Liberal Media Bias Still Strong
by AFA Journal
February 9, 2006
(AgapePress) - - According to recent reports, when the majority of the nation's news outlets are considered, the U.S. media continue to show their leftist colors.The findings are based on a study led by University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) political scientist Tim Groseclose and co-authored by Jeffrey Milyo, a University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.
Eighteen of the 20 major media outlets examined in the UCLA-led study scored left of center, positioning CBS' Evening News, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal. Fox News' Special Report With Brit Hume and The Washington Times were the only two major outlets to score to the right of the average U.S. voter.
"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," Groseclose said. "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," Milyo added.
The American public is noticing the bias as evident from the findings of a new Gallup survey. A three-to-one ratio of those polled believed the media to be "too liberal" rather than "too conservative."
"When asked about the news media's political slant, Americans are much more likely to say they are too liberal (46%) than they are to say they are about right (37%) or too conservative (16%)," according to the survey.
These views remain consistent with Gallup measurements since 2001 and are virtually unchanged since September 2004.
This article, reprinted with permission, appeared in the February 2006 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
