Talk:Liberal bias/Quotes

Quotes

From the June 4, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times: "According to a new survey [by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center], only 12 percent of local reporters, editors and media executives describe themselves as conservatives, while twice as many say they're liberal. At national news organizations, the gap is wider----7 percent conservative vs. 34 percent liberal."1 In reality the situation is even more unbalanced than those statistics indicate. In that Pew study, 54 percent of news people self-described themselves as "moderate," as neither liberal nor conservative. However, as other statistics in this study suggest, many of these so-called moderates are closet liberals. For example, a stunning 88 percent of journalists believe society should approve of homosexuality while only around half of Americans believe that. And as syndicated columnist George Will once noted, about 90 percent of news reporters, editors, and producers vote for Democrats not Republicans.2

CBS News' Andy Rooney, discussing Bernard Goldberg's book Bias, which argues that the dominant media are biased in the liberal direction, on CNN's "Larry King Live" in June 2002: "There is just no question that I, among others [in the media], have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions. And I think...Dan [Rather] is transparently liberal. Now, he may not like to hear me say that....But I think he should be more careful."3

Journalist Charles Krauthammer: "The nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs found...that TV coverage of the new GOP Congress in early 1995 was overwhelmingly negative: 68 percent negative evaluations versus 32 percent positive. (Dan Rather, on CBS, offered this typical description of the House GOP agenda: 'to demolish or damage [not, to fix] government aid programs, many of them designed to help children and the poor.')"4

Roger Ebert: "I agree that Hollywood movies tend toward the liberal agenda, because artistic and creative types in general tend to be liberal."5

U.S. News & World Report's John Leo: "Journalists are increasingly reluctant to report negative news about minorities or women's causes....The upshot of this is soft and caring coverage of favored [liberal] groups [and their causes], with certain stories mostly ruled out of bounds [i.e., censored]--the hyperaggressive side of the gay rights movement, for instance, or anything that might embarrass the cause of abortion rights."6

Chicago Tribune columnist Stephen Chapman: "Liberal journalists--in other words, most journalists--seem to assume that conservatives rise out of bed every morning with no thought but to do whatever they can to make the world worse. They are never given the presumption of pure intentions. Selfless idealism is taken to be the exclusive preserve of those on the other [liberal] end of the political spectrum."7

U.S. News & World Report's Douglas Stanglin: "The three major television networks gave Bill Clinton better coverage during the recent [1996] campaign than they gave Bob Dole. That's the conclusion of an upcoming report by Washington's [nonpartisan] Center for Media and Public Affairs, which...found that 50 percent of the stories on Clinton were positive in tone, compared with only 33 percent for Dole."8

Even Dan "Mr. Liberal" Rather, in a moment of candor, has admitted that "American journalism...is increasingly straying from its mission of public service and from its standards of fairness, accuracy and integrity."9 (The very pro-homosexual Chicago Tribune had this to say about Rather: "Rather...for years has fended off accusations that he has a liberal bias,...[fended off] criticism that he has a liberal, pro-Democrat bias....Well, let's be clear on that. Rather deserves it. In spades."10)

Chicago Sun-Times's Raymond Coffey: "Much of what is going on in this left-right labeling [by many members of the dominant media is]...misleading. And consciously so, in my view."11 (Examples of the kind of labeling being referred to are "open-minded," "far-Right," "extremist," etc. For instance, some reporters biasedly describe liberals as "progressive" instead of, say, "reactionary.")

"Time magazine columnist Hugh Sidey told a luncheon crowd at the Illinois Manufacturers Association last week that in his history of covering presidential campaigns, he has never seen a year in which the media were more biased than in 1992. He said the anti-Bush/pro-Clinton coverage was anything but journalism."12

Columnist Noel Holston: "Republican characters in prime-time [TV] series tend to be straw men [or women], caricatures designed to be the butt of jokes."13

John Leo again: "The media are having unusual trouble describing gay attacks on Catholics....Famous newspapers and commentators who scour language for the faintest hint of insensitivity to gays, blacks and women show little interest in this foot-stomping bigotry toward Catholics."14

Homosexual journalist Andrew Sullivan, in his own name-calling way, has also conceded the media is liberally biased: "But, difficult as it may be to admit, some of the gay-baiting right's argument about media bias holds up."15

Journalist Robert Samuelson: "Among editors and reporters of the national media--papers, magazines, TV--a 'liberal bias' is not so much denied as ignored, despite overwhelming evidence that it exists."16

And for those who think that, because the major media are owned by big corporations those media must be conservative, there is this item from syndicated columnist Mona Charen: "In 1997 [the latest year for which statistics were available at the time she wrote this], corporations gave almost five times as much to left-leaning charities and public-policy advocates than to right-leaning ones."17 Corporate America appears not to be the bastion of conservatism liberals want you to believe it is.

References

1. Randy Dotinga, "More liberals at news outlets, survey says," Chicago Sun-Times, June 4, 2004, p. 44.
2. George Will, "Free-market flavor for elections," Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 15, 1997, p. 19.
3. Phil Rosenthal, "Overheard," Chicago Sun-Times, June 10, 2002, P. 43.
4. Charles Krauthammer, "It might not look like it, but conservatives still are winning the war," Chicago Tribune, Oct. 6, 1997, section 1, p. 13.
5. John Leo, "A great story never told," U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 2, 1996, p. 24.
6. Stephen Chapman, "Idealists wanted; conservatives need not apply," Chicago Tribune, June 22, 1997, sec. 1, p. 17.
7. Douglas Stanglin, "Did the media tilt toward Clinton," U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 18, 1996, p. 20.
8. "Eavesdropping," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 16, 1995, sec. 1, p. 2.
9. Chicago Tribune editorial, "Rather lame excuses," Apr. 9, 2001, sec. 1, p. 12.
10. Raymond Coffey, Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 29, 1994, p. 3.
11. Michael Sneed, Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 8, 1992, p. 2.
12. Noel Holston, "TV offers a liberal dose of anti-conservative bias," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 26, 1992, p. 28.
13. John Leo, "The gay tide of Catholic-bashing," U.S. News & World Report, Apr. 1, 1991, p. 15.
14. Andrew Sullivan, "Us and Them," New Republic, Apr. 2, 2001, p. 8.
15. Robert Samuelson, "Can a liberal be fair at the helm," Chicago Tribune, Aug. 31, 2001, sec. 1, p. 27.
16. Mona Charen, "Corporations must be liberal? That's only a myth," Daily Herald, June 17, 2001, sec. 1, p. 16.