Does the mainstream media have a liberal bias?

Come on, that's like asking if humans have skin.
Duh!

 

i consider coulter and o'reilly to be merely entertainment, rather like al franken and michael moore. all entertaining, none particularly edifying.

 

That's all very well and good, but your insistence of a liberal media is precisely what these pundits dishonestly inundate the US public with day after day.

As I said, go examine the Pew Research findings on media content and you will find a significant bias toward the right (fully in keeping with corporate priorities).

 

Liberal bias? I suppose so if you define liberal as "to the left of bush" or "to the left of Fox news". I have yet to see (in recent years anyway) even one example of a mainstream media outlet advocating any genuinely liberal ideas. If anybody here has seen such an example please tell me. Before you all start posting consider is it really liberal, or is it merely to the left of Bush. Bush is not a moderate, never has been. It does not matter that he says that he is since his polcies are the most conservative that this country has ever seen. Almost everybody in Washington is to the left of Bush, almost everything on the news (Fox news excepted) is to the left of Bush. In fact it is difficult to stay to the right of Bush without looking like a total wacko. The only public figures that I can think of who are to the right of Bush are total wackos. If there is a political bias in the media it is to the right.

Mostly, however, it seems as though the media has a bias towards whatever it is that gets ratings. Remeber all of those kidnapping stories in the news last spring and summer? They were purely ratings motivated. During that same period kidnappings of that kind were at an all time low, but they got ratings and so were all over the news and people started going all nuts about them.

 

I just saw this article and it fight nicely into this thread.

http://209.11.49.220/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000517184

Pew Survey Finds Moderates, Liberals Dominate News Outlets
Aya Kawano
By E & P Staff
Published: May 23, 2004 4:00 PM EST

NEW YORK Those convinced that liberals make up a disproportionate share of newsroom workers have long relied on Pew Research Center surveys to confirm this view, and they will not be disappointed by the results of Pew's latest study released today.

While most of the journalists, like many Americans, describe themselves as "moderate," a far higher number are "liberal" than in the general population.

At national organizations (which includes print, TV and radio), the numbers break down like this: 34% liberal, 7% conservative. At local outlets: 23% liberal, 12% conservative. At Web sites: 27% call themselves liberals, 13% conservatives.

This contrasts with the self-assessment of the general public: 20% liberal, 33% conservative.

The survey of 547 media professionals, completed this spring, is part of an important study released today by The Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Committee of Concerned Journalists, which mainly concerns more general issues related to newsrooms (an E & P summary will appear Monday).

While it's important to remember that most journalists in this survey continue to call themselves moderate, the ranks of self-described liberals have grown in recent years, according to Pew. For example, since 1995, Pew found at national outlets that the liberal segment has climbed from 22% to 34% while conservatives have only inched up from 5% to 7%.

The survey also revealed what some are sure to label a "values" gap. According to Pew, about 60% of the general public believes it is necessary to believe in God to be a truly moral person. The new survey finds that less than 15% of those who work at news outlets believe that. About half the general public believes homosexuality should be accepted by society -- but about 80% of journalists feel that way.

When the question of which news organizations actually tilted left or right, there was one clear candidate: Fox News. Fully 69% of national journalists, and 42% of those at the local level, called Fox News "especially conservative." Next up was The New York Times, which about one in five labeled "especially liberal."

Not surprisingly, views of how the press has treated President Bush break down along partisan lines. More than two out of three liberals feel the press has not been tough enough on Bush, while half the conservatives feel the media has been too tough.

Still, a little over half of national journalists (53%) give national media coverage of the administration an A or B rating.

While the sample of 547 interviewees is not large, Pew says that this selection represents "a cross-section of news organizations and of the people working at all levels of those organizations." Newspapers were identified and circulation ranked using the 2003 Editor & Publisher International Year Book.

In an essay accompanying the survey, the directors of the sponsoring groups -- Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel and Amy Mitchell --declare that broad conclusions about the political findings should be tempered by analyzing some of the details in the findings. For example, they identify strong "libertarian" leanings among jouurnalists, including doubts about the role of "big government."

 

Journalists do not determine what gets on the news. The bosses, execs, and sponsors do.

 

That probably varies based on the news outlet in question. I know that Rather/Brokaw/Jennings claim to have quite a bit of say over what stories run on their shows. Ditto for Couric.

 

I think it's more important to study the articles, stories, etc. And we'd have to determine what issues or biases constitute a liberal viewpoint.

So, does an article about the growing number of liberals in the news media qualify as liberal or conservative? I say it plays more towards conservatives because bad news sells. The language of the article supports this. I mean, look at the first paragraph. Tell me that isn't meant to grab the attention of "Dittoheads" across the nation. I can hear Limbaugh chortling with glee. It plays on the fears of homophobes everywhere. (Gays, Jews, liberals...OH NO!!!) Why did they pick the issue of homosexual acceptance as the benchmark for liberality? Why didn't they pick something like, say, legalization of marijuana, or capital punishment, or prayer in school? (Because if ya'll like queers, ya'll's yella-bellied lib'rals!) I mean, wtf? And the act of dividing up the country between liberal and conservative strikes me as not at all liberal, thereby signifying a conservative bias on the part of the author of the article and the rest of the E & P staff. I'd blame the Pew Trust and the PEJ but I don't know what else was in that survey.

 

anyone with a background in english and literary subjects is capable of reading between the lines in a newscast or story. people cannot help but let their biases come through in things they write or say.

 

You're making a lot of assumptions. They probably just picked the homosexual issue because gay marriage is a big thing in the news right now.

I don't see how critiquing this article addresses the underlying question anyway. I originally created this thread because I have noticed an obvious anti-Bush pro-Kerry theme in the news on TV and my local paper. Any story that benefit's Bush gets shelved immediately while any story that benefits Kerry gets hammered repeatedly.

Out of curiousity, how is dividing the country up demographically a decidedly conservative thing to do? Are liberals not allowed to cite demographics as well? If not then a lot of people on this site are in the wrong.

 

if you cant see a conservative bias in fox news i think you need to check yoself

 

I don't have cable at home, but I get to see snippets of the daytime stuff that Fox News shows every so often.

From what I can tell, they do seem to slant to the right.

 

i think we've all pretty much agreed that fox slants right. very wise of them to do so, since so many people are so disgusted with the left slant of most media news outlets. there's money to be made there.

 

Going to the pew research center for your facts, statistics, and what have you is almost as dumb as going to Rush Limbaugh for the same.Now in terms of local new channles, news papers and etcetera, there certainly can be liberal bias. Purely local sources are very often bias one was or another. In terms of the giant media corporations (with the possible exception of CNN) on the other hand we find mostly a buch of flag waving, slogan chanting, RAH RAH Bush material over and over again. Fox news and MSNBC don't merely talk about how great they thing Bush is; they instead seem to actually worship Bush. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to turn to Fox news someday only to find a gaint closeup of W's face repeating "War is peace", "ignorance is strenght" over and over again. Fortuantely he hasn't quite said "freedom is slavery" yet.

 

I think we can all agree that whether the mainstream media leans to the right or to the left, all they really care about is getting as many people as possible to watch, read, listen, etc. In other words, they're biased towards $$$$.

 

are you kidding? there are definintely a few reporters / talk show hosts there who adore him, but they're not the only ones there.

and from lickHERish, i quote: 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.