Is there a liberal bias in the media? I definitely think there is in all forms of media, television, newspapers, and radio. I collected some information from surveys that support my claim. “Of the 1400 members of the national media who were surveyed in 1992: 44% considered themselves Democrats, 16% considered themselves Republicans, 34% considered themselves Independents, 89% voted for Clinton in 1992, 7% voted for Bush in 1992. “1 Another survey showed that, “9 White House correspondents voted for Clinton in 1992, while 2 voted for Bush, 12 voted for Dukakis in 1988-one for Bush, 10 voted for Mondale in 1984- 2 for Reagan, 8 voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980 – 2 for Reagan. “2 I am not alone in my opinion about media bias.
A poll taken on how Americans also view the media was taken in 1992 and resulted in the fact: “most Americans think that the media is biased. Almost half (49%) think that the media usually doesn’t get the facts straight; two-thirds believe the media doesn’t deal fairly with all sides on social and political reporting; three-fourths of Americans see a fair amount or great deal of political bias in the news, and by more than a 2-to-1 ratio, poll respondents said that bias is liberal rather than conservative (43%-19%). More than 60% of Americans surveyed prefer the media to simply report the facts and not comment on the facts, or offer suggestions about how to solve problems. 65% of Americans polled do not believe that journalists should point out what they believe are inaccuracies and distortions in the statements of public figures; 60% believe the news media has too much influence; 47% think journalists have values different from their own. 3 In order for one to determine whether or not reporting is biased, one must determine if the story falls into at least one of the following forms: bias by commission, bias by omission, bias by story selection, bias by placement, bias by the selection of sources, bias by spin, bias by labeling, bias by policy endorsement or condemnation.
4 I am going to discuss some of these categories as well as discuss other matters that support my belief that there is a LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS Essay. I am also going to present the liberals belief that there is not a liberal bias. Bias by commission is a pattern of passing along assumptions or errors that tend to support a position. This is the most common form of bias. It basically states that a reporter must provide roughly equal time to both sides of the issue.
If the reporter presents only one perspective or passes along only the “facts” espoused by his/her beliefs without any acknowledgment that others disagree, then he/she has committed bias by commission. “Some examples of “facts” being presented by liberals regarding the Bush/Reagan presidencies were: that the Reagan and Bush Administrations cut funding for social programs (when in fact social spending rose dramatically in both administrations); that the rich grew richer and the poor grew poorer during the Reagan years (when all income groups grew richer); and that there were three million homeless people in the United States (when every reputable study places the number well under one million). 4 Another example of commission bias would be the following. The 1993 debate over Clinton’s budget showed how reporters committed bias by commission by choosing the interpretation of one side. “At the time, Republicans claimed the plan had far more taxes than spending cuts while Democrats insisted the ratio was one-to-one.
Some reporters endorsed the Democratic view. A “USA Today” reporter said Clintons’ plan had slightly more spending cuts than tax increases.” A CNN anchor reported the economic package now in the Senate reduces the federal deficit by more than $500 billion dollars with spending cuts and $249 billion in tax increases.”5 I believe that a balanced statement on the issue would sound something like, Democrats claim the deficit package consists of an equal amount of spending cuts and tax increases, while Republicans argue many of the cuts are phony so that there were three dollars in tax hikes for every one dollar in real cuts.Bias by Omission is ignoring the facts that tend .
