.

Example 3) NBC's morning and evening news shows aired 58 prisoneer-abuse stories since April 29. In all of 2003 and 2004, NBC has aired only five stories on the mass graves discovered after the fall of Saddam Hussein, despite an estimated body count of as many as 300,000.

Example4) “Do you think this is a stupid argument that’s been going on from the other side, attacking you for throwing away what you said, or implied, or allowed the people to imply were medals when in fact they were ribbons?”
“What do you think of guys like [Vice President] Cheney who said, ‘I’m gonna have a kid at the right time. I’m going to grad school at the right time. I’m gonna stack up those deferments until I’m 83 years old, before they get anywhere near me,’ and they’re also hawkish?”
“Do you think the people around the President have hoisted themselves on their own petard by bringing up this issue of your service?”
“Do you think this administration and its political handlers like Karl Rove are capable of recognizing they can’t beat you on the jobs issue, they can’t beat you on foreign policy, so they’re gonna drop this nonsensical stuff [on you]?”
– Some of Chris Matthews’ questions to Senator John Kerry on MSNBC’s Hardball, April 27.

 

The media has a slight liberal bias, but it's nothing compared to the HUGE "sensationalist" bias that they have. Bad news sells better than good news, whether it's a democrat or a republican in office. Iraq's booming industry dosen't sell papers off the newsstand like prisoner abuse does, and when you get down to the nitty gritty of it all that's what news is: business. The reporters have to get paid, the editors have to get paid, everyone in the news media is looking to make money, and they'll print whateve spun, biased half truth they can to sell papers and advertisement slots.

But to answer your question, yes, the media does have a natural inclination toward the left. Why, I'm not sure, but anyone with an IQ greater than their shoe size who reads a paper or watches the news can see that the media dosen't present both sides on equal footing.

 

what i don't understand is the people claiming the right leanings of the media. you have to be pretty extremely left to think they're anywhere near right. perhaps particular outlets, but at least they're open and obvious aobut it. you can't really blame people for ignoring the media and issues, especially when they feel they're not getting the whole truth or that they're being manipulated.

 

hell yeah there's a liberal bias.....a big one too. Proving it is another story, those are some good examples to start with though.


kc the media is thought to be right wing because it is owned by people that have more money than you or I, maybe not as much as George Soros though....that's different.

Sensationalism has always been quite a problem in journalism, putting the news in the hands of the government might actually work out that problem. Plus it would probably cost more, be mandatory for everyone to have (in the name of equality!) and we wouldn't know what was going on until somehow they find their way through the red tape.

 

There's a huge liberal bias...
CNN's idea of a show being balanced is 2 liberals and a moderate lol.

Fox News is pretty balanced, but they can occasionally lean slightly right and left.

 

Oh, and Razm... Im lovin that sig pic haha

 

lmfao... the mainstream media has both a right and a left bias... but ive yet to see any mainstream media that portrays any far left things...

 

i suppose the same could be said for far right things, thank god. i suppose it would be too much to ask for a media that doesn't slant the news.

 

trippy,

fox is balanced?

its all about money anyway, we have established this fact.

 

*muffled laughter* Fox News is as fair and balanced as George Bush is bipartisan. Alan Colmes is there on Hannity's show as a token liberal, most any other newsman is conservative. A number of Fox's on-air "liberals" are, at the most, conservative Democrats. The left-wing viewpoints that appear as guest-appearances tend to get cut off by louder mouths like O'Reilly.

All news networks have a bias which permeates their programming, some subtly and others not quite so - Fox is in that category - a feeling that they try to convey to the viewer that a particular side is in the right or is winning. And to some extent this is unavoidable.

Pure objective journalism is ultimately an unattainable goal... any news source will always at least have a slight slant, depending on how the news is worded, images used, what information is given, what sources are asked... the BBC may be the closest thing out there to an objective press.

I don't think the news has that liberal of a bias nowadays, course I'm looking at it from my own leftist standpoint. I think CNN is very-moderate-left, Fox News is strongly right-wing, and MSNBC is moderate-left. And as has been noted above, a constant with all of them is that if it bleeds, it leads.

 

Thanks trippy....its gotta happen sometime.

mui I'm sorry but the mainstream media is not right-wing, the only thing we have is AM talk stations.....who listens to those except right-wingers....

 

*laughter* Some anchors on Fox are about as liberal as you can get without getting fired. Some like Bill O'Reilly are the opposite. Most are pretty moderate though.

And yes, I do think Bill O'Reilly is an ass, and a pussy.

 

O'Reilly is an ass, but that's his job.....people dislike him (and therefore the FOX news network) only because he has traditional values.....they call him a conservative for that alone.....now those are sheeple............

 

From what I can get from over here and discussions on these forums the US news media seems rather tame and uninformative. Many of your ‘discussion’ programmes seem little more than shouting matches and your political debates are stage managed and unenlightening.

As to the Abu Ghaib photos, when they first appeared all over the newspapers over here with reams of comment, when I went looking for US opinion I found that only one paper, the Baltimore Sun i think it was, was running anything.

Also didn’t the programme that first showed them at first hold them back.

For use over here the American media and its obsessions often seems strange I mean all that fuss over JJ breast, but little about the country being misled over WMD.

 

MaxPower hit the nail on the head I think. There is a bias, but it's subtle, and in the end sensationalism wins.

"If it bleeds it leads"

I thought that I disagree about Fox being "fair and balanced" though. To me it seems to have a similar subtle shift to the right. I think this sensationalism is exactly why increasing numbers of people are going elsewhere for news. International media and the internet are rapidly growing news sources in the US because you have to go to those places to get news anyway. I hate turning on ACB/NBC/CBS and having to wait through 30 minutes of celebrity crap before I can get a 60 second summary of what's going on in the world.

 

Exactly. I think that CNN and MSNBC have "descent" coverge, as well as BBC America when it comes in, but the Net is ultimately the place to go. Any non-news network that has news like NBC or ABC is only looking to sell advertisment slots, no different than a sitcom, so what you're actually getting is entertainment.

 

yeah, i definitely prefer the bbc news on american topics, it's got more information and more balanced commentary. bbc world news has MUCH MORE info on it, as well.i can't tolerate the "discussion" shows. i think i prefer watching one that openly right, then one that's openly left, rather than listening to them bicker then hearing the age old "can i finish?"

 

It's really beyond me how supposedly intelligent people can think that the U.S. mass media has a "liberal" bias. It goes to show you how excellent of a job our government and corporations are doing at cowing the masses. Liberal, my ass.

 

only a truly hard core leftist sees the news media and hollywood as leaning right.

 

Actually that is a false and ideologically driven claim in itself. I suggest you go examine the Pew Research data on the matter. Pew is far from a leftist organisation and enjoys legitimacy and respect from all points on the political spectrum.


Or you can continue to live in your right wing delusions and gorge yourself on the sort of intellectual dishonesty spewed out by the likes of Anne Coulter and Bill O'Reilly. However, don't expect to have any credence in any political circles of significance so long as you do.