Media Bias

[MDM4AU 336]

Media Bias

Bias in the media has reared its ugly head again after another spate of scandals has rocked some of the largest media outlets in the last several months.

Critics point to survey after survey, which reveal that most of America's newsrooms are filled with journalists with a strong liberal tilt in their personal views, as a cause for concern. Some critics have called for a balance of ideologies in the newsrooms and on the editorial boards. But quotas of any kind, including these, are not only wrong, but underscore that we have not yet seized on the real problem. It's not ideology. It's balance and fairness that have been shortchanged.

Frankly, a newsroom could be filled entirely with all liberals or all conservatives and still report a news story that is honest, objective and fair. That many newsrooms don't present balanced reporting illustrates that it is the process that is flawed and that ethical standards are lacking.

One constant that has emerged from these repeated surveys is that at least the journalists themselves admit their reporting tilts liberal. And as liberal as the newsrooms are, the nation's newspapers editorial writers tilt even further to the left. In the just concluded annual confab of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, a poll of attendees found that 71% strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement "…editors and reporters at America's newspapers are by and large liberal in their political orientations."

Fortunately, the rise of what some refer to as the "new media:" cable news shows, talk radio and the Internet provide something of a watchdog function of the old-line newspaper and network news outlets, which for years were the nation's sole gatekeepers of daily news.

Here's another point to consider. For those media outlets that keep an eye on the financial bottom line in an increasingly competitive landscape, a shift to more balanced, honest and accurate reporting is what may eventually drive newsrooms back to the center if for no other reason than to stop the hemorrhage of readers and viewers who are flocking to new media news sources.

And that's the Point.

I'm Mark Hyman.

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