Posted on 11/05/2002 12:08:55 PM PST by stainlessbanner
HANOVER, N.H. — A Dartmouth College professor says research published in his new book shows that the major media cater to a “narrow brand of liberal bias” in its news coverage, ignoring far-left, moderate and conservative viewpoints.
In “Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Controversial Issues,” Jim Kuypers, a senior lecturer at Dartmouth, offers his research on a half dozen newsworthy speeches between 1995 and 2000, comparing the objectives of the speeches with their coverage by the news media.
Kuypers analyzed two speeches by former President Bill Clinton on race and human rights, a speech by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., on homosexuality, comments by Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan at the Million Man March, a speech by former football star Reggie White in which he condemned homosexuality; and comments about the Confederate flag by an Alabama state senator.
“I didn’t set out to look for a particular type of bias, and I took steps to ensure I didn’t impose my preconceptions,” Kuypers told Cybercast News Service. What Kuypers said he found, however, “was a narrow brand of liberal bias within the mainstream media.”
In researching the media coverage of the speeches, Kuypers discovered that allegedly objective news reports were often sprinkled with liberal opinions from editorials and news analyses, a condition he speculated was due in part to the liberal culture that dominates the news industry.
“I did not honestly believe the level of bias and misrepresentation would be as deep and terrible as it was,” he told CNS.
Commenting on Kuypers’ findings, Reed Irvine of the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media told CNS that the mainstream press continues a 30-year tradition of liberal slant.
“I’ve seen no difference and no great change in the last decade or last two decades,” Irvine said. “The journalists—the people who are editing and writing for papers—are still overwhelmingly liberal.”
While Kuypers expects criticism on his book, he defended his research, saying it is easily verifiable by readers who wish to conduct similar analyses of the media.
“I just don’t give examples of what I think is bias,” he told CNS. “I outlined how I was going to look for bias in such a way that others can do this as well.”
He said that the narrow viewpoint the liberal media represents concerns him.
“I’m scared for the state of democracy in this country in terms of how the press interacts,” Kuypers told CNS. “They are, in my opinion, an anti-democratic institution because they stifle alternative voices and paint an incredibly inaccurate picture of issues and ideas.”
The educator’s book arrives on the scene as two other books on the topic have received widespread publicity. Anne Coulter’s “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right,” has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for weeks. Earlier this year, former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg released his book, “Bias.”
Next weeks Headline: A former Dartmouth College professor says research published in his new book shows that the major media cater to a “narrow brand of liberal bias” in its news coverage, ignoring far-left, moderate and conservative viewpoints.
LOL
He is reportedly working on a second edition, focusing on bias in academia!
Humor is based on a hard look at reality and this qualifies big time. Unless he is protected by "tenure", he is toast.
The Sky Is Blue!
WOW, what next? A study showing that men and women are different?
In other words - this is not anything that we didn't already know.
Huh? Oh, I guess he means the media ignoring the overt terrorism of the econazis.
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