Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Freeper XM does media bias survey of New York Times news articles...
LEXIS-NEXIS, my own pointy head | Today | xm177e2

Posted on 03/21/2002 7:38:40 PM PST by xm177e2

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last
Part One of Two...

Obviously, it's impossible to mathematically "prove" something as ethereal as "media bias," but I'm giving it my best shot. I forget if I posted this before, I honestly don't remember.

1 posted on 03/21/2002 7:38:40 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ccrm
Ping
2 posted on 03/21/2002 7:38:49 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
Great job XM!
3 posted on 03/21/2002 7:43:53 PM PST by fhayek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Also see Patrick Ruffini's article here, from 3/1/02. His views on the media are basically the same as mine... (his methodology is also similar, although he doesn't go as far as I did (but he searched more than just the NYT), I'm not accusing him of copying off me or anything, because I don't think I've ever posted this before)
4 posted on 03/21/2002 7:49:44 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2;bebaw
Excellent work, very good proof of liberal bias at the NYT. This ought to be read by everyone at FR and cited by conservative columnists!
5 posted on 03/21/2002 7:52:52 PM PST by Enlightiator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
Bravo!
6 posted on 03/21/2002 7:55:05 PM PST by Pokey78
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightiator
The second part I've promised will take a bit longer, I'll probably have it up in two to three weeks, it looks at how they label (and fail to label!) interest groups like Hertige and Emily's List, etc.

I did a lot of research on it before, but I forgot the methods I used, so the data is basically worthless.

7 posted on 03/21/2002 7:55:42 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
great research!!!!!!

Send this to Brent Bozell!! Publishable material!!!

8 posted on 03/21/2002 7:57:00 PM PST by WOSG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
Yesterday or the day before on NPR, Terry Gross's show, some dude from Stanford did a similar study with 20-30 newspapers from around the US.

His conclusion was, contrary to Goldberg's view, liberals were 2-3 times more likely to have "labels" associated with thier names! I'll see if I can find it on-line and post the link. You and Terry and the Stanford Geek can duke it out :-)

9 posted on 03/21/2002 7:59:41 PM PST by Drango
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WOSG
Send this to Brent Bozell!!

Done...

10 posted on 03/21/2002 8:01:15 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Drango
Yes, but he was only looking at the words "liberal" and "conservative," he was ignoring "right-" and "left-wing," which are far more pernicious labels.
11 posted on 03/21/2002 8:03:13 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
btw, it is great to do this stuff on NYT, they are masters at using adjectives for everything. it defines their world-view .

try " Republican ... mean-spirited " versus "Democrat ... mean-spirited" and also other 'harsh' adjectives close to Repub or Dem ("extremist" or "harsh" or "hard-line" or "controlled" or "regime" or "forced" or "threatened").

on the "threatened" for example, i have notice the NYT/LibPress would say "Clinton promises veto" but would say "Bush threatens veto". So you may get: "Extremist Republicans, taking a hard line, threatened to overturn LovelyDemPres promised veto."

12 posted on 03/21/2002 8:05:28 PM PST by WOSG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drango
And he also looks at organizations, I know that conservative organizations are smeared with a label (at least in the NYT national desk news pages) far more often, because that's the other research I did.

In fact, it was because of his research that I decided to post this (I saw something about it over at the "morethanzero" Blog...

13 posted on 03/21/2002 8:05:48 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

I should acknowledge I'm not the first person to think this up, I read in Harry Stein's book "How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace)" about a few searches he did with LEXIS-NEXIS, so I decided to try my hand at it...
14 posted on 03/21/2002 8:06:47 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drango
Yesterday or the day before on NPR, Terry Gross's show, some dude from Stanford did a similar study with 20-30 newspapers from around the US.

ROFLMAO! NPR looking at Liberal Media bias ... and they are completely lost trying to figure out what it is! They have no idea! :-)

15 posted on 03/21/2002 8:07:01 PM PST by WOSG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
Thank you sir! It is high-time to note that "the media" does not use left-wing and extreme to describe itself, but we all know that is exactly what they are!
16 posted on 03/21/2002 8:07:17 PM PST by Graewoulf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xm177e2
OK, but here's the NPR link...I'll let the EXPERTS argue this one...

Linguist Geoff Nunberg
Linguist Geoff Nunberg does some of his own checking on liberal bias in the media. Expanded Coverage

17 posted on 03/21/2002 8:07:38 PM PST by Drango
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: WOSG
Okay, I'll do a search now, from 1992 to 2001.

Here are the number of times these things appear (in the NYT national desk news pages):

Democrats Promise: 2
Republicans Promise: 39

Democrats threaten: 3
Republicans threaten: 6

Every time I look for bias, I don't always find conclusive results...

18 posted on 03/21/2002 8:10:23 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: WOSG
Okay, I'll do a search now, from 1992 to 2001.

Here are the number of times these things appear (in the NYT national desk news pages):

Democrats w/10 mean-spi!: 22
Republicans w/10 mean-spi!: 40

This is also not proof of media bias, because these might just be quotes from the article--the NYT isn't guilty of bias just because it quotes a shrill harpy left-wing activist and a reasonable-sounding conservative activist. Also, this just means the words are in proximity, it doesn't necessarily mean they describe each other (for instance, "Democrats say mean-spirited conservatives are..." would show up under "democrats w/10 mean-spi!" It's important to remember the limitations of this method.

19 posted on 03/21/2002 8:13:11 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Drango
Another problem with his research is he expects Cato to be labeled "Conservative," when it's not! It's libertarian! If newspapers are labelling it "conservative," they're making a mistake!
20 posted on 03/21/2002 8:15:45 PM PST by xm177e2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson