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Updated: 11/15/2011
Does TV Have A Liberal Bias?
He points out, for example, that a 1996 study showed that most journalists were Democrats. Eighty-nine percent of them voted for a Democrat for President (generally considered liberal) compared to 43 percent of the general population. From the standpoint of many conservatives TV news tends to be liberal because it features stories on gay rights, civil rights abuses, antiwar demonstrations, women's rights, environmental issues, etc. -- all seen as being liberal causes. But, from the standpoint of some liberals television is conservative because it's seen as being pro-business, without giving adequate time to alternative, non-mainstream views. These arguments primarily surface in how news is covered.
People in the hard sciences also tend to be more conservative
than people in the social sciences. The latter group includes many
news people and actors, and some writers and artists people
whose ideas often surface in the media. Their views also tend to "push
the envelope" of social change. News Bias
Thus, there has been a recent emphasis on moving to a more selective, conservative tone in newscasts. Since this is best exemplified by FOX news, we'll spend a bit of time here examining that very popular source of news.
Both programs featured Republican guests (generally considered conservative) more often than Democratic guests (generally considered to be more liberal). But, as shown here, the FOX News channel favored Republicans by a margin of about 8:1. The same survey showed that FOX News featured white guests 93 percent of the time and male guests 91 percent of the time. According to the Nielsen Company, more than 95 percent of FOX News viewers are white.
A University of Maryland study reported in late 2010 that the audience for FOX News was far less accurately informed about world and national events than the audiences of other news sources, especially public broadcasting (NPR, PBS) and MSNBC. The study found that there was a direct relationship between the
amount of time spend watching FOX News and holding false information on key
issues of the day. No partisan divide was found in the study. People who
watched FOX, and voted Democratic were just as likely to be incorrect on major
issues as the FOX viewers who voted Republican.
The Conflict BetweenConservative Values and Profits
Note below that in 2010 the FOX network was responsible for more complaints about program "indecency" as filed with the FCC than any of the other networks. Percent of Program Indecency
(Source: Hollywood Reporter, 2010.) Clearly, there is a frequently a conflict between profits and what many people see as traditional values -- with profits typically winning the contest. Other opinions on this topic can be found in this Business, Sex, and Morality Forum posting. * In February,
2003, Eric Alterman's book, A What Liberal Media? The Truth About
Bias and the News, was published. This exceptionally well documented
book credits the shift to the right in the recent decade to efforts
by well funded conservative think tanks and their financial backers.
Other books on these topics include -
** According to data, during the Iraq war Americans turned to foreign news sources in great numbers, especially at the beginning of the war, to get a more balanced and realistic perspective. *** In the well-reviewed and thought-provoking book, The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind, Jeffrey Scheuer argues that television relentlessly simplifies, and simplicity is the core principle of conservatism. TV likewise punishes complex ideas and messages, which are the core of liberalism. Scheuer notes, for example, that the causes of poverty, unemployment, the crime rate, gangs, etc. are complex and cannot be effectively addressed with quick sound bites and political slogans -- even though the latter come across best on TV and appeal to voters. Thus, rather than being a "liberal medium," according to Scheuer, television strongly promotes an appealing, conservative, oversimplified, direct-solution approach to the complex social and political issues of our times. For example, rather than address the real causes of crime, the solution that's easiest to understand is: get tougher on crime and build more prisons. Although this simplistic good-evil view is attractive to voters, it doesn't confront the causes of the problem. © 2011, All Rights Reserved
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