Monday, December 19, 2005

Media Bias: Worse Than We thought?

Yes, worse than we thought, according to this UCLA (no right-wing organization!) study:

I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.
Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter.


"If viewers spent an equal amount of time watching Fox's 'Special Report' as ABC's 'World News' and NBC's 'Nightly News,' then they would receive a nearly perfectly balanced version of the news," said Milyo, an associate professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Interesting report, read it here - http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664 - and learn why these researchers claim the Wall Street Journal is more liberal than you may think...

Still don't believe? Than look at this piece of analysis (of W's speech last night) from the Associated Press, seemingly exsisting in its own universe, and tell me the media doesn't have a dramatic leftward tilt:

Analysis: Bush drops rosy Iraq scenarios

WASHINGTON (AP) — No more rosy scenarios. After watching his credibility and approval ratings crumble over the course of 2005, President Bush completed a rhetorical shift Sunday night by abandoning his everything-is-OK pitch to Americans and coming clean: He was wrong about the rationale for going to war in Iraq; he underestimated the dangers; the country has suffered "terrible loss"; and the bad news isn't over.


"To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor and I will not allow it," he said in a prime-time address, capping a series of five speeches designed to reverse a stunning political free-fall.

The fact that this left-wing hatred and distortion even made it past an (approving) editor's desk shows the moral and professional depravity of the AP. No wonder that the American public has the media on par with ambulance-chasers and used-car salesman...

Link to the AP's bile here: http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/politics-6/11349614448580.xml&storylist=

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