[VanillaGorilla]

It is worse among college professors:

"The latest data appear in the Aug. 29 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. A solid majority of those teaching at both public and private universities described themselves as being either liberal or far left. Less than a third considered themselves middle of the road and just 15 percent said they were conservative"

http://nationalreview.com/nrof_bart...tlett091503.asp

Tell me about it. I took a journalism class and my teacher said that Bill Clinton put her kids through college. A sociology class was so slanted that a good percentage of the class thought capitalism was evil when it concluded.

[CDB]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

Tell me about it. I took a journalism class and my teacher said that Bill Clinton put her kids through college. A sociology class was so slanted that a good percentage of the class thought capitalism was evil when it concluded.

Same here for my history classes in school. Students left thinking the Great Depression was the resultof over production of nonperishable goods by "greedy capitalists." When I asked annoying questions, like why didn't Canada's economy also bite the dust, why didn't retail markets go through the floor like capital goods markets, why did the depression happen so soon after the founding of the fed which was supposed to stop such things, and why did such panic/depression cycles seem to follow the establshment of central/state banks and money inflation, the prof had no answers. No one saw any signifigance in that.

[CEDeoudes59]

Vanilla Gorilla, you know your politics.

[VanillaGorilla]

Vanilla Gorilla, you know your politics.

Thanks. I have my moments.lol

[Number 5]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

The problem with that is that 59 % percent of the reported and editors who identify them selves as moderate really are not.

the news week article i read did not discuss the methodology for grouping people into liberals, moderates and conservatives, but i do not believe it was necessarily based on self-reported affiliation.

still, the average reporter is twice as likely to be a liberal as the average american, and only 1/3 as likely to be a conservative. so does the job of reporter/editor attract liberals, or do they become liberals because of the job?

-5

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Number 5

the news week article i read did not discuss the methodology for grouping people into liberals, moderates and conservatives, but i do not believe it was necessarily based on self-reported affiliation.

still, the average reporter is twice as likely to be a liberal as the average american, and only 1/3 as likely to be a conservative. so does the job of reporter/editor attract liberals, or do they become liberals because of the job?

-5

Or is it the corperate culture that pushes people to be more liberal?

[Number 5]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Or is it the corperate culture that pushes people to be more liberal?

probably not. investment bankers, MBA students, etc. tend to be more republican than average americans.

-5

[jjjd]

i think, in regards to the chicken/egg question, that it is both. liberals are attracted to journalism, AND journalism is so clique'ish that it tends to reinforce liberals' biases. when you are surrounded by fellow travelers, it's much easier "to believe."

liberals, as sowell would say, tend to believe in external locus of control (in general) and in a sort of perfectable man vs. conservatives who tend to view locus of control as more internal, and man as inherently flawed.

people who think that THEY can change the status quo, and make difference, not through production of product (if that is not redundant) such as the widget, but instead through "investigative reporting" are more likely to be liberals, and attracted to journalism.

journalism schools/classes are very activism based. journalism is seen as a way to effect change, not as a way to reflect events.

again, this would tend to disproportionately attract liberals.

i think bernie goldberg touches on a lot of this in his books "bias" and "arrogance" both of which i recommend.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Number 5

media outlets mainly care about their bottom line and to this effect they product differentiate to conquer different parts of the market.

of americans, 36% are conservative, 38% moderate, 18% liberal. 8% = ?

of FOX's 1.3 mil prime-time viewers, 52% are conservative, 30% moderate and 13% liberal. the other 5% i guess could not be classified.

NPR's audience is 31% conservative, 33% moderate, 30% liberal. CNN is close to the national averages so they are probably the least slanted of the main stream media outlets.

of national reporters and editors, 7% are conservative and 34% are liberal. they deny a liberal bias of course. all these numbers are from a news week article i read a few weeks ago.

why does the average reporter/editor tend to be more liberal than the average american?

-5

That is the exact point of what I was saying. They all pander to a market.

Originally Posted by jweave23

Well apparently many disagree with you regarding FOX, including myself. If you have read the statement filed on that link, it seems rather hard to argue those facts. I actually used to watch FOX most of the time, I generally like their talent and programming, but the spin just got too much for me. When it becomes quite apparent to people like me, who very casually follow politics, I consider them ridiculous. I would love to see someone present, in a concise and quantitative manner with sources as was done here, that either 1. FOX is not bias and should use the slogan "fair and balanced" or 2. other agencies are equally as bad.

I didn't get a chance to look at the link, but are they trying to apply 'false advertising' to a media outlets slogan? Man, think of the new sueing opportunities - "Must watch TV" my ass!

Oddly enough, an uber lib 'Ted Turner' has the right idea on what to do to fix the situation on todays slashdot
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/07/2...id=149&tid=103

Washington Monthly has an article from Ted Turner where he talks about the problems with the media conglomerates and calls for them to be busted

The problem comes in when 'legitamate' new shows push an agenda, ie Richard Clark, as a the only legitamate view point. Since CBS owns the publishing company, of cource they want to sell as many books as possible and will give the guy a forum to say anything he wants without a rebuttal.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Number 5

probably not. investment bankers, MBA students, etc. tend to be more republican than average americans.

-5

You've never worked at Turner, completely and utterly liberal.. Journalist majors are the most liberal out there, they are the ones who become the editors and the people who 'filter' the news for the rest of us.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by jjjd

i think, in regards to the chicken/egg question, that it is both. liberals are attracted to journalism, AND journalism is so clique'ish that it tends to reinforce liberals' biases. when you are surrounded by fellow travelers, it's much easier "to believe."

liberals, as sowell would say, tend to believe in external locus of control (in general) and in a sort of perfectable man vs. conservatives who tend to view locus of control as more internal, and man as inherently flawed.

people who think that THEY can change the status quo, and make difference, not through production of product (if that is not redundant) such as the widget, but instead through "investigative reporting" are more likely to be liberals, and attracted to journalism.

journalism schools/classes are very activism based. journalism is seen as a way to effect change, not as a way to reflect events.

again, this would tend to disproportionately attract liberals.

i think bernie goldberg touches on a lot of this in his books "bias" and "arrogance" both of which i recommend.

Good points indeed. I've got an amazon gift card, if you had to pick one which would you recommend?

[jjjd]

i've only skimmed through arrogance, but i've read bias. twice.

i KNOW bias is very good. i'd go with bias. you can always get arrogance later.

arrogance is probably more "up to date" but bias is near classic status.

[VanillaGorilla]

Part of the problem is that the majority of colleges and teachers are all liberal. They end of indoctrinating the students. Many 18 year old kids can't see the propaganda that many of them teach. Journalism should be pretty simple. It should be just the facts. Instead of the facts go against my ideology so I am going to burry it in the last paragraph and distort it.

[VanillaGorilla]

This is one of the best books on media bias I have read.
Coloring the News: How Political Correctness Has Corrupted American Journalism
by William McGowan

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

[VanillaGorilla]

the news week article i read did not discuss the methodology for grouping people into liberals, moderates and conservatives, but i do not believe it was necessarily based on self-reported affiliation.

I believe if it's the one I am thinking about they asked journalist which political ideology they believe best fits them. With the choices of Liberal, conservative, or moderate. As I said earlier they would be much higher rate for liberals but the journalist are so out of toutch that they believe they are moderate when in reality they are to the left of Lennon. What they should have done is asked them a series of questions about were they stand on issues instead of letting the journalist classify them selves. It would prob. look like this 80 % liberal 10-15% more moderate to the left and 5-10% conservative.

[VanillaGorilla]

You've never worked at Turner, completely and utterly liberal.. Journalist majors are the most liberal out there, they are the ones who become the editors and the people who 'filter' the news for the rest of us.

Ted gave or pledged to give a large some of money to the UN. Maybe that's why CNN has ignored the UN oil for food scandal.
He also called a bunch of Christians "Jesus freaks" on ash Wednesday. Could you image what would have happened if he called a bunch of Muslims towel heads or called some one a Jew or something. Wait.................... nothing would happen because he owns the news station and is also a liberal so he gets a pass. Hillary called someone a "Jew bastard" and got a pass. I guess I should phrase it if a conservative said the same thing.

[jjjd]

VG, that's a good point. a leftists impression of what conservative or moderate IS, is going to be skewed. if you are surrounded by leftists, and are one yourself, then the middle looks like the right, and the right looks like the far right

this is true from both ends of the spectrum. for example, many on the right refer to clinton (bill) as a leftist. he most definitely was not far left, or liberal. as many claim. he was left moderate. he supported DOMA, Capital Punishment, and welfare reform.

kucinich? now, THAT's a leftist