Journalistic bias? Part II

TownHall.com ^ | Wednesday, December 18, 2002 | by Michael Kelly

[JohnHuang2]

The question posed in my previous column--``Does a (still) largely liberal news media (still) exhibit a largely liberal bias?"--can be answered both as a matter of logic and as a matter of fact, and in both cases, the answer is: Sure.

As to logic: ``The essential argument by the media is that, yes, most mainstream journalists may be left of center, but they operate in the tradition of objectivity, so this doesn't affect their coverage of the news," notes S. Robert Lichter, president of the independent Center for Media and Public Affairs. ``What this argument fails to grasp is the way bias works in people. Yes, journalists tell the truth--but, like everyone else, they tell the truth as they see it."

As Lichter has written, ``Even the most conscientious journalists cannot overcome the subjectivity inherent in their profession, which is expressed through such everyday decisions as whether a topic is newsworthy or a source trustworthy.''

[JohnHuang2]

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Quote of the Day by Angelus Errare

[madfly]

ping

[Remedy]

Media Research Center Bias Basics Evidence of how hard journalists lean to the left was provided by S. Robert Lichter, then with George Washington University, in his groundbreaking 1980 survey of the media elite. Lichter's findings were authoritatively confirmed by the American Association of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in 1988 and 1997 surveys. The most recent ASNE study surveyed 1,037 newspaper reporters found 61 percent identified themselves as/leaning "liberal/Democratic" compared to only 15 percent who identified themselves as/leaning "conservative/Republican."

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