What Liberal Media?
February 16th, 2006 | Posted in Media, Politics, Society
A new study conducted by Media Matters for America shows conclusively there is no liberal bias in the media. In fact, it proves that the major networks lean to the right more often than not, and have since Clinton’s days in office.
The content analysis classified nearly 7,000 guest appearances on Sunday news programs between 1997 and 2005 as either Democrat, Republican, conservative, progressive or neutral. And according to the study’s conclusions, “Republicans and conservatives have been offered more opportunities to appear on the Sunday shows - in some cases, dramatically so.”
Some of the study’s conclusions are:
The balance between Democrats/progressives and Republicans/conservatives was roughly equal during Clinton’s second term, with a slight edge toward Republicans/conservatives: 52 percent of the ideologically identifiable guests were from the right, and 48 percent were from the left. But in Bush’s first term, Republicans/ conservatives held a dramatic advantage, outnumbering Democrats/progressives by 58 percent to 42 percent. In 2005, the figures were an identical 58 percent to 42 percent.
Counting only elected officials and administration representatives, Democrats had a small advantage during Clinton’s second term: 53 percent to 45 percent. In Bush’s first term, however, the Republican advantage was 61 percent to 39 percent — nearly three times as large.
In both the Clinton and Bush administrations, conservative journalists were far more likely to appear on the Sunday shows than were progressive journalists. In Clinton’s second term, 61 percent of the ideologically identifiable journalists were conservative; in Bush’s first term, that figure rose to 69 percent.
In 1997 and 1998, the shows conducted more solo interviews with Democrats/progressives than with Republicans/conservatives. But in every year since, there have been more solo interviews with Republicans/conservatives.
The most frequent Sunday show guest during this nine-year period is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who has appeared 124 times. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) has been the most frequent guest since 2003.
In every year examined by the study — 1997 - 2005 — more panels tilted right (a greater number of Republicans/conservatives than Democrats/progressives) than tilted left. In some years, there were two, three, or even four times as many righttitled panels as left-tilted panels.
Congressional opponents of the Iraq war were largely absent from the Sunday shows, particularly during the period just before the war began.
Granted, this survey looked only at Sunday news programs, but as the study states:
The Sunday-morning talk shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC are where the prevailing opinions are aired and tested, policymakers state their cases, and the left and right in American politics debate the pressing issues of the day on equal ground.
If all of this is true, why does the conservative movement bark about the media’s liberal bias? A rebuttle by Meet the Press offers some evidence contrary to Media Matters’s study. Betsy Fischer, the show’s executive producer, offered this retort to the study:
We’d respectfully request that if Media Matters wants to undertake an unbiased look at Sunday show appearances - they do just that - and include statistics from President Clinton’s first term - and avoid comparing apples to oranges.
Why does she say this? Because the statistics show that during Clinton’s first term Democrats and progressives were better represented on the show than Republicans and conservatives.
During the first two years of the Clinton Administration - when Democrats controlled both the White House and Congress - the breakdown of ideological guests were as follows: 1993 (72 Democrats, 29 Republicans -or a ratio of (71% Dem to 29% GOP); in 1994 ( 71 Democrats and 47 Republicans - or a ratio of 60% Dem to 40% GOP). When both House of Congress shifted to Republican control in 1995 - the number Republican guest appearances also increased and resulted in almost an even number of Republican and Democratic appearances.
In summary, for the first term of President Clinton (1993-1996), the ideological breakdown of guests on “Meet the Press” was as follows: 260 Democrats to 208 Republicans - for a ratio of 56% Dem to 44% GOP). How different is that from the first term of President Bush? Well, it’s basically the same - according to Media Matters own findings - Republicans accounted for 58% of all guests on Sunday shows in President Bush’s first term and Democrats accounted for 42% of appearances).
Admittedly, there may have been a liberal bias in the media at one point, over TEN years ago. It’s long gone now. Conservatives probably harp on it because they finally have all the power they dreamed of having in the 90’s and have no ability to use it for the betterment of our society. I doubt that’s even the goal of some Republican leaders but since they’re screwing things up so badly they have to cry about something. Here’s an idea, quit complaining about something that doesn’t exist and fix all the things you’ve screwed up over the last few years. The media, liberal and conservative, will eat that up.
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