Fair? Balanced? A Study Finds It Does Not Matter

NY Times ^ | August 18, 2005 | ALAN B. KRUEGER

[agitator]

They don't play on my emotions, they play on the emotions of the simple minded.

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[april15Bendovr]

http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2004/sum/sum063004.asp

The Liberal Media
Every Poll Shows Journalists Are More Liberal than
the American Public — And the Public Knows It

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By Rich Noyes
Director of Research
June 30, 2004
Executive Summary

     Over the next four months, the media establishment will play a central role in informing the public about the candidates and the issues. As the countdown to Election Day begins, it is important to remember the journalists who will help establish the campaign agenda are not an all-American mix of Democrats, Republicans and independents, but an elite group whose views veer sharply to the left.

     Surveys over the past 25 years have consistently found that journalists are more liberal than rest of America. This MRC Special Report summarizes the relevant data on journalist attitudes, as well as polling showing how the American public’s recognition of the media’s liberal bias has grown over the years:

*

Journalists Vote for Liberals: Between 1964 and 1992, Republicans won the White House five times compared with three Democratic victories. But if only journalists’ ballots were counted, the Democrats would have won every time.


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Journalists Say They Are Liberal: Surveys from 1978 to 2004 show that journalists are far more likely to say they are liberal than conservative, and are far more liberal than the public at large.


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Journalists Reject Conservative Positions: None of the surveys have found that news organizations are populated by independent thinkers who mix liberal and conservative positions. Most journalists offer reflexively liberal answers to practically every question a pollster can imagine. 


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The Public Recognizes the Bias: Since 1985, the percentage of Americans who perceive a liberal bias has doubled from 22 percent to 45 percent, nearly half the adult population. Even a plurality of Democrats now say the press is liberal.


http://www.mrc.org/SpecialReports/2004/report063004_p2.asp

[SevenofNine]

YEAH YEAH what NY Liars WHATEVER

Don't be such a girlie reporters

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

It's obvious that the NYT made the editorial decision that "Fair and Balanced" is inconsequential long ago.

No one who reads that rag could have any doubt about the fact that their firm position is that there is no opinion that matters but theirs.

I pray I live to see their doors close and the assets up for auction at sheriff's sale. It's their demise or the demise of the United States, as the two are diametrically opposed in every way.

[kylaka]

You can think that at YOUR peril. It has taken my entire life to convince my mother that guns are a force for good, and she is not stupid. Just brainwashed.

[American_Centurion]

You should talk man!

[GOPJ]

Research has found, for example, that Fox News is much more likely than other news shows to cite conservative think tanks and less likely to cite liberal ones.

Well, if CNN has 99 liberals on for every 1 conservative and FOX has 50 liberals for every 50 conservatives, FOX is much more likely to have conservatives on than CNN. But so what? FOX is being fair and CNN's not being fair. The Times doesn't care about "fair" - they care about pushing an illusion that creates a lie.

The Times messed up (as usual) by not quoting the percentages of times other networks quote liberal sources compared to conservative sources.