On Media Bias

Recently, I've had a running debate with a liberal Democrat friend of mine. This is one of those issues on which she and I will never see things similarly.

What astounds me is that she sees things so differently, and can't admit of even the smallest area of common ground. So, I guess I can't, either. That being said, to determine which, if either of us, is more off-track, one might turn to studies of media bias.

This started with the McCain NY Times smear of some months back. Now, it's Obama's minister's anti-white and -American palaver. My friend sees absolutely no issue whatsoever.

The other day, I received a call from a staff member on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News program concerning my GE-related posts on the companion business blog to this political blog.

My friend promptly castigated Fox and O'Reilly for being conservatively-biased, while citing, generically, "Pew and Poynter" media studies showing no liberal bias in the mainstream media. She further asserted that Fox was held in low esteem, but declined to specify by whom.

Curious, I Googled "Pew trust report on media bias," and found this Pew-related article here. Among the findings are,

"KEY FINDINGS:

CMPA reported: “Majorities of all major groups in the population, including 70 percent of self-described liberals, now see a ‘fair amount’ or ‘great deal’ of bias in the news. In general, perceptions of bias rise along with levels of education and political participation.”
“Those who see a liberal tilt outnumber those who detect a conservative bias by more than a two to one margin. Forty-three percent describe the news media’s perspective on politics as liberal, compared to 33 percent who see it as a middle of the road, and 19 percent who find it to be conservative.”

“Even self-described liberals agree: 41 percent see the media as liberal, compared to only 22 percent who find the news to be conservative.”

On the specific topic of politics, the webpage noted this report,

"The People & The Press, 2000
During the election year, the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press frequently polled public attitudes about the media. In an October 15, 2000 report, the group found that most voters “generally believe the media has been fair to both major presidential candidates, but more say the press has been fair to Al Gore than to George W. Bush.” In fact, the vast majority of respondents (89%) agreed that reporters’ political views often or sometimes influenced the coverage.

KEY FINDINGS:
When asked, “How often do you think members of the news media let their own political preferences influence the way they report the news?” 57 percent said “often,” and another 32 percent said “sometimes.” Just 8 percent said “seldom,” and only one percent thought reporters’ preferences “never” influenced their coverage. "

Rather than continue to quote from the piece, you can go read it in its entirety. There is much, much more evidence, for example, from Gallup, detailing six consecutive years of generally-perceived liberal bias in the media.

Here's another web source which provides similar conclusions, though citing different sources, but also some of the same, such as Pew. In this piece, a study conducted precisely to unearth perceived bias finds liberals happy with mainstream news coverage, while conservatives are not, thus, the study concludes, sustaining the contention that mainstream news is liberally-biased.

Finally, this Pew study catalogs trends in declining trust in mainstream media by Americans, and the concomitant fracturing of liberals and conservatives in seeking different news sources, primarily, respectively, CNN and Fox among cable news options.

All of which confirms my initial suspicion that my liberal friend, who, by the way, is in media, turns a blind eye to the reality of liberal tilt in mainstream American media.

Sadly, it's pretty clear that she is not alone among her ilk. This explains the incredible gulf between, say, her and me on the recent Obama flap.

She sees it as a meaningless intrusion of politics into Obama's private life. I see it as firmly identifying his judgment in choice of advisers as fatally flawed.