Media Bias: A Recent Study

There has been a long-standing argument as to the validity of claims regarding Left-leaning Bias in the major news media. I've seen it and followed it for decades, but a recent study at the UCLA (long a bastion of Leftist ideals and education), and also at Stanford, sheds some light on the issue.



ABC, CBS (see B S), MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, the NY Times et-al have been at it for years, and it's not difficult to see, from the chosen headlines to the way the stories are presented. All of those outlets presenting views from the left, and yet most of the complaints are from those who fear (yes, fear) the FOX news channel, or talk radio, because they represent a challenge to their long-held beliefs or political leanings/yearnings.

In actuality, most of what/whom is called "the Right" is right smack dab in the "center." Moral values, religious beliefs, and the beliefs in the Constitution and Bill of Rights (as they were written) are mostly held by those in the center, which comprises of 86% of the American population.

The same goes for our institutions of "higher learning" (cough, cough), but I'll be presenting another thread pertaining to that issue in a short time.

Related News Links:
www.mediaresearch.org
rhetorica.net
www.gargaro.com

[edit on 9-1-2006 by asala]

There was a thread on this a couple of weeks ago. I think the general consenus was that the study was bunk, and if you want to see bias, you'll see bias.

Hello, Capatain Obvious?

The general consensus was that it was "bunk", curme?
That general consensus is based upon what, the thread you linked?
You people have no problem pasting up academic reports and such when it suites your own agendas, but lord forbid if academic reports come out that indicate that the media is significantly left-leaning, huh, then it is all "bunk"?

Try this: Media bias is real. It seems to take on a sharper tone each passing year. Thing is, conservatives are right to raise it as an issue. Liberals are, well, mad because their monopoly on the news industry is cracking.

And I suppose that salmonella is a kind of dinosaur, as well?





seekerof

[edit on 2-1-2006 by Seekerof]

In actuality, most of what/whom is called "the Right" is right smack dab in the "center." Moral values, religious beliefs, and the beliefs in the Constitution and Bill of Rights (as they were written) are mostly held by those in the center, which comprises of 86% of the American population.

Religious extremism as practiced by the Christian right of America is far from the center. Condemning homosexuality as a sin and trying to amend the constitution to outlaw gay marriage is not a centrist viewpoint. Neither is trying to sneak creationism into the classroom under the guise of "intelligent design" or having the ten commandments up on our government buildings. You might be right in saying that a majority of Americans have religious beliefs in that they believe in a higher power, but don't try to say that most Americans buy into Pat Robertson's brand of bull#.

And in case you haven't been paying attention, the assault on Constitutional rights has been lead by conservatives.

The same goes for our institutions of "higher learning" (cough, cough), but I'll be presenting another thread pertaining to that issue in a short time.

The reason that institutions of higher education tend to be left leaning is because the people there are educated and with that education comes a certain understanding about the world. It's hard to be a conservative when you beleive that: gays are people too, the universe wasn't created in seven days, you don't have to beleive in Jesus to go to heaven, and it's not okay to trash the environment and let future generations deal with your problems.

Originally posted by ShakiaHeir
The reason that institutions of higher education tend to be left leaning is because the people there are educated and with that education comes a certain understanding about the world. It's hard to be a conservative when you beleive that: gays are people too, the universe wasn't created in seven days, you don't have to beleive in Jesus to go to heaven, and it's not okay to trash the environment and let future generations deal with your problems.

Pleeease don't try to come up with that crap again that "people that lean to the left are more educated"....

The truth of the matter is that people that tend to lean to the left have never seen, nor want to believe, that those values and those leanings they "want to spread" have suppressed many people around the world.

Is there bias on the media that leans more to the left than the center or right? you betcha.

I found the following speech "enlightening" to say the least, but i wasn't surprised though.

I thank you very much for being here tonight. Let me also thank Fidel Castro. In the earliest days of CNN, when CNN was meant to be seen only in the United States, the enterprising Fidel Castro was pirating and watching CNN in Cuba. Fidel was intrigued by CNN. He wanted to meet the person responsible. So Ted Turner, who at that point had never traveled to a Communist country or knowingly met a Communist, [went to Havana]. It was big deal for Ted and during the discussions Castro suggested that CNN be made available to the entire world. In fact it was that seed, that idea that grew into CNN International, which is now seen in every country and territory on the planet.

Excerpted from.
www.nieman.harvard.edu...

Wow, CNN International inspired by fidel castro of all people....a true humanitarian huh?.....................no wonder there are members in these forums that were trying to claim castro is a humanitarian, a good man and anything that people who have escaped from Cuba say about fidel castro is just propaganda done and paid for by the U.S. government.....

The truth is that there has been an increase in the socialist/communist agenda that has been infiltrating every layer of society of many western countries, starting with the education sector, and are trying to portray "the regimes of murderers and oppressors of people" as the best regimes in the world, and the only salvation for people. Communism these days has a new name and it's name is "liberalism."

Oh btw, I know quite a few conservatives, including myself, that don't believe or ascribe to the beliefs that you mentioned above. Not all conservatives believe all those things you mentioned.

[edit on 3-1-2006 by Muaddib]

The reason that institutions of higher education tend to be left leaning is because the people there are educated and with that education comes a certain understanding about the world. It's hard to be a conservative when you beleive that: gays are people too, the universe wasn't created in seven days, you don't have to beleive in Jesus to go to heaven, and it's not okay to trash the environment and let future generations deal with your problems.

Does being highly educated include a sense of superiority and the power to single handidly label anyone who disagrees with the ideology as racist hicks who pollute the land?

Not being a part of the far left doesn't make you a member of Jerry Falwells good ol boy network or a fat cat capitalist.

Being an individual comes with higher education and respect for those who disagree with you. Maybe you should go back to school on that note.

This from Seekerof's link;

Ross: "This seems remarkable to me that you would sit here now and say you still find that story to be up to your standards."

Mapes: "I'm perfectly willing to believe those documents are forgeries if there's proof that I haven't seen."

Ross: "But isn't it the other way around? Don't you have to prove they're authentic?"

Mapes: "Well, I think that's what critics of the story would say. I know more now than I did then and I think, I think they have not been proved to be false, yet."

Ross: "Have they proved to be authentic though? Isn't that really what journalists do?"

Mapes: "No, I don't think that's the standard."

The last exchange of Ross and Mapes says it all about the condition of US journalist.

It's amusing really, once the title of journalist is attached to their name they believe they are not accountable for what they say or print.

Roper

Companies that own news outlets are out to do one thing, and that's not report the news - they are out to make money - period. News that doesn't make money isn't reported or is skewed into something that will.

Fair and biased reporting is a thing of the past. Now it's "What headline will sell the news?"


[edit on 4-1-2006 by elderban]

Originally posted by Agent47
Does being highly educated include a sense of superiority and the power to single handidly label anyone who disagrees with the ideology as racist hicks who pollute the land?

Not being a part of the far left doesn't make you a member of Jerry Falwells good ol boy network or a fat cat capitalist.

Being an individual comes with higher education and respect for those who disagree with you. Maybe you should go back to school on that note.

Originally posted by this little window on my screen
You have voted Agent47 for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

Well done, Agent47. It's been said that brevity is the sole of wit, and that response was both brief and witty. Not to mention brilliant.

You just got my I'm-a-multiple-degree-having, highly-educated, slightly-conservative, but-definitely-not-liberal, registered-indepent, so-stick-that-in-your-pipe-and-smoke-it ShakiaHeir, WATS vote!

thank you, elderban, for exposing the REAL bias. it is not that important whether it is 'right vs. left', so much as 'have vs. have not'. red herrings and strawmen for dinner, anyone?

".... Religious extremism as practiced by the Christian right of America is far from the center. Condemning homosexuality as a sin and trying to amend the constitution to outlaw gay marriage is not a centrist viewpoint. Neither is trying to sneak creationism into the classroom under the guise of "intelligent design" or having the ten commandments up on our government buildings. You might be right in saying that a majority of Americans have religious beliefs in that they believe in a higher power, but don't try to say that most Americans buy into Pat Robertson's brand of bull#."

REPLY: I have yet to see a study of the % of the population that either believes or dis-believes in what Robertson says. Link, please?

Being a faggot IS a sin, and is mentioned in both the Old and New Testament.
Over 80% of America is against Homosexual Marriage (not "gay).... gay means happy and carefree. Already we have 3% of the population trying to change the dictionary. In any case, that's a states rights issue that the people of each state can vote on.

Creationism is a valid theory as is intelligent design.

In case you haven't noticed, there is no "separation of church and state" mentioned in the Constitution. That was an opinion by a Supreme Court Judge, and they don't make the laws. Many folks cite the first half of the 1st Amendment, but few make note of the last part: "... 'nor prohibit the free exercise thereof", which includes our government buildings, in schools, etc.

".... And in case you haven't been paying attention, the assault on Constitutional rights has been lead by conservatives."

REPLY: You haven't done enough research.

quote: The same goes for our institutions of "higher learning" (cough, cough), but I'll be presenting another thread pertaining to that issue in a short time.


The reason that institutions of higher education tend to be left leaning is because the people there are educated and with that education comes a certain understanding about the world. It's hard to be a conservative when you beleive that: gays are people too, the universe wasn't created in seven days, you don't have to beleive in Jesus to go to heaven, and it's not okay to trash the environment and let future generations deal with your problems.

REPLY: Ummmmm..... yeah, right.

@author,

a very good and interesting find, thank you for sharing

It is a good empirical evidence of how biased the media is.

This is interesting:

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS’ “Evening News,” The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

Only Fox News’ “Special Report With Brit Hume” and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter.

The most centrist outlet proved to be the “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.” CNN’s “NewsNight With Aaron Brown” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” were a close second and third. newsroom.ucla.edu

[edit on 5-1-2006 by Riwka]

The only person who has pointed out the real issue here is Elderban. No one else has, not even the study IMO.

It dissapoints me to know that most of you members refuse to realize or mention that all those news outlets simply don't care about what they're being lableled. As long as they are scoring the ratings and raking in the dough. That's what matters.

Everybody who's playing the blaming game are being played at the same time.

[edit on 5-1-2006 by TheBandit795]

I agree Elderban nail it to the spot.

Our media outlets are not independent entities they are now a monopoly.

If you look closely to who owns what media outlet you will see what side is going to lean on.

These people are to get profits, they want news that are going to bring the highest rates.

So who wants fair and balance when is money to be make.

Remember money rules everything in our nation is called free Enterprise in a capitalistic society.

Or something like that

In case you marg6043, elderban and TheBandit795 haven't noticed, much of the major "news" media, especially newspapers, have been laying off people lfor the past two years, and readers are down. If they're only trying to make money, they're losing their a$$.

Odd that Fox News is kicking the butt of most of the cable media, too ...... No, I don't agree with all of what I see, but they do go out of their way to present both sides of any given issue.

In case you marg6043, elderban and TheBandit795 haven't noticed, much of the major "news" media, especially newspapers, have been laying off people lfor the past two years, and readers are down. If they're only trying to make money, they're losing their a$$.

Odd that Fox News is kicking the butt of most of the cable media, too ...... No, I don't agree with all of what I see, but they do go out of their way to present both sides of any given issue.

Only newspaper subscriptions have dropped significantly. With "instant live news" on television and the advent of the internet, another outlet for "instant" news, newspapers have become a thing of the past.

fusion is the fifth law of media.

therefore, newspapers are not obsolete, but rather, a more permanent storage medium than a hard disk, or tape, or video, or pretty much anything less than a carving in stone.

beware carvings in stone. they are a blessing.

What? All of you tired of posting on the original thread that I started a couple weeks ago?

from marg
I agree Elderban nail it to the spot.

Our media outlets are not independent entities they are now a monopoly.

If you look closely to who owns what media outlet you will see what side is going to lean on.

These people are to get profits, they want news that are going to bring the highest rates.

So who wants fair and balance when is money to be make.

If this were true, then all the other cable news networks would be clamoring to copy Fox News's formula. Fox routinely kicks the butt of CNN, MSNBC and anyone else in the TV news market.

"Three Algerians arrested in Italy over plot targeting US"

ROME: Three Algerians arrested in an anti-terrorist operation in southern Italy are suspected of being linked to a planned new series of attacks in the United States, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said on Friday.

The attacks would have targeted ships, stadiums or railway stations in a bid to outdo the September 11, 2001 strikes by Al-Qaeda in New York and Washington which killed some 2,700 people, Pisanu said.

www.geo.tv...

"You would think that the arrest of terrorists planning to "outdo 9/11" would warrant some news coverage in the United States, but that's not what the editors at your Ministry of Truth decided. On that day in history, they thought the important news was that six Sudanese were abducted in Iraq, that Fidel Castro said that Bush is 'very much a fool,' that there was a vast US effort on eavesdropping (the NSA), and that the federal government was running a top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area."

"So the news that day was not that terrorists had been planning to blow up ships, stadiums or railway stations in the United States, but that things were going badly in Iraq, that President Bush was thought to be a fool, and that the government has been spying on people in the U.S."

Ever wonder what side these people are on?

The shocking thing about this, is that the use of wiretaps (OH NO... NOT
WIRETAPS) are what allowed the capture of these terrorists 8^)