Reporters are liberal, but their corporate masters...
Liberals have began to use the same tactic conservatives used for years, by complaining that the media is biased against them. Yet survey after survey show that the media is made up by reporters who are far more likely to be liberal than conservative.
From a University of Connecticutt poll:
Interestingly, 18% of Americans describe themselves as liberal and 18% of journalists say they are politically liberal. But while only 10% of journalists say they are conservative, 34% of Americans say they are conservative. 53% of journalists say they are politically moderate, while 40% of Americans describe themselves that way.
Finally, 68% of journalists say they voted for John Kerry in 2004, while only 25% voted for George W. Bush. Only 1% say they voted for Nader, and 5% say they did not vote.
From the New York Times:
When asked who would be a better president, the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1. Those results jibe with previous surveys over the past two decades showing that journalists tend to be Democrats, especially the ones based in Washington. Some surveys have found that more than 80 percent of the Beltway press corps votes Democratic.
When presented with these numbers, so liberals will claim that the affiliation is irrelevent because reporters will only say what their editors, newsroom bosses, and CEO's allow them to report. I have always thought this is a ridiculous arguement for a couple reasons. First, many people, not just liberals, have argued the need for diversity in the newsroom, both in terms of race and gender, in order to get the viewpoints of these groups to the table. So according to this liberal point of view, a black reporter will bring his race's slant to the newsroom, a woman will provide a female perspective, yet they claim a liberal reporter's views don't enter into his output.
Secondly, these corporate bosses aren't quite the right wing cabal the left accuses them of being. ABC is owned by Walt Disney, so the corporate master of ABC is George Mitchell, the Disney Chairman of the Board. Mitchell is a former Democratic Senate Majority leader. It was just reported that current Disney CEO, Robert Iger, has donated to Sen. Clinton's senatorial campaign, in the past has given mostly to Democrats. So ABC isn't quite looking like Ground Zero for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
The company that owns CBS is Viacom, whose CEO is Sumner Redstone. Looking at his political donations, they strongly favor democrats. Move down the corporate chart at Viacom, to it's Co-President, Les Moonves, has given most of his political money to Democrats.
Liberals have even gone so far that they now claim NPR is a right wing media outlet. I don't know if most believe the press is conservative, this could just be analogous to a coach working the refs to get better calls the next time around.
From a University of Connecticutt poll:
Interestingly, 18% of Americans describe themselves as liberal and 18% of journalists say they are politically liberal. But while only 10% of journalists say they are conservative, 34% of Americans say they are conservative. 53% of journalists say they are politically moderate, while 40% of Americans describe themselves that way.
Finally, 68% of journalists say they voted for John Kerry in 2004, while only 25% voted for George W. Bush. Only 1% say they voted for Nader, and 5% say they did not vote.
From the New York Times:
When asked who would be a better president, the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1. Those results jibe with previous surveys over the past two decades showing that journalists tend to be Democrats, especially the ones based in Washington. Some surveys have found that more than 80 percent of the Beltway press corps votes Democratic.
When presented with these numbers, so liberals will claim that the affiliation is irrelevent because reporters will only say what their editors, newsroom bosses, and CEO's allow them to report. I have always thought this is a ridiculous arguement for a couple reasons. First, many people, not just liberals, have argued the need for diversity in the newsroom, both in terms of race and gender, in order to get the viewpoints of these groups to the table. So according to this liberal point of view, a black reporter will bring his race's slant to the newsroom, a woman will provide a female perspective, yet they claim a liberal reporter's views don't enter into his output.
Secondly, these corporate bosses aren't quite the right wing cabal the left accuses them of being. ABC is owned by Walt Disney, so the corporate master of ABC is George Mitchell, the Disney Chairman of the Board. Mitchell is a former Democratic Senate Majority leader. It was just reported that current Disney CEO, Robert Iger, has donated to Sen. Clinton's senatorial campaign, in the past has given mostly to Democrats. So ABC isn't quite looking like Ground Zero for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
The company that owns CBS is Viacom, whose CEO is Sumner Redstone. Looking at his political donations, they strongly favor democrats. Move down the corporate chart at Viacom, to it's Co-President, Les Moonves, has given most of his political money to Democrats.
Liberals have even gone so far that they now claim NPR is a right wing media outlet. I don't know if most believe the press is conservative, this could just be analogous to a coach working the refs to get better calls the next time around.
posted by Doug at 9:44 AM
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