"Liberal Media" ...

[Honus]

.. must be the most successful catchphrase in the history of Madison Avenue. It just boggles the mind to watch big-time media outlets bending over backwards to avoid accusations of liberal bias, only to have the beneficiaries of this media cowardice continue to bash them for being pro-Obama or other such nonsense. Their cheerleading for W before his invasion of Iraq was probably the most egregious example of the media's bias, but the problem remains. For example: Sunday Morning Talk Shows Featured Twice As Many Republicans As Dems Last Year | ThinkProgress

Liberal media my a$$.

[tbomachines]

[Angel]

I've always believed that the media is inherently liberal...AFTER they are done chasing dollars.
You can attack any individual commentator however you wish, becuase they span the spectrum, but from an 'in toto' overall news reporting content measure - my guess is liberal every time...becuase thats where the people and the money are in reporting.

my reasoning ?

1) UCLA study - Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist / UCLA Newsroom
Its not tough to find fault with this study, but thats the most comprehensive I've seen so far (and they document their methodology...)

2) Personally - when in college, everyone I knew that was in journalism, expressed many (not all) typically left-wing views. And IMHO college students tend to be more liberal than the overall population (commonunal living quarters, less financial disparity (ie- all students at OU had the same access to the new gym/workout center/sports/climbing wall), liberal professors leading them (how many prof's were successful business leaders, military NCOs, rednecks or other 'typical' right wing positions ? some of them yes, but most ?)

at OU and UC - the engineers and some buisness majors expressed right-wing views, but the engineers largely kept to themselves...(they were too busy studying?)
Ohio Univerisity - 16k students in SE Ohio, rural area/college town.
Univ. of Cincinnati - 25k students, Urban campus, lotsa commuters

3) The buisness of most media outlets is making money- especially once you get above a certain size. This makes me belive that 'big media' is not politically motivated, but more money motiveated. So who makes news ? Engineers or movie stars ? what are the political leanings of each ?

There might be one station with more conservative commentators, or one editor that deletes all items questioning AGW, but when mostly liberal people go into media - its gonna be a liberal institution...AFTER they are done chasing the money...becuase both liberals and conservatives are greedy

generalizations ? Midwest US experience only ? yes, yes they are, if you wish to counter- cite your points and counter the arguement, not the poster- I'd like to hear where your experience differs.

-John

[Botnst]

Stats brought by THINKPROGRESS? Oh, there's an unbiased source!

Where's a facepalm picture?

[kerry]

Originally Posted by Angel

I've always believed that the media is inherently liberal...AFTER they are done chasing dollars.
You can attack any individual commentator however you wish, becuase they span the spectrum, but from an 'in toto' overall news reporting content measure - my guess is liberal every time...becuase thats where the people and the money are in reporting.

my reasoning ?

1) UCLA study - Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist / UCLA Newsroom
Its not tough to find fault with this study, but thats the most comprehensive I've seen so far (and they document their methodology...)

2) Personally - when in college, everyone I knew that was in journalism, expressed many (not all) typically left-wing views. And IMHO college students tend to be more liberal than the overall population (commonunal living quarters, less financial disparity (ie- all students at OU had the same access to the new gym/workout center/sports/climbing wall), liberal professors leading them (how many prof's were successful business leaders, military NCOs, rednecks or other 'typical' right wing positions ? some of them yes, but most ?)

at OU and UC - the engineers and some buisness majors expressed right-wing views, but the engineers largely kept to themselves...(they were too busy studying?)
Ohio Univerisity - 16k students in SE Ohio, rural area/college town.
Univ. of Cincinnati - 25k students, Urban campus, lotsa commuters

3) The buisness of most media outlets is making money- especially once you get above a certain size. This makes me belive that 'big media' is not politically motivated, but more money motiveated. So who makes news ? Engineers or movie stars ? what are the political leanings of each ?

There might be one station with more conservative commentators, or one editor that deletes all items questioning AGW, but when mostly liberal people go into media - its gonna be a liberal institution...AFTER they are done chasing the money...becuase both liberals and conservatives are greedy

generalizations ? Midwest US experience only ? yes, yes they are, if you wish to counter- cite your points and counter the arguement, not the poster- I'd like to hear where your experience differs.

-John

How different is much of that argument from saying that journalists are college educated? Is that what liberal means?

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by Honus

.. must be the most successful catchphrase in the history of Madison Avenue. It just boggles the mind to watch big-time media outlets bending over backwards to avoid accusations of liberal bias, only to have the beneficiaries of this media cowardice continue to bash them for being pro-Obama or other such nonsense. Their cheerleading for W before his invasion of Iraq was probably the most egregious example of the media's bias, but the problem remains. For example: Sunday Morning Talk Shows Featured Twice As Many Republicans As Dems Last Year | ThinkProgress

Liberal media my a$$.

When it's true, it slips very easily into the vernacular.

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by tbomachines

Is this guy wearing lipstick?

[davidmash]

I think seeing John King cower in the corner after Gingrich threw a tantrum ought to dispel this myth. Gingrich opens up a hole the size of an Olympic pool and King just walks away. Liberal my ass.

[Honus]

Originally Posted by Angel

I've always believed that the media is inherently liberal...AFTER they are done chasing dollars....

That seems plausible to me. Demographically, media outlets seem to be dominated by people from the leftward side of life.

generalizations ? Midwest US experience only ? yes, yes they are, if you wish to counter- cite your points and counter the arguement, not the poster- I'd like to hear where your experience differs.

-John

The Washington Post and a couple of local weeklies are my main sources of news. The Post, it seems to me, has a split personality. The editorial board (the ones who write the column on the left side of the opinion section) are strongly to the right. The opinion page (on the right side of the opinion section) varies. It has a few lefties (EJ Dionne and Eugene Robinson, for example), but has at least as many righties (Krauthamer, Will, Theissen, for example). So, I'm not sure what to make of that. The rest of the paper probably tends to the left, but they were completely sucked in by W, both before and after 9/11.

[Honus]

Originally Posted by tbomachines

Fair point, although I did offer a new piece of information, so I'm not just beating a dead horse.

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by davidmash

I think seeing John King cower in the corner after Gingrich threw a tantrum ought to dispel this myth. Gingrich opens up a hole the size of an Olympic pool and King just walks away. Liberal my ass.

Better grab your ass then!

[Air&Road]

Anyone who fails to see that the mainstream media is HEAVILY liberal is not blind and not dumb. They are simply sitting out on the left wing WITH the media, so it seems like the center of the plane to them.

Yeah, I know, someone will say the same thing about the right. The thing is if you're on the right wing, it's easy to look over and see that the media and the left wingers are out there on the left. If you're already on the left wing, it seems quite normal.

[Honus]

Originally Posted by Botnst

Stats brought by THINKPROGRESS? Oh, there's an unbiased source!

Where's a facepalm picture?

The stats don't come from thinkprogress. They are from Roll Call. Thank you for once again commenting without offering any insight on the topic of discussion.

[Air&Road]

Originally Posted by Honus

The stats don't come from thinkprogress. They are from Roll Call. Thank you for once again commenting without offering any insight on the topic of discussion.

Typical liberal response. If you don't like the statement, blame or discredit the source.

[tbomachines]

Originally Posted by LarryBible

Typical liberal response. If you don't like the statement, blame or discredit the source.

Isn't that exactly what Bot did?

Anyways, a highly esteemed journalist/professor of mine suggested to me once regarding bias - are journalists just liberals who go into a field or is their liberalism a significant outcome of what they do, what they see, and how they experience the world? Yes, college age folks are more statistically more left-leaning than right the last time I checked (not at my school, but mine was not representative) but that also begs the question as to why...

IOW, you see studies where a lot of journalists vote democratic. Our right wing critics say AH-HA! Evidence that there's some sort of liberal takeover propaganda conspiracy or whatever. Instead, take the time to ask why. Consider the fact that journalists see a lot of bad bad stuff in the world, much of it firsthand. Would seeing people die, starve, etc every day affect political ideology? I think it would. Just some food for thought.