This is a topic that came up in a different thread, and I thought it might be worth its own thread.
There is a broad perception, on the right, that the so-called "main stream media" (MSM) is severely liberally biased. It is a view I do not share. Yes, I know that journalists tend to be more liberal than conservative - that seems to be well established. But that fact is not enough to support a claim of extremely liberal media bias. One can have conservative or liberal views personally, and still be dedicated to impartial reporting.
To show extreme liberal bias, it would be necessary to show a cohesive pattern of promoting one political agenda at the expense of another. This is what is missing in the MSM. The media reports what is news - and does so across the political spectrum. Right now much of the news is about Trump because the man is a borderline media genius and sucks up all of the airwaves. And most of the coverage is negative because the man is a buffoon and a bully - two things not seen in the Executive branch in my lifetime, so they are newsworthy.
This is a far cry from the kind of media bias we see in Fox and Brietbart. These news outlets have a specific agenda: to promote conservative views and advance the Republican Party. There is no explicit agenda in the MSM to promote the Democratic party over the Republican Party. Fox and Brietbart have become the mouthpieces of the right in a way the MSM has never been for the left. Of course, to justify that extreme stance and still claim being "news" outlets, they have to set out on an extensive campaign to paint the MSM as "far left" and themselves as "balancing the scales." And that campaign has worked: most of the right has taken up this call and repeats the talking points of these two (and other) far-right outlets.
So here is my challenge: present the DATA that shows the MSM has an extreme bias to the left. I readily acknowledge that the information exists to place them slightly left of center - but nowhere near as extreme as is being claimed. And note - anecdotes and examples and solitary quotes don't cut it. Provide DATA to substantiate the views. If you are holding this view deeply, it is reasonable to think it is based on actual data from some source that can be examined and verified. So - where is that data?
For my perspective that the MSM is "slightly left of center" I point to the crowd-sourced ratings on www.allsides.com, and the tight alignment between the various bias rating sites (https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/right/, http://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444) and the studies from Pew Research (http://www.pewresearch.org/packages/...-polarization/). There is significant alignment between these various sources - and that is the best data I have been able to find.
But if someone has other data, I promise to look at it. I think we live too much in an age where we ignore the data in favor of our pre-existing biases - and that is a dangerous place for our republic.
There is a broad perception, on the right, that the so-called "main stream media" (MSM) is severely liberally biased. It is a view I do not share. Yes, I know that journalists tend to be more liberal than conservative - that seems to be well established. But that fact is not enough to support a claim of extremely liberal media bias. One can have conservative or liberal views personally, and still be dedicated to impartial reporting.
To show extreme liberal bias, it would be necessary to show a cohesive pattern of promoting one political agenda at the expense of another. This is what is missing in the MSM. The media reports what is news - and does so across the political spectrum. Right now much of the news is about Trump because the man is a borderline media genius and sucks up all of the airwaves. And most of the coverage is negative because the man is a buffoon and a bully - two things not seen in the Executive branch in my lifetime, so they are newsworthy.
This is a far cry from the kind of media bias we see in Fox and Brietbart. These news outlets have a specific agenda: to promote conservative views and advance the Republican Party. There is no explicit agenda in the MSM to promote the Democratic party over the Republican Party. Fox and Brietbart have become the mouthpieces of the right in a way the MSM has never been for the left. Of course, to justify that extreme stance and still claim being "news" outlets, they have to set out on an extensive campaign to paint the MSM as "far left" and themselves as "balancing the scales." And that campaign has worked: most of the right has taken up this call and repeats the talking points of these two (and other) far-right outlets.
So here is my challenge: present the DATA that shows the MSM has an extreme bias to the left. I readily acknowledge that the information exists to place them slightly left of center - but nowhere near as extreme as is being claimed. And note - anecdotes and examples and solitary quotes don't cut it. Provide DATA to substantiate the views. If you are holding this view deeply, it is reasonable to think it is based on actual data from some source that can be examined and verified. So - where is that data?
For my perspective that the MSM is "slightly left of center" I point to the crowd-sourced ratings on www.allsides.com, and the tight alignment between the various bias rating sites (https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/right/, http://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444) and the studies from Pew Research (http://www.pewresearch.org/packages/...-polarization/). There is significant alignment between these various sources - and that is the best data I have been able to find.
But if someone has other data, I promise to look at it. I think we live too much in an age where we ignore the data in favor of our pre-existing biases - and that is a dangerous place for our republic.
Comment