Fair and balanced? Um ... no

[Riot]

I like the UCLA study, but comparing "left" and "right" to "the average member of Congress" as the benchmark definition?

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Riot

I like the UCLA study, but comparing "left" and "right" to "the average member of Congress" as the benchmark definition?

It was an exhaustive study, probably the best study ever done on the subject. The study used objective measures to actually quantify the left or right slant of each news organization. Here is what they did:

"Few studies provide an objective measure of the slant of news, and none has provided a way to link such a measure to ideological measures of other political actors. That is, none of the existing measures can say, for example, whether the New York Times is more liberal than Tom Daschle or whether Fox News is more conservative than Bill Frist. We provide such a measure. Namely, we compute an ADA score for various news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Drudge Report, Fox News’ Special Report, and all three networks’ nightly news shows."

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/f...dia.Bias.8.htm

I think that sounds like an excellent way to have done the study. Do you have a problem with the way the study was done?

[Riot]

I think that sounds like an excellent way to have done the study. Do you have a problem with the way the study was done?

I just said, "I like the UCLA study, but comparing "left" and "right" to "the average member of Congress" as the benchmark definition?

I was laughing at the benchmark, but that obviously doesn't invalidate the scale from the reference.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Riot

I just said, "I like the UCLA study, but comparing "left" and "right" to "the average member of Congress" as the benchmark definition?

I was laughing at the benchmark, but that obviously doesn't invalidate the scale from the reference.

I don't think they said that was the actual benchmark. When they mentioned the thing about "the average member of Congress", they were just giving one example of their findings. They also compared news organizations to the most liberal and the most conservative members of congress.

Here is some more interesting information:

Survey research has shown that an almost overwhelming fraction of journalists are liberal. For instance, Elaine Povich (1996) reports that only seven percent of all Washington correspondents voted for George H.W. Bush in 1992, compared to 37 percent of the American public.[2] Lichter, Rothman and Lichter, (1986) and Weaver and Wilhoit (1996) report similar findings for earlier elections. More recently, the New York Times reported that only eight percent of Washington correspondents thought George W. Bush would be a better president than John Kerry.[3] This compares to 51% of all American voters. David Brooks notes that for every journalist who contributed to George W. Bush’s campaign, 93 contributed to Kerry’s.[4]


These statistics suggest that journalists, as a group, are more liberal than almost any congressional district in the country. For instance, in the Ninth California district, which includes Berkeley, twelve percent voted for Bush in 1992, nearly double the rate of journalists. In the Eighth Massachusetts district, which includes Cambridge, nineteen percent voted for Bush, approximately triple the rate of journalists.[


http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/f...dia.Bias.8.htm

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

Survey research has shown that an almost overwhelming fraction of journalists are liberal. For instance, Elaine Povich (1996) reports that only seven percent of all Washington correspondents voted for George H.W. Bush in 1992, compared to 37 percent of the American public.[2] Lichter, Rothman and Lichter, (1986) and Weaver and Wilhoit (1996) report similar findings for earlier elections. More recently, the New York Times reported that only eight percent of Washington correspondents thought George W. Bush would be a better president than John Kerry.[3] This compares to 51% of all American voters. David Brooks notes that for every journalist who contributed to George W. Bush’s campaign, 93 contributed to Kerry’s.[4]


These statistics suggest that journalists, as a group, are more liberal than almost any congressional district in the country.
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/f...dia.Bias.8.htm

Why is it assumed someone is Liberal if they simply decided to stay out of the Bushes? I stayed out of the Bushes, but I wouldn't be very welcome around Liberals(especially, right now.)

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

Why is it assumed someone is Liberal if they simply decided to stay out of the Bushes? I stayed out of the Bushes, but I wouldn't be very welcome around Liberals(especially, right now.)

I'm sure there were a few Conservatives that voted for Kerry. But what percent do you think it was? It was probably 1 or 2% at the most.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

I stayed out of the Bushes

I always had that feeling about you, SCUDS!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

I always had that feeling about you, SCUDS!