Posted on 11/05/2009 9:33:41 AM PST by my_pointy_head_is_sharp
Unmentionable: Best-Selling Conservative Books and the Networks that Ignore Them
Research reveals a glaring imbalance in network coverage of liberal best-sellers and comparable conservative titles.
Since the 1940s, an appearance on The New York Times Best-Seller List has been the mark of commercial success for any book. Authors with titles on the list can count on media attention to help sell even more copies. Unless they are conservatives.
Conservative books and authors have been very successful recently, as evidenced by their showing on the best-seller list. Since January 2009, conservatives enjoyed 95 total weeks on the list, compared to just 80 weeks for liberal books and authors. At this writing Michelle Malkin’s “Culture of Corruption” was at No.1, and several other conservative titles have prominent berths on the list.
But as the Culture and Media Institute discovered, viewers of ABC, CBS and NBC might never know of the popularity and commercial success of those conservative books.
CMI studied the coverage network news organizations gave to 25 books that appeared on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best-Seller List during the first half of 2009. Of those, 14 were liberal (either in subject or author) and 11 were conservative. The books in question covered current events and politics, political biography and economics. CMI analysis discovered a dramatic difference between the amount and quality of coverage.
Major Findings
CMI discovered a glaring imbalance in network coverage of liberal best sellers vs. comparable conservative titles.
Liberal Books Favored: The networks covered liberal books three times as often (36 to 12) as conservatives.
Liberal Authors Favored: 79 percent of the liberal authors on the list received at least a mention on the networks, compared to just 36 percent of conservatives.
Levin Snubbed: The book that was by far the most successful...
(Excerpt) Read more at cultureandmediainstitute.org ...
The Malkin book, “Culture of Corruption” (a damn fine book by the way), has been #1 on tyhe NYT best seller list for about two months now. It’s on course to eclipse Levin’s book as the most successful book title of the year. And the NYT hasn’t even written a review of it yet, just like Levin’s book.
It’s no surprise to me. My local book store is run by a lib and rarely features conservative bestsellers.
buy from amazon and send the invoices to your bookseller with a nice note
Research reveals a glaring imbalance in network coverage of liberal best-sellers and comparable conservative titles.
Thank you for posting this item. I was discussing this exact imbalance a few days ago.
What I do not see, and would like to view it relevancy on this issue, is the positioning of FOX NEWS and its various programming.
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.