Liberal Bias in Mainstream Media

Filed under:Opinion, Politics, Web Log (Blog), D. Sirmize — posted by D. Sirmize on June 1, 2006 @ 1:43 pm

The term “media bias” is a hotbutton issue.  Conservatives claim the “mainstream media” (MSM) leans Left, and liberals swear it leans Right.  All personal political bias aside, extensive documentation of the MSM by media watchdogs and the MSM’s own polling data clearly indicate an obvious liberal tilt.  Surveys from 1978 to 2005 have concluded that the MSM (consisting of major newspapers, broadcast, and cable outlets) is rather “lib-heavy.”  A 2005 University of Connecticut study surveyed 300 journalists nationwide, asking who they voted for in the 2004 presidential election.  52% voted for liberal Democrat John Kerry, while only 19% voted for conservative George Bush.  The other 21% refused to answer.

When asked which political party most closely resembled their own ideology, 33% said they were Democrats, opposed to 10% who said they were Republicans.  And here’s the big one: 13% of those surveyed consider themselves “strongly liberal,” while only 3% considered themselves “conservative.”  The rest consider themselves “moderates.” 

Ah, yes, that touchy-feely kum-bay-ya meaningless CYA term. 

Moderates tend to fall into 3 categories:

-those who don’t feel informed enough to side with one camp and don’t want to sound dumb by buying into one camp ignorantly;

-those who really do side with one camp but do not want to admit it;

-and the politically apathetic, who tend to vote based on a Rolling Stone article or something their favorite actor said once. 

The term “moderate” is so conveniently vague that it’s difficult to place self-proclaimed “moderates” on the political map.  But the other percentages are hard numbers.  13% “strongly liberal” vs. 3% “conservative” is a very telling stat.

This isn’t surprising.  MSM outlets hire their new recruits from liberal nurseries- American universities.  Most university professors are Lefties, and the average college campus is a liberal teletubby world.  In my college career in the political science department at a liberal university, I was the lone conservative in a sea of flaming liberals, all intent on changing the world- one mocha latte at a time.  Liberalism is just so tempting for unexperienced kids.  With buzz-words like “peace,” “choice,” “diversity,” and “equality”- what idealistic youngster can resist?  College kids just eat that stuff up.  It’s so much easier to drink the Kool-Aid and bask in the warmth of your own self-satisfaction in a world of nuanced theory, than to actually formulate your own opinion based the real world outside the campus bubble.

MSM outlets hire these kids, who then become America’s primary sources for news and culture.  The result is an extremely influential MSM with a decidedly anti-conservative, anti-religious, and often even anti-American mindset.  Yes, journalistic creed encourages objective news reporting.  But if you honestly think a journalist’s personal and strongly held political views don’t bleed into their reporting, I’ve got some beach-side property in Afghanistan I’d like to sell you.  Of course they don’t think they’re biased.  And they’re astounded that anybody would accuse them of less-than-perfect objectivity.  But insane people never believe they’re insane either.  Facts are facts, and the numbers don’t lie.

Why is this so important?  I’d wager that most Americans base their political views almost solely on the opinions of prominent media figures and MSM news blurbs.  The average American citizen is ridiculously uninformed.  Joe American can readily recite the names of all the American Idol and Survivor winners since the dawn of reality TV, but couldn’t tell you who the last three U.S. vice presidents were.  The MSM’s liberal bias and the average American voter’s unhealthy dependence on it may be very good for Democrats…

But it’s very bad for America.

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