Media Bias 101 summarizes more than 25 years of survey research showing how journalists vote, what journalists think, what the public thinks about the media, and what journalists say about media bias. The following links take you to more than 40 different surveys, with key findings and illustrative charts.
Media Bias 101
While most in the media business continue to deny the problem of liberal bias, a number of journalists have admitted that the majority of their brethren approach the news from a liberal angle. Examples:“You know, it’s fairly well discussed inside CBS News that there are some managers recently who have been so ideologically entrenched that there is a feeling and discussion that some of them, certainly not all of them, have a difficult time viewing a story that may reflect negatively upon…
More examples of journalists denying their liberal bias:"I'm not going to judge anybody else in the business, but our work — I can speak for NBC News and our newsroom — it goes through, talk about checks and balances. We have an inordinate number of editors. Every word I write, before it goes on air, goes through all kinds of traps and filters, and it's read by all kinds of different people who point out bias."— CNBC anchor Brian Williams on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, July 29, 2003."Our…
More examples of the media denying their liberal bias:"Over the years, I always tried to be the one person wherever I was working that would give a fair representation of what was happening, and then I hoped a reasonable and intelligent analysis or insight into why it was happening. And I've been comforted over the years that people on the far left and people on the far right have said to me, 'What party are you in, anyway? I have never been able to figure it out.' [laughter] And I'd say, 'That…
In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many journalists still refuse to acknowledge that most of the establishment media tilts to the left. Examples:“I worked at CNN for almost 26 years. I worked in Mutual Radio for 20 years. I’ve been in the business 57 years. I have never seen a bias off the air or on. I’ve never seen anyone say, let’s go get this person today, let’s really ram it into him. I’ve never seen it. If a Democrat or Republican commits some horrendous story, we will —…
The Sacred Heart University Polling Institute released its 2009 survey on 'Trust and Satisfaction with the National News Media.' The September 2009 poll of 800 Americans found large majorities believe the media are 'very or somewhat biased,' played a 'very or somewhat strong' role in electing Barack Obama in 2008, and were 'promoting the Obama presidency' and the President's health care effort 'without objective criticism.'KEY FINDINGS:'Poll results found 83.6% saw national news media…
In September 2009, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press updated its series on the public's view of the press, a set of reports that began in 1985. The 2009 survey of 1,506 adults found low confidence in the media's accuracy, objectivity, and independence. The report also found a widening partisan divide in how Democrats and Republicans rate individual news organizations.KEY FINDINGS:'Only about a quarter (26%) now say that news organizations are careful that their reporting is…
A major biennial news consumption survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released on August 17, 2008 found that 'virtually every news organization or program has seen its credibility marks decline' and 'Democrats continue to give most news organizations much higher credibility ratings than do Republicans.' In preparing the 130-page report on media credibility, Pew talked to 3,615 adults; the data are comparable to earlier Pew studies that followed the same methodology.…
No fewer than five different polls conducted during the last months of the 2008 presidential campaign found the public strongly believed that the news media was biased in favor of Democrat Barack Obama in his campaign against Republican John McCain. In July, a Rasmussen poll found more than three times as many voters saw journalists favoring Obama; by October, a Pew Research Center poll discovered the margin had grown to nearly 8-to-1.KEY FINDINGS:A Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,000 likely voters…
Because the news media's role was so central to the 2008 presidential campaign, Rasmussen Reports posed several questions on public perceptions of the media throughout the campaign. Besides the question of whether voters thought the media were favoring Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain (which we report elsewhere), Rasmussen discovered a notable lack of trust by voters in the media's professionalism and objectivity:Journalists Out to 'Hurt' Palin: A September 4 Rasmussen poll of 1,…
During the 2008 primary season, a Pew Research Center poll of 1,000 Americans discovered that most thought 'press coverage has favored Barack Obama than thought it has favored Hillary Clinton.' Earlier, a Rasmussen poll of 800 likely voters taken after the New York Times published a front-page story insinuating that Republican Senator John McCain had engaged in an extramarital affair found that two-thirds believed it was not 'simply reporting the news,' but 'an attempt by the paper to hurt the…