More Proof Of Media Bias

The Project for Excellence in Journalism, an institute affiliated with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, has reviewed coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign and the War in Iraq, to determine if there was fair media coverage. Their report is called The State Of The News Media - 2005. Their findings... In the case of the War, reporting tended to be slightly more critical than positive, but not overtly so. However, there was a definite slant in the reporting on President Bush and John Kerry.

The study covered news reports from 16 newspapers, four nightly newscasts, three network morning news shows, nine different cable programs, and nine Web sites examined for four weeks through the course of the year. It found that, in reporting on the 2004 election:

"...the criticism that George Bush got worse coverage than John Kerry is supported by the data. Looking across all media, campaign coverage that focused on Bush was three times as negative as coverage of Kerry (36% versus 12%) It was also less likely to be positive (20% positive Bush stories, 30% for Kerry).

"That also meant Bush coverage was less likely to be neutral (44% of Bush stories, 58% for Kerry)."

The study also surveyed journalists. The findings, as you would expect, show a decidedly liberal slant.

"There are significant ideological differences among news people in attitudes toward coverage of Bush, with many more self-described liberals than moderates or conservatives faulting the press for being insufficiently critical. In terms of their overall ideological outlook, majorities of national (54%) and local journalists (61%) continue to describe themselves as moderates. The percentage identifying themselves as liberal has increased from 1995: 34% of national journalists describe themselves as liberals, compared with 22% nine years ago. The trend among local journalists has been similar - 23% say they are liberals, up from 14% in 1995. More striking is the relatively small minority of journalists who think of themselves as politically conservative (7% national, 12% local).

"As was the case a decade ago, the journalists as a group are much less conservative than the general public (33% conservative).

"And more than four-in-ten... say journalists too often let their ideological views show in their reporting.

Just confirms what we already knew, doesn't it?