Four Times More Journalists Identify as Liberal Than Conservative (OT)

[Guest guest]

Hi All....

Since I recently brought this issue up, thought it might be interesting

to see the results of a survey conducted last year. It's just come out.

Obviously, if someone considers themselves a liberal - or a conservative

- their POV and bias is often reflected i what they present to others,

and they may not give a balanced view of the issue. Whatever it may be. I

get stuff from both liberal and conservative media for that very reason.

Mostly general news stuff, but sometimes there are things to do with

medical issues as well. Which is also why I get stuff from a traditional

medical place such as John's Hopkins, as well as stuff from folks who do

things the the more natural way like Health Ranger Mike Adams, who puts

out Natural News. Usually, between the two (liberal and conservative;

traditional and not traditional medical stuff, etc), I'm able to get a

more rounded, complete picture of whatever is being discussed.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to preach....The only reason I sent a portion of

the results from the study, is because if it's not readily apparent from

what someone writes (which I often think is apparent), I think it's

important to know what their particular bias is. And, whether or not

whatever they wrote can be taken at face value, or if some further

checking is in order. Of course I have my own biases, which I try really

hard to take into consideration when I read things, although I'm sure I'm

not always successful. Just like every on this group, I've got some

really strong feelings about certain things - otherwise I wouldn't be

here. *smile* Anyway, FYI.

Lynn

 

 

Four Times More Journalists Identify

as Liberal Than Conservative

 

A

survey conducted late last year and released Monday, by the Pew Research

Center for the People and the Press, confirmed the obvious -- that

compared to the views of the public, conservatives are under-represented

in national journalism while liberals are over-represented. Jennifer

Harper of the Washington Times discovered the nugget buried deep in the

annual " State of the Media " report from Pew's Project for

Excellence in Journalism and FNC's Brit Hume on Tuesday night highlighted

the findings from the survey of 222 journalists and news executives at

national outlets: " Only six percent said they considered themselves

conservatives and only two percent said they were very conservative. This

compares with 36 percent of the overall population that describes itself

as conservative. Most journalists, 53 percent, said they're moderate. 24

percent said they were liberal and eight percent very liberal. "

 

Only 19 percent of the public consider

themselves liberal. And it's not much of a leap to presume many of the 53

percent who describe themselves as " moderate " are really quite

liberal.

" State of the Media " report from Pew's

Project for Excellence in Journalism:

www.stateofthemedia.com

 

Pew Research Center for the People and the

Press:

 

people-press.org

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, will be

posted Wednesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org:

 

newsbusters.org ]

Hume's item on the March 18 Special Report with

Brit Hume on FNC:

A newly released survey indicates that conservatives in the national

press corps are a lonely lot. 585 [the total of national, local and

Internet] journalists were polled by the Project for Excellence in

Journalism. Only six percent said they considered themselves

conservatives and only two percent said they were very conservative. This

compares with 36 percent of the overall population that describes itself

as conservative. Most journalists, 53 percent, said they're moderate. 24

percent said they were liberal and eight percent very liberal. The

Washington Times quotes project deputy director Amy Mitchell as saying

that the findings are about the same as in a similar survey done four

years ago.

The MRC's " Media Bias Basics " has a

section with the numbers from 2004, which are indeed very similar:

 

www.mediaresearch.org

For Harper's March 18 Washington Times article:

" Right underrepresented in press's diversity, " go to:

 

www.washingtontimes.com

The political ideology question is #36 on page

55 of the PDF with the results for the survey conducted September 17 to

December 3, 2007. For national broadcast journalists (97 polled), zero

percent call themselves " very conservative " while 6 percent

said they are " very liberal. " For the PDF:

 

www.stateofthemedia.com

Overall, only 8 percent of those at national

outlets attend church or synagogue weekly.

The political ideology results were summarized

in " Section III " of the report released on March 17 by the Pew

Research Center for the People and the Press, " Financial Woes Now

Overshadow All Other Concerns for Journalists The Web: Alarming,

Appealing and a Challenge to Journalistic Values. " The relevant

portion:

Journalists' Ideology

As was the case in 2004, majorities of the national and local

journalists surveyed describe themselves as political moderates; 53% of

national journalists and 58% of local journalists say they are moderates.

About a third of national journalists (32%), and 23% of local

journalists, describe themselves as liberals. Relatively small minorities

of national and local journalists call themselves conservatives (8%

national, 14% local).

Internet journalists as a group tend to be more liberal than either

national or local journalists. Fewer than half (46%) call themselves

moderates, while 39% are self-described liberals and just 9% are

conservatives.

Among the population as a whole, 36% call themselves conservatives --

more than triple the percentage of national and internet journalists, and

more than double the percentage of local journalists. About four-in-ten

(39%) characterize their political views as moderate, while 19% are

self-described liberals, based on surveys conducted in 2007 by the Pew

Research Center for the People & the Press.

END of Excerpt

Link to the actual report:

 

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=1269