UCLA study on media bias

[somedaybitch]

article here.

my own personal perceptions being validated aside, this study's choices of measure are fascinating, and the researchers seem very conscientious about their own biases and trying to compensate for those.

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

surprising for who?

also this bit...

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter.

The most centrist outlet proved to be the "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." CNN's "NewsNight With Aaron Brown" and ABC's "Good Morning America" were a close second and third.

"Our estimates for these outlets, we feel, give particular credibility to our efforts, as three of the four moderators for the 2004 presidential and vice-presidential debates came from these three news outlets — Jim Lehrer, Charlie Gibson and Gwen Ifill," Groseclose said. "If these newscasters weren't centrist, staffers for one of the campaign teams would have objected and insisted on other moderators."

The fourth most centrist outlet was "Special Report With Brit Hume" on Fox News, which often is cited by liberals as an egregious example of a right-wing outlet. While this news program proved to be right of center, the study found ABC's "World News Tonight" and NBC's "Nightly News" to be left of center. All three outlets were approximately equidistant from the center, the report found.

:::whistles to self:::

Comments

[bexxa.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. Thanks for the link!

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

their approach fascinated me. granted, i know squat about social science analyses but, what they chose to use as the barometer seemed rather inspired in that it's a quantifiable number. also granted that the number is derived from voting records, which may not exclusively stay either liberal or conservative, but i think that over time the indicators would prove pretty consistent to a behavior pattern.

[bexxa.livejournal.com]

Re voting records: what with the riders that often get tacked onto bills that have little or nothing to do with the actual bill, I've often wished that votes could come with line-item vetos, as it were.

As in - "yes, I'm voting in favor of X, but I'm not in favor of the riders for Y and Z."

Because if Y and Z can't pass as stand-alones, why is it a good idea for them to pass just because that's the only way that we can have X?

/mini-rant

Yes, I agree that over time one's voting pattern (and reporting pattern) can be characterized fairly.

I find it particularly interesting in the UCLA article that to those on the far end of any spectrum, a centrist position seems radical. :) As if, anyone who is *not* wholly for or against one's own position seems to be wholly in the opposite camp, when in fact the other person may be actually neutral on the subject.

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

to those on the far end of any spectrum, a centrist position seems radical. :)

heh, yup... ;)