Media Bias 101

Following up on polls taken in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the School of Journalism at Indiana University in 2002 and 2013 surveyed journalists across the profession to create a statistical portrait of the typical American journalist. The 2013 update, which consisted of 1,080 intervews with journalists and published under the title “The American Journalist in the Digital Age,” found a record low 7% willing to label themselves as “Republican.”KEY FINDINGS:While 28 percent of journalists…

A trio of polls conducted during 2013 showed that, by a wide margin, many more Americans see a liberal bias in the news media than a tilt in favor of conservatives. Even a sizeable percentage of self-identified Democrats seemed to concede this point, with 36 percent telling the Pew Research Center that the media are liberal, and 38 percent of Democrats telling Rasmussen they shared the views of the “average reporter.”KEY FINDINGS:A Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters conducted in February…

A Rasmussen poll taken in the summer of 2012 found that, as in past years, the public perceived the media providing more favorable news coverage to the Democratic nominee. A second Rasmussen poll taken a month later showed most voters declared media bias was a “bigger problem than big campaign contributions.”KEY FINDINGS:An August 2012 Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters found “most voters think President Obama has gotten better treatment from the media than Mitt Romney has, and they expect…

For a 2009 academic paper, “The Political Attitudes of American Journalists: A Survey of Surveys,” Northeastern University professor William G. Mayer tracked down survey research from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, including the first known survey of journalists’ political ideology and party identification.KEY FINDINGS:In 1962, communications professor William L. Rivers surveyed 273 Washington correspondents, and found 57 percent described themselves as “liberal,” vs. 28 percent who called…

A Pew Research Center survey of 1,000 adults conducted in January 2012 and released the following month found a record high 67 percent of Americans see “a great deal” or “fair amount” of “political bias” in the news media. Such a widespread perception of bias is bad news for the media, since most Americans (68%) also told Pew’s researchers they prefer to get their political news from sources “that have no particular political point of view.”KEY FINDINGS:Pew found that “the number saying there…

A Pew Research Center poll of 1,501 adults conducted in July 2011 found that “negative opinions about the performance of news organizations now equal or surpass all-time highs on nine of 12 core measures.” The report documented how the public’s opinion of the media has significantly deteriorated since the group began polling in 1985, with record numbers seeing the press as inaccurate, biased — and even immoral.KEY FINDINGS:A record high 63% said the media were “politically biased in their…

A Gallup survey of 1,017 adults conducted between September 8-11, 2011 found “the majority of Americans still do not have confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.” The results mirror Gallup surveys conducted annually since 2001, polls which have consistently found roughly three times as many Americans say the media have a pro-liberal bias rather than a pro-conservative bias. An earlier Gallup poll, conducted between June 9-12, 2011, found that barely a…

A pair of Rasmussen Reports surveys in the spring of 2010 confirmed the public’s low estimation of the media’s fairness and ethics, with majorities saying that: most campaign reporters “try to help” their preferred candidate; media bias is “a bigger problem” than big campaign contributions; and thinking that reporters “would hide” information if they thought it would hurt a candidate they wanted to win. By a nearly 3-to-1 margin, voters also said they thought the media were trying to help…

The results of a survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted October 22-23, 2009 by Rasmussen Reports suggest most voters believe media bias skews government policy to the left. Rasmussen found that 53% of those surveyed agreed that the average reporter was “more liberal” than the average voter, while an even larger margin, 61%, complained that the media have “too much power and influence over government decisions.”KEY FINDINGS:Fifty-three percent (53%) of U.S. voters think the average reporter is…

More examples of journalists conceding that the media elite have a liberal bias:"I know a lot of you believe that most people in the news business are liberal. Let me tell you, I know a lot of them, and they were almost evenly divided this time. Half of them liked Senator Kerry; the other half hated President Bush."— CBS's Andy Rooney on the November 7, 2004 60 Minutes."The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards ...as being young and dynamic…