Political Bias in the Media
If you listen to the political discourse in this country for very long you will hear the term "Liberal Media". The term is almost always used in a disparaging manner and is frequently used to indicate an media source which displays a political bias which undermines its objectivity and credibility. Further, there are even web sites devoted to finding and documenting such bias.
Frankly, the term has always puzzled me a bit. The term is used interchangeably to indicate media left of center, media left of the politics of the speaker, stories which show a left of something bias, entire news organizations, and all media collectively. This sort of broad, protean definition is confusing at best. I’ll be the first to say that some news stories have a bias to put them left of the political center and that there are news organizations which focus on such stories to the exclusion of other views. Such organizations are engaged in spreading propaganda rather than information and are best viewed with suspicion.
Of course the critical thing to note is that bias in general is very common, usually is small, and is, overall, substantially centrally distributed. That is, media organizations generally angle their stories toward the center for the simple reason that that’s how they avoid offending the most people. Firstly, they are in the business of selling news to consumers and most consumers are found near the center in our bell-curve distributed political spectrum. News sources use politically centrist attitudes to gain the most readers/viewers/listeners. Secondly, they are in the business of selling advertising time/space to businesses and most businesses are found near the center (or pretend to be near the center) in our bell-curve distributed political spectrum in order to avoid alienating consumers. Most news sources use politically central attitudes to gain and retain their sponsors. The exceptions tend to be small fringe media like blogs, alternative newspapers, and 50 Watt AM radio stations (You’re listening to Radio WELD, all metal fabrication, all the time. Today’s topic is MIG welding. What’s your name caller?)
It is this last point that I think does the best job demonstrating the centrist nature of American media. You see the big news outlets, Clear Channel, CNN, FOX, Reuters, etc. selling advertising to Ford, GM, Chase Manhattan, Exxon, BP, Shell, Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, Coke, Pepsi, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, MasterCard, and Visa. These are the (among) the biggest companies in America. They got that way, and stay that way from having mass appeal. These companies work hard to distance themselves from politically sensitive issues and gravitate toward nice bland, tepid, politically centrist media. When was the last time you saw one of these companies sponsor a show/lecture/billboard promoting gun rights, abortion rights, or any other substantially divisive issue?? They don’t. They dodge the issue until some kind of consensus appears. Media is bland and centrist because their sponsors want them to be inoffensive. Sadly, this is the same mechanism dumbing down our media and turning it from something intellectually stimulating into a pabulum that appeals to elementary school students…
As a final note, consider international media for comparison purposes. For the most part, international media is really outside of all domestic political spectrum measurement schemes. It isn’t left or right because those terms measure a domestic political position. That shouldn’t shock anyone: no one in India cares who your Congressman is and, except for our largest most prominent political figures like our President, no one elsewhere in the world cares who they are, how they get elected or what party they belong to any more than a Texan cares who the Minister of Tea in Assam happens to be. As evidence, without looking it up, name one political party in Australia. If you are an American who can do so, you are in the extreme minority. International news doesn’t bend to domestic politics because most readers don’t care.
Yes, there is a Liberal Media just like there is a Conservative Media. They’re both on the fringe. Most media is Centrist. If you think the media has a bias, look at an international news source for a while (Try an Australian Newspaper you mono-linguistic dolt: I recommend The Australian, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/ ). If the political stories look like they have an American political bias to you, strongly consider the possibility that you’re the one with the bias.
Frankly, the term has always puzzled me a bit. The term is used interchangeably to indicate media left of center, media left of the politics of the speaker, stories which show a left of something bias, entire news organizations, and all media collectively. This sort of broad, protean definition is confusing at best. I’ll be the first to say that some news stories have a bias to put them left of the political center and that there are news organizations which focus on such stories to the exclusion of other views. Such organizations are engaged in spreading propaganda rather than information and are best viewed with suspicion.
Of course the critical thing to note is that bias in general is very common, usually is small, and is, overall, substantially centrally distributed. That is, media organizations generally angle their stories toward the center for the simple reason that that’s how they avoid offending the most people. Firstly, they are in the business of selling news to consumers and most consumers are found near the center in our bell-curve distributed political spectrum. News sources use politically centrist attitudes to gain the most readers/viewers/listeners. Secondly, they are in the business of selling advertising time/space to businesses and most businesses are found near the center (or pretend to be near the center) in our bell-curve distributed political spectrum in order to avoid alienating consumers. Most news sources use politically central attitudes to gain and retain their sponsors. The exceptions tend to be small fringe media like blogs, alternative newspapers, and 50 Watt AM radio stations (You’re listening to Radio WELD, all metal fabrication, all the time. Today’s topic is MIG welding. What’s your name caller?)
It is this last point that I think does the best job demonstrating the centrist nature of American media. You see the big news outlets, Clear Channel, CNN, FOX, Reuters, etc. selling advertising to Ford, GM, Chase Manhattan, Exxon, BP, Shell, Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, Coke, Pepsi, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, MasterCard, and Visa. These are the (among) the biggest companies in America. They got that way, and stay that way from having mass appeal. These companies work hard to distance themselves from politically sensitive issues and gravitate toward nice bland, tepid, politically centrist media. When was the last time you saw one of these companies sponsor a show/lecture/billboard promoting gun rights, abortion rights, or any other substantially divisive issue?? They don’t. They dodge the issue until some kind of consensus appears. Media is bland and centrist because their sponsors want them to be inoffensive. Sadly, this is the same mechanism dumbing down our media and turning it from something intellectually stimulating into a pabulum that appeals to elementary school students…
As a final note, consider international media for comparison purposes. For the most part, international media is really outside of all domestic political spectrum measurement schemes. It isn’t left or right because those terms measure a domestic political position. That shouldn’t shock anyone: no one in India cares who your Congressman is and, except for our largest most prominent political figures like our President, no one elsewhere in the world cares who they are, how they get elected or what party they belong to any more than a Texan cares who the Minister of Tea in Assam happens to be. As evidence, without looking it up, name one political party in Australia. If you are an American who can do so, you are in the extreme minority. International news doesn’t bend to domestic politics because most readers don’t care.
Yes, there is a Liberal Media just like there is a Conservative Media. They’re both on the fringe. Most media is Centrist. If you think the media has a bias, look at an international news source for a while (Try an Australian Newspaper you mono-linguistic dolt: I recommend The Australian, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/ ). If the political stories look like they have an American political bias to you, strongly consider the possibility that you’re the one with the bias.
posted by Minotaur at 10:04 AM
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