Best Proof of Media Bias
The proof is in: Bias Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, by Robert Barro in the December 13 Weekly Standard (here), but c'mon, click here to subscribe so you can get this kind of stuff yourself!
Barro's article details the studies of Tim Groseclose of UCLA and Jeffrey Milyo of the University of Missouri. It's fascinating and complicated stuff. They start with the Americans for Democratic Action Congressional rankings, then relate that back to the Congress members' home districts, assuming electeds reflect the politics of electees. 50.1 is average, John Kerry's an 88, and Bill Frist is a 10.
They then see what think tanks the electeds quote, and find a strong correlation between liberal think tanks and liberal Congressmen, and visa versa. Finally, they see what think tanks are quoted in the largest media and truth check that correlation with everything else. Phew!
The conclusion: "The bottom line from the Groseclose-Milyo study is that the political slant of most of the mainstream media is far to the left of the typical member of Congress. Thus, if the political opinions of viewers, listeners, and readers are similar to those of their elected representatives, the political leanings of most of the media are far to the left of those of most of their customers."
Interestingly, the news side of the Wall Street Journal is the most liberal of all, with an 85.1 ranking, more than 10 points above #2, The New York Times. That fact underscores that the study only looks at NEWS, not opinion, because bias is just fine on the opinion page but is not supposed to be in the news articles. So, here are the most liberal:
The Wall Street Journal 85.1
The New York Times 73.7
CBS Evening News 73.7 (Truth to that "NY Times sets the broadcast agenda" stuff!)
The Los Angeles Times 70.0
The CBS Early Show 66.6
The Washington Post 66.6
Newsweek 66.3
Other notables:
Time Magazine 65.4
NBC Today Show 64.0
NBC Nightly News 61.6
ABC World News Tonight 61.0
Remember, 50.1 is average. The closest to that is the NewsHour with Jim Leher on PBS with 55.8.
The only conservative rankings came from Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume at 39.7, and The Washington Times, at 35.4. These are much less off the norm to the conservative side than their critics are off the norm to the liberal side.
Barro's article details the studies of Tim Groseclose of UCLA and Jeffrey Milyo of the University of Missouri. It's fascinating and complicated stuff. They start with the Americans for Democratic Action Congressional rankings, then relate that back to the Congress members' home districts, assuming electeds reflect the politics of electees. 50.1 is average, John Kerry's an 88, and Bill Frist is a 10.
They then see what think tanks the electeds quote, and find a strong correlation between liberal think tanks and liberal Congressmen, and visa versa. Finally, they see what think tanks are quoted in the largest media and truth check that correlation with everything else. Phew!
The conclusion: "The bottom line from the Groseclose-Milyo study is that the political slant of most of the mainstream media is far to the left of the typical member of Congress. Thus, if the political opinions of viewers, listeners, and readers are similar to those of their elected representatives, the political leanings of most of the media are far to the left of those of most of their customers."
Interestingly, the news side of the Wall Street Journal is the most liberal of all, with an 85.1 ranking, more than 10 points above #2, The New York Times. That fact underscores that the study only looks at NEWS, not opinion, because bias is just fine on the opinion page but is not supposed to be in the news articles. So, here are the most liberal:
The Wall Street Journal 85.1
The New York Times 73.7
CBS Evening News 73.7 (Truth to that "NY Times sets the broadcast agenda" stuff!)
The Los Angeles Times 70.0
The CBS Early Show 66.6
The Washington Post 66.6
Newsweek 66.3
Other notables:
Time Magazine 65.4
NBC Today Show 64.0
NBC Nightly News 61.6
ABC World News Tonight 61.0
Remember, 50.1 is average. The closest to that is the NewsHour with Jim Leher on PBS with 55.8.
The only conservative rankings came from Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume at 39.7, and The Washington Times, at 35.4. These are much less off the norm to the conservative side than their critics are off the norm to the liberal side.
posted by Laer at 7:41 AM
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