Q&A of the Day – How partisan news media really is
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
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Today’s entry...
@brianmuddradio Hey Brian! I always hear about 93% - 94% of news media people voting for Democrats. I don’t doubt it nor will I be surprised, but is there actual public info that proves that?
Bottom Line: You’re right that the figure, which has been cited by President Trump among others, isn’t coming from nowhere. It’s a real estimate based on several evaluations of news media professionals. In terms of documentation, there are several examples that can be pointed to illustrating the severe left-wing preferences of news media members. Here are examples...
- The Center for Public Integrity examined political donations, which are public record, from the 2016 Election cycle. Out of 430 individuals who work in journalism, 96% of the political donations went to Democrats.
- The Media Research Center’s review of 122 employees in the news divisions of ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBC (and their related news channels) from the 2008 Presidential Election cycle through the 2016 Presidential Election cycle revealed 94% of political donations went to Democrats.
And by the way, it’s not anything new. Decades ago, a study by scholars Robert Lichter and Stanely Rothman of 240 journalists found 94% voted for Lyndon Johnson for President in 1964. The difference isn’t that the news media is increasingly becoming controlled by those with a leftist bias. It’s simply that they’re more overt these days. News standards have changed to theoretically become more compelling. The most notable was the AP’s change in standards about a decade ago. They were granted flexibility to inject opinion and conjecture into news stories. The change was immediately noticeable in their news reporting. The AP’s reach is also significant enough (touching every major news organization), that it often sets the tone for how certain stories are covered once news is broken.
All these factors culminate into the coverage identified and studied ongoing by the Media Research Center. According to their findings over 91% of the coverage of President Trump is negatively presented. But as a reminder, the most pervasive form of bias in news media isn’t even the biased news you’re presented with. It’s omission. As President Trump would say, where’s Hunter? You’d think a curious news media interested in journalism would want to know. Just like you’d expect them to be interested in the recommended indictment of former FBI Director Andrew McCabe due to his role in illegal activities during the 2016 Election Cycle.
It’s reminder about why those of us interested in truth and willing to offer another perspective is so important, there aren’t many of us. Many critical stories would never come to light without our work and we’re able to do it because of your support.