Media Bias: Pretty Much All Of Journalism Now Leans Left, Study Shows
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Media Bias: Ask journalists, and they'll likely tell you they play things right down the middle. They strive to be "fair." They're "centrists." Sorry, not true. The profound leftward ideological bias of the Big Media is the main reason why America now seems saturated with "fake news." Journalists, besotted with their own ideology, are no longer able to recognize their own bias.
Despite journalists' denials, it's now pretty much a fact that journalism is one of the most left-wing of all professions. But until recently, that wasn't thought to be true of financial journalists — who have a reputation for being the most right-leaning and free-market-oriented among mainstream journalists.
If that was ever true, it sure isn't today, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Arizona State University and Texas A&M University questioned 462 financial journalists around the country . They followed up with 18 additional interviews. The journalists worked for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and a number of other newspapers.
What they found surprised them. Even the supposedly hard-nosed financial reporters were overwhelmingly liberal. Of the 462 people surveyed, 17.63% called themselves "very liberal," while 40.84% described themselves as "somewhat liberal."
Media Conservatives: Endangered
When you add it up, 58.47% admit to being left of center. Along with that, another 37.12% claim to be "moderate."
What about the mythic "conservative" financial journalist? In fact, a mere 0.46% of financial journalists called themselves "very conservative," while just 3.94% said they were "somewhat conservative." That's a whopping 4.4% of the total that lean right-of-center.
That's a ratio of 13 "liberals" for every one "conservative." Whatever happened to ideological diversity? Please remember this as you watch the business news or read a financial story in the paper. You might want to take its message with a grain of salt. That's especially true if the piece seems unduly harsh on the free-market system and its many proven benefits. Or if it lauds socialism as an "answer" to society's ills.
This is an enormous problem for the media — perhaps bigger than they realize. A Rasmussen Reports survey in late October found that 45% of all likely voters in the midterm elections believed "that when most reporters write about a congressional race, they are trying to help the Democratic candidate."
Just 11% said the media would try to help the Republican. And only 35% said they thought reporters simply try to report the news in an unbiased way.
Rasumussen notes that this "helps explain why Democratic voters are much bigger fans of election news coverage" than others. They see it as favorable to their own beliefs.
Media Bias Is Real
Even so, that doesn't keep people from seeing the harsh reality of bias.
A post-election survey of 1,000 voters by McLaughlin & Associates found that "a forceful plurality (48%) of respondents believe the media coverage is unfair and biased" against President Trump. Even 16% of Democrats agreed.
It used to be thought that, sure, the cultural beat writers, book reviewers and Op-Ed writers all shared a common intellectual bent and thus were more likely to be left-leaning than other reporters. But these recent studies show that's not true. The taint of bias now infects all of journalism, not just the cultural and opinion spinners.
Media Bias: Data Don't Lie
It wasn't always this way. Along-term study of reporters' leanings and attitudes, "The American Journalist in the Digital Age," shows that the drift toward liberalism has been going on for yearswithin journalism. In 1971, Republicans made up 25.7% of all journalists. Democrats were 35.5%, and independents were 32.5%. Some 6.3% of responses were "other."
By 2014, the year of the last survey, the share of journalists identifying as Republican had shrunk to 7.1%, an 18.6 percentage point drop. From having near-parity with the journalist Republicans in the 1970s, Democrats today outnumber Republicans today by four to one.
Meanwhile, the share of journalists calling themselves "independent" has surged to 50.2%. In case you think the growing body of Independents qualifies as "the center," think again.
Repeated surveys show that independents are usually left-of-center on social issues, but centrist on fiscal issues and many issue of governance. So you should really characterize them as "moderate left."
A Reader Turn Off?
Bad news for journalists, and bad news for journalism. Because as Americans continue down their path of growing mistrust of the mainstream media, they will start looking for alternatives.
Will they find new, more trustworthy sources of news? Or will they just turn it off entirely? Either one isn't good for journalists, or good for America.
It's time the journalistic mainstream addresses this problem. Smug denial is no longer an option. It starts with owners, publishers and editors demanding fairness in their reporting and weeding out obvious bias. While they're at it, they should elevate the idea of unbiased news coverage to a goal, even if it's not attainable.
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“What about the mythic "conservative" financial journalist? In fact, a mere 0.46% of financial journalists called themselves "very conservative," while just 3.94% said they were "somewhat conservative." That's a whopping 4.4% of the total that lean right-of-center.
That's a ratio of 13 "liberals" for every one "conservative." Whatever happened to ideological diversity? Please remember this as you watch the business news or read a financial story in the paper. You might want to take its message with a grain of salt. That's especially true if the piece seems unduly harsh on the free-market system and its many proven benefits. Or if it lauds socialism as an "answer" to society's ills.
This is an enormous problem for the media — perhaps bigger than they realize. A Rasmussen Reports survey in late October found that 45% of all likely voters in the midterm elections believed "that when most reporters write about a congressional race, they are trying to help the Democratic candidate."
Just 11% said the media would try to help the Republican. And only 35% said they thought reporters simply try to report the news in an unbiased way.
Rasumussen notes that this "helps explain why Democratic voters are much bigger fans of election news coverage" than others. They see it as favorable to their own beliefs.
Media Bias Is Real
Even so, that doesn't keep people from seeing the harsh reality of bias.
A post-election survey of 1,000 voters by McLaughlin & Associates found that "a forceful plurality (48%) of respondents believe the media coverage is unfair and biased" against President Trump. Even 16% of Democrats agreed.
It used to be thought that, sure, the cultural beat writers, book reviewers and Op-Ed writers all shared a common intellectual bent and thus were more likely to be left-leaning than other reporters. But these recent studies show that's not true. The taint of bias now infects all of journalism, not just the cultural and opinion spinners.
Media Bias: Data Don't Lie”
I'm much more concerned about the lack of conservative financial congress people than the news media being finaclay liberal. Reporters dont spend my tax dollars when they dont have enough like my politicians do.
It would be great if Congress were more fiscally conservative but this article is about the vast liberal bias within the media and how that affects the stories and Fact Checkers we see on all the issues. The mainstream media is nothing more than an extension of the democrat party.
Sorry HA, I'm bad about not staying on topic. I tend to respond to posts once I've stated my opinion on a subject. (lol maybe because I usually only have one opinion on each subject) anyway.
IMO: I exspect the liberal media to slant shit their way, just as I exspect the conservative media to do the same. Unfortunately in today's world I dont see a great deal of non biased reporting one way or the other anywhere much.
The mainstream media as we've discussed before is lopsided because the conservatives put all their eggs in one basket. Whose fault is that really ?
Just like with politicians we "Vote" for what gets "sold" with our patronage. Fox and the conservatives made their own bed. More conservative news outlets could have been started long ago, there is no law against it.
And HA, IF the shoe was on the other foot, I'd be pointing the same thing out to a liberal probably.
Have a good day !
We had nothing before Rush, Fox News, and internet alternative media came along. They filled a demographic void and we are happy to have them. The advent of alternative media simply gave the msm the excuse they needed to unmask themselves and show their true colors for all to see.
Before we went 24/7/365 with news (and the net) we all had pretty much the same. THEY competed for viewership partly by their accuracy.
When 24/7 news became popular they couldn't get the stories on fast enough and credibility suffered. I believe that was a turning point. Its gone down hill in ways ever since. Division now gets viewership more that reporting acturactly.
Quite sad, it makes it more difficult for all of us to get the real facts.
Adding to the division, which in turn the media and politicians profit from.
I see it all as a vicious, destructive downward cycle.
That's part of why I try not to participate in the division.
(I'm not always successful)
In case you think the growing body of Independents qualifies as "the center," think again.
IMO: That says alot about the republican party. Surely the republican party doesn't exspect all those people to change to suit it. And I doubt many in the republican party are willing to change it to suit all those people.
Sounds like ya got a catch 22 problem here.
So you think that independents only are a GOP problem and that none come from a largely democrat origin? So if Republicans don’t satisfy independents on social issues and democrats don’t on fiscal issues then the independent will have to decide whether fiscal or social issues matter most to them and vote accordingly. Again though, this is about the suffocating overwhelming liberal bias in the media and in the make up of the people within it.
I dont know about other independents but that's what I've done for years. I research ALL candidates of reach position and vote for the Person I think seems best for qualified for the job. easy peasy. 6 or 7 hours later, I'm done voting for another 2 years. Some positions I'd rather have conservatives in those positions and others more liberal minded folks in other positions depending on what the position is and does. anyway. I'm basically fiscally conservative but more socially liberal. Do what ya want, Just dont tread on me doing it, kinda person.
O and I live in AZ we can vote absentee ballot easily here and we have about a week with ballot in hand to do so. That helps a bunch, (I dont research them all at once.) I dont think I could stay sane doing a 6 to 7 hour researching of political candidates in one shot ...LOL but, thankfully I get plenty of time by voting absentee ballot.
I get plenty of time by voting in person on Election Day. I’m old fashioned and I still like showing up and getting my “my vote counts” sticker to wear.
I didn't. Last time I went to vote in person, I looked at the ballot and said to myself, Hell I dont even know who half these people are or what they stand for.
I am so glad to have a week to research ALL the candidates before I vote now.
A little I voted sticker doesn't mean much to me I'd rather know I voted for who I really thought was the best candidate offered instead, I'm real good with that.
I dont know about your ballots but here they are long and have lots of candidates for many elected positions each time. Many I'd never even heard of. Voting absentee ballot gives me plenty of time to research them all and vote in a way I think makes more since.
I Know I like voting this way. But to each their own.
Was this another government grant to study if water is wet?