UCLA: The media does lean slightly to the left

[ginnyinWI]

As seen this morning on Cspan--the professor talked about a study that looked at 20 media outlets and rated them. Most conservative were Fox and Wash. Times, both in the 30s, no surprise, but a big surprise was the WSJournal's news content at 85(not including their editorials). We can debate about where the center is, but it's a good study.

Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist


Date: December 14, 2005
Contact: Meg Sullivan ( [e-mail] )
Phone: [phone]



While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

"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."

"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.

http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664&menu=fullsearchresults

[C_U_L8R]

1. that's because if you can read and write...

chances are that you won't be republican

[LeftCoast]

2. Drudge leans LEFT?

Give me a fucking break.

[ginnyinWI]

4. okay, here's why:

The guy said that Drudge himself doesn't post much original material, but he constantly links to other sites, and those contain articles which are liberal. So I don't know why they even looked at it, since it was the only one out of 20 that were websites. I wouldn't know, personally, because I never go there.

[daleanime]

3. I would like to see...

more of the raw data and examine how the study was staged, because I really don't believe it.

[ginnyinWI]

5. well my complaint would be

that they based the midline on Arlen Specter, as the most centrist one in the Senate. But that isn't saying that he is in the center compared with the American population. I'd like to see a comparison between popular opinion and contrast that with media outlets, because I believe that the American public is more to the left of the mid-line member of the Senate, considering all of the wingnuts that reside there at present!

[daleanime]

8. Agreed.

Although it ends up being a whats left/right question. And like most people I think of myself as being in the middle, others have me pretty far left.

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. Don't believe it

A vast swath of American broadcast and print media is firmly in the control of BushCo.

[Justitia]

7. Does this study's author donate to repubs? Wouldn't that make HIM biased?

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=groseclose&txtState=CA&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2006=Y&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&Order=N

There's a Timothy J Grouseclose, employed by UCLA, who funds republicans (http://www.hermancain.com/) that write nasty books about Dems.

Could this be the same guy??? Hmmm....

Liberal media - riiiiiigggghhhhttt.

[patdem]

9. If I recall correctly..it was NOT opinion pieces but REAL NEWS

Which means..EVEN the Wall Street Journal when it reports REAL NEWS is left leaning because BUSH* IS A CRIMINIAL IN CHARGE OF THE PRESIDENCY! I is NOT about content...wether it is TRUE, but if it is LEFT leaning!!!! When bush* screws us so badly ALL the time...how else can the news be reported?

[Justitia]

10. The co-author is a "Salvatori Fellow" at the Heritage Foundation

http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/wkshp2004.html

Googling him brings up all kinds of interesting policy publications, like:

- Liberals are just as likely to be untrustworthy as repubs are

- There is no reason being poor means you won't have good health

and w/Grouseclose again:

- $$$ donated to PACS do not influence politics :rofl: (how timely)

Kos has a mention of them on their site: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/19/115039/92

So, make of all that what you will....

[buff2]

11. Of course the media leans LEFT.

They are always covering up for the idiot squatter in the White House.....how much more proof do we NEED???:sarcasm:

[Warpy]

12. How many times does this need to be debunked at DU???

This is a bogus study by a wingnut who picked Pox News as his "unbiased" baseline!

He had a skewed baseline, suspect methods, and relied on anecdote rather than actual numbers.

You want to see what the media are doing, visit FAIR.