[CLUE-Talk] "Liberal" media?

[Dave Hahn]

One of the biggest problems with this type of analysis is that:
    (1) statistics say whatever you want them to say, if you don't believe
ask the statisticians
    (2) most people have no real idea (a) where they get their news and (b)
what build their perception of it

Imagine the following, rather likely, scenario:
John Q Public turns on his radio in his car on the way to work in the
morning and listens to a radio station that gives traffic reports on the
areas of town through which he will travel.  He doesn't really listen for
the opinions of the radio personality, but for the gems of information that
come in from "Chopper Bob".  Now, let's assume the radio personality is a
conservative.  Whether John Q realizes it or not, the news feed he is
hearing has a conservative bent.  Now, here's where perception comes in -
when the radio personality references other news sources they are likely to
do so in either a way that (1) demonstrates how righteous they are in their
views or (2) demonstrates how wrong this other media outlet is in their
reporting.  Now, what John Q is really fed is the radio guys opinion of the
other news outlet.  If the personality only refers to USA Today columns that
agree with their viewpoints and not those that do not, the listener may get
the feeling that USAToday is only conservative - having hardly ever actually
read the paper.  (I'm using USAToday as an example, I have no idea in which
direction they bend).  So, score one more point for a "conservative" media
based on bad statistical information.

The other difficult thing to seperate in one's mind, especially over time,
is the opinion of a writer/talking head versus the political slant of a
publication.  Much like the above, if I only read the same writers in the
newspaper everyday, I perceive the newspaper as having their opinions.

So, determining if "the media" is liberal/conservative/balanced/insane is,
to a very large degree, a hopeless pursuit - *especially* when it comes to
the publics' view.  None of these surveys has looked to interview people
that get *all* their news (thereby being building a population that actually
has the same experiences) from the same sources - they don't exist.  Your
informational input is different from everyone else not only based on *your*
specific inputs but how *your* biases effect your perception of that
information.  So, the question of the bent of the overall media can't be
answered - it is, like much of the news, opinion only and everyone knows
what opinions are like because everyone has them.

The media is too liberal or too conservative only in the instances where
they disagree with you - they are otherwise balanced and informative.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Cullis" <kevincu at orci.com>
To: "CLUE Talk" <clue-talk at clue.denver.co.us>
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 10:19 PM
Subject: [CLUE-Talk] "Liberal" media?


> Thought this might be of interest to some of you. Not to start another
> flame war, but interestting numbers.
>
> Kevin
>
> -----------
> > 4) USA Today spiked a poll which documented the public's
> perception of liberal bias. As recounted in the July 14
> CyberAlert, a survey released over the weekend by the Pew Research
> Center for the People and the Press found, that by two-to-one,
> Americans believe the media tilt to the left, with even a
> plurality of Democrats thinking so.

[snip]