Surprise: The press has a liberal bias!
A recent Harvard University study cited in Investors' Business Daily would seem to prove what conservatives have been saying for years-that the mainstream press does have a bias (intended or not) and that bias is slanted toward the left side of the political spectrum.
Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning news shows, which "produced almost twice as many stories (51% to 27%) focused on Democratic candidates than on Republicans."
The most flagrant bias, however, was found in newspapers. In reviewing front-page coverage in 11 newspapers, the study found the tone positive in nearly six times as many stories about Democrats as it was negative.
The folks at the News-Sentinel (most notably editor Jack McElroy) have attempted to say that the liberal slant that many of us see in the pages of the local paper is something that we have imagined in our own mind-that it isn't real, and that our thinking that there is such a slant to the paper's reporting practices is an evidence of our conservative biases. We see the same thing in respected major newspapers like The New York Times, The Washington Post, or USA Today, yet we are told that the major press reports the news as bias-free as humanly possible.
Everyone has their biases, and if the studies which indicate that the majority of people in the press tend to favor more liberal views are true (and I certainly believe that they are), it is only natural that these views are going to seep through into their news coverage. That viewpoint-based news coverage is precisely why networks such as Fox News (which now clearly favors the Right as much as the three major networks favor the Left), and newspapers such as The Washington Times are becoming more popular. Since we so clearly have viewpoint-based news coverage, folks want an alternative view-and that alternative swings to the Right.
I have been quite honest with my readers about my conservative point of view-it is high time that the major press do the same. If your paper or network favors liberals and/or Democrats, let it be known for the world to see and hear, and if your media outlet favors conservatives and/or Republicans, make it known. It is time to end the facade of objectivity in the press and let the people-and the free market-decide how they want their news
Labels: News Media
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 12:12 AM
1 Comments:
FALSITY OF THE PRESS'S ALLEGED "LIBERAL BIAS"
When there was just a glimmer of a rumor of a charge
(Or evidence illegally obtained)
Then it was hunting season, as reporters sauntered large
Though decorous civility was strained--
Yet subsequent to Clinton other presidents it seems
Have had concealed rape charges that nobody
Raises amongst the press corps preferential weaving dreams,
Then too forgetting that war can be bloody.
Those making allegations--say of rape or of cocaine--
While unreported in the press have gone
To suicide conveniently--can anyone explain?
The public, blithely ignorant, goes on.
Why in one hand the allegation gets treated like fact,
Whilst in another utterly ignored?
Ah well, the world loves Clinton--weathering that was attacked--
But how much weather ought our race afford?
Perhaps what policy or what a man has done before--
Successful or a failure in his business--
Were best to be examined before opening one´s door
Relying not on hearsay borne of laziness.
The populace as never sinned a day in all its life
Has made a mountain from man´s little foible:
A man is wise who tells a little white lie to his wife,
As I learned that much from the Holy Bible!
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