Liberal Media Bias Proven--UCLA Political Scientist

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Like we didn't know.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

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Well, we aren't, are we?

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Interesting but I question the validity of the study since it isn't really objective at all. It is subjective masquerading as objective.

The bias in the study is shown in the initial comparison.
The Heritage foundation lists itself as "conservative" in its policy statement. The NAACP doesn't list itself as partisan or political yet the authors of the study weighted them equal in terms of one right vs the other left. Its no wonder the study shows a left bent when it moves the center to begin with.

The center is 50% of the congress yet the GOP is 55% of the Congress. I see a problem there in left/right movement. If you move the center to 55/45 then anyone that is 50/50 will be left. The study on its face seems to be invalid. Without seeing the actual numbers and data it is difficult to say more. They may have attempted to compensate but the items presented here don't show much hope.

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When a reporter tells the truth he is branded a liberal. So, they then scream "Liberal bias!" It's a crock.

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I do believe that i recognize that name--Groseclose--from that bogus graduate student paper you tried to peddle in Fox's "liberal bias on campus" thread. For shame . . .

As soon as Parados pointed out the lack of a coherent base line, the nickel dropped . . .

You jokers crack me up . . .

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I think it's pretty safe to conclude that the NAACP is left.

You must not have read how they weighted the Congress. Mere party affiliation is not a gauge.
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More of the article--

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter.

The most centrist outlet proved to be the "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." CNN's "NewsNight With Aaron Brown" and ABC's "Good Morning America" were a close second and third.

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Lash,
I did read how they weighted it. It doesn't make much sense since they haven't provided any evidence that 50% of the voters voted for those 50% of Congress. In fact based on the Presidential election it is highly likely that those 55% of GOP in congress only represent 50% of the voters.

No evidence of how they weighted for the variation in voter % per district means I can't judge it other than to say it doesn't smell right.

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parados wrote:

Interesting but I question the validity of the study since it isn't really objective at all. It is subjective masquerading as objective.

...

The center is 50% of the congress yet the GOP is 55% of the Congress. I see a problem there in left/right movement. If you move the center to 55/45 then anyone that is 50/50 will be left. The study on its face seems to be invalid. Without seeing the actual numbers and data it is difficult to say more. They may have attempted to compensate but the items presented here don't show much hope.

They fully disclosed that their ratings were based on the ADA's (A left leaning group - they refer to themselves as "the nation's oldest liberal lobbying group".) ratings of congressional reps and the "center", decided by the ADA, was set at 50.1 (which is disclosed in the study article).

The "center" isn't based on a party's number of seats (most people that watch politics recognize that there are liberal republicans and conservative democrats). It's based on the ADA's rating system so it is the ADA deciding who (or which position) is or isn't left or right leaning.

The study may very well be full of crap but your comment here doesn't hold any water.

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It's a little confusing, but it appeared to me that they were using the average voter to determine the center -- which obviously could shift. A clear definition of left, right, and center would have been handy. So if many news outlets are sitting a little on the left right now, maybe it's because voters are sitting a little on the right. If that opinion should shift a bit, I imagine they'd be saying those same outlets now had a conservative bias, even though their coverage remained roughly the same.

I do like, however, their conclusion that NPR is not actually liberally biased.

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btw, here is a detailed critique of the study:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/001169.html

and the study author's response to it:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001301.html

Just in case anyone is really interested.

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All I can say about that nasty LIBERAL N.Y. Times is that it's too bad that they didn't publish two of the things that they knew BEFORE the election!! They knew that the Bush Admoinistration had illegally outed a CIA agent. They also knew that Bush was lying to the people when he kept insisting that he was NOT wiretapping without court approval. In fact he signed the executive order authorizing the illegal phonetaps in 2002, knowing that he was skirting the law which makes it a felony to do so!

Too bad those liberal bastards didn't print THAT!!

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Quote:

Centrists? There are centrists in this country? Where? Who? What is their bias? Can you be left one day and right the next?

Shall we score truth-telling in this mix somehow?

Who gets the story right?
And isn't that what matters?

A outlet can be as rock-ribbed conservative as a Reaganite, but if it reports the truth, it's okay by me.

Joe(Clearly. Say it clearly)Nation

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fishin' wrote:

btw, here is a detailed critique of the study:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/001169.html

and the study author's response to it:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001301.html

Just in case anyone is really interested.

Thanks for that, fishin'.

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This study is from 2004? Who's been sitting on it?

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In fact, FD, no one has been "sitting on it." As i noted earlier in this thread, Lash first trotted it out in Fox's liberal bias on college campuses thread--it was then the graduate research of the suspects concerned. Now it appears they've published it--it also appears that they've made no effort to have improved its statistical faults. It is a study which proves nothing.

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The thread says Liberal. But the study uses Democrat and Republican as definitions of left and right?

Bwahahahahaha!!!!!

Bush Jr. and Reagan are hardly my definition of "conservative." Republican yes... conservative, no.

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The most "liberal" Democrat is to the right of moderates in the rest of the world.

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The study lost me with "the Drudge Report leans left" ?

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mark

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fishin' wrote:

btw, here is a detailed critique of the study:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/001169.html

and the study author's response to it:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001301.html

Just in case anyone is really interested.

fishin

I think you've got an older study there.

A couple of relevant points. First, these two guys are Olin Fellows. That is, they have been funded by the Olin Foundation. The Olin Foundation funds NOTHING BUT conservative movement members/supporters. That is the foundation's stated mission.

An earlier study, the one noted above, used a methodology which placed Fox as centrist. A rather odd outcome. The present study, using another methodology, has as a part of its outcome as described by Milyo on Monday night on Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC...here's a portion of that transcript...

Quote:

An equally odd outcome, methinks.

That interview is not yet posted on the site and I'm not sure if it will be. I watched it. I'll keep an eye out to see if they include it in their offerings because it really demonstrated a clear conservative bias (evident in the transcript but much moreso in the viewing) on the part of Milyo.

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Liberal Media Bias Proven--UCLA Political Scientist

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