For several decades there have been numerous studies of media bias or party affiliation. The results probably won’t surprise you since the media often sounds the same as Democrat talking points. Generally, journalists who are Democrats outnumber journalists who are Republicans by anywhere from 5 to 1 to as much as 14 to 1 according to various studies.
Here are a few examples:
- An analysis by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), which examined donations by journalists to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the presidential primaries and the first month of the 2016 general election campaign. CPI reported that more than 96 percent of those donations were made to Clinton.
- An analysis by MSNBC.com found that 87 percent of journalist donors who made contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign gave to Democrats or liberal causes.
- The Washington Post noted in a 2014 study that only 7 percent of reporters identified as Republican which was a drop from 18 percent in 2002.
How deep is this imbalance? It goes beyond political and news reporting. Even within areas once thought to be conservative, the lack of ideological balance is stark.
- Researchers from Arizona State University and Texas A&M University questioned 462 financial journalists around the country. They followed up with 18 additional interviews. The journalists worked for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and other newspapers. Of the 462 people surveyed, 58.4 percent called themselves “very liberal,” or “somewhat liberal.” Only 4.4 percent of journalists in the financial sector called themselves “very conservative,” or “somewhat conservative.”
It is not that surprising then that Gallup Polling has found that half of Americans now believe that the media intentionally misleads their audience. Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, only 25 agreed. . . 50 percent said they disagreed.
Similarly, 52 percent disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners.”
