Examining the "Liberal Media" Claim: Journalists' Views on Politics, Economic Policy and Media Coverage
David Croteau
Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Sociology and Anthropology
© June 1998
fair.org
Excerpts:
This survey shows that it is a mistake to accept the conservative claim that journalists are to the left of the public. There appear to be very few national journalists with left views on economic questions like corporate power and trade—issues that may well matter more to media owners and advertisers than social issues like gay rights and affirmative action.
The larger "liberal media" myth has been maintained, in part, by the well-funded flow of conservative rhetoric that selectively highlights journalists' personal views while downplaying news content. It also has been maintained by diverting the spotlight away from economic issues and placing it instead on social issues. In reality, though, most members of the powerful Washington press corps identify themselves as centrist in both of these areas. It is true, as conservative critics have publicized, that the minority of journalists not in the "center" are more likely to identify as having a "left" orientation when it comes to social issues. However, it is also true that the minority of journalists not in the "center" are more likely to identify as having a "right" orientation when it comes to economic issues. Indeed, these economic policy views are often to the right of public opinion. When our attention is drawn to this fact, one of the central elements of the conservative critique of the media is exposed to be merely sleight of hand.
* * *
Which brings us back to the conservative critique. It is based on the propositions that: (1) journalists' views are to the left of the general public, and (2) that these views influence the news content that they produce. Having now exposed the first point for the myth that it is, we are left with the issue of personal views influencing news content.
There are two important responses to this claim. First, it is sources, not journalists, who are allowed to express their views in the conventional model of "objective" journalism. Therefore, we learn much more about the political orientation of news content by looking at sourcing patterns rather than journalists' personal views. As this survey shows, it is government officials and business representatives to whom journalists "nearly always" turn when covering economic policy. Labor representatives and consumer advocates were at the bottom of the list. This is consistent with earlier research on sources. For example, analysts from the centrist Brookings Institution and right-wing think thanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute
are those most quoted in mainstream news accounts; left-wing think tanks are often invisible. When it comes to sources, "liberal bias" is nowhere to be found.
Second, we must not forget that journalists do not work in a vacuum. It is crucial to remember the important role of institutional context in setting the broad parameters for the news process. Businesses are not in the habit of producing products that contradict their fundamental economic interests. The large corporations that are the major commercial media in this country—not surprisingly—tend to favor style and substance which is consonant with their corporate interests; as do their corporate advertisers.
It is here, at the structural level, that the fundamental ground rules of news production are set. Of course, working journalists sometimes succeed in temporarily challenging some of those rules and boundaries. But ultimately, if they are to succeed and advance in the profession for any length of time, they must adapt to the ground rules set by others—regardless of their own personal views.
Meet the Myth-Makers
fair.org
Commercial Media Are Not Liberal, They Are Commercial
by Jane W. Prettyman, Editor, The Real News Page
americanreview.net
The strategy of calling the media "liberal" must have been dreamed up on a golfcourse somewhere, not just by conservatives but by conservatives with big-time corporate interests. There are, of course, politics involved with corporatism, probably dominated by and benefiting conservatives, but the workings of that "deep structure" are known only to the golfers on the golfcourse. One upshot, the "liberal media" myth promulgated by Brent Bozell and others, has been successful in spades because it has distracted us from the underlying problem of media's commerciality. We waste a lot of time and intellectual discernment (just as corporate interests want us to do) arguing about whether the media are blue or red signifying political ideology, meanwhile they're really green, signifying money.
The myth of a liberal media bias
(Letter from Iowa City)
wildcat.arizona.edu
I can count the liberal newspaper columnists on the fingers of one hand, but
there are dozens of conservative ones: Bandow, Bennett, Boland, Bozell,
Chapman, Evans, Glassman, Greenberg, Hart, Irvine, Jacoby, Liddy,
McLaughlin, Murchison, North, Novak, Reese, Roberts, Safire, Schlafly,
Sullum, Will, Bowles, Reed, Robertson, Buchanan, Buckley, Charen, Feder,
Francis, Kemp, Kilpatrick, Lambro, Leo, Pinkerton, Rusher, Seamans,
Snow, Seobran, Sununu, Sowell, Thomas, Tyrrell, Wildmon, Williams and
countless others use the media to rant and rave that liberals dominate the
media!
The allegation of a "liberal" media is simply a way for conservatives to dismiss
what they disagree with. It saves thinking. Also, this myth is very handy for
putting the media on the defensive, keeping it leaning to the right, so that liberal
opinion is always striving for credibility within a conservatively defined
framework. It keeps the debate forever a contest between right and center,
while real liberalism remains shut out. |
