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Pookie
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Poll: Twice as Many See Media as Too
Liberal as Too Conservative
By two-to-one, 40 percent to 21 percent, Americans "believe the media
is too liberal" over "too conservative," the just-released "National
Leadership Index" poll by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard
University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, determined. Harvard's
findings in the survey taken in September match a Gallup poll, also
conducted in September, which found "more than twice as many Americans say
the news media are too liberal (45%) rather than too conservative (18%)." In
the Harvard poll, while 68 percent of Republicans said they think "the press
is too liberal," 35 percent of independents agree and even 25 percent of
Democrats consider the media to be too liberal, nearly as many as the 28
percent who see it as too conservative.
The Harvard survey discovered widespread dissatisfaction with how the
media are coving the presidential campaign as 64 percent "say they do not
trust the news media's campaign coverage," 88 percent "somewhat or strongly
agree that the news media focuses too much on trivial rather than important
issues," 84 percent "believe the news media has too much influence on
voters' decisions" and 83 percent think "large corporations have too much
influence over what information the news media reports during the campaign."
An excerpt from the PDF of the report released on November 28 by the
Center for Public Leadership, directed by David Gergen, at Harvard
University's John F. Kennedy School of Government:
.....Leaders in the press have inspired less confidence than leaders in any
other sector during each of the three years of the National Leadership Index
(2005-2007). Given the central role of the news media in covering
presidential politics, Americans were asked how they felt about media
coverage of the 2008 campaign.
64% of Americans say they do not trust the news media's campaign coverage...
88% somewhat or strongly agree that the news media focuses too much on
trivial rather than important issues
84% believe the news media has too much influence on voters' decisions
83% believe that large corporations have too much influence over what
information the news media reports during the campaign...
Americans say that what they want most, but are getting least, from news
media coverage of the election is substantive information about what the
candidates stand for. For instance:
92% say that it is somewhat or very important that the news media provide
information on candidates' specific policy plans, but 61% believe that the
news media is not providing enough coverage of policy plans
89% say that information on candidates' personal ethics or values is
somewhat or very important, but 43% say that the news media is not providing
enough coverage of candidates' ethics and values...
More than 40% of Americans also believe that the news media does not provide
enough coverage of candidates' general political values or philosophy, past
positions on political issues, and sources of campaign contributions.
Americans say they are getting too much coverage of the campaign topics they
are least interested in, such as candidates' personal lives, negative ads,
and "gotcha'" moments. For instance:
70% say that coverage of negative ads is not very or not at all important,
but 65% say the news media is providing too much coverage of negative ads
67% say that coverage of embarrassing incidents or mistakes that make a
candidate look bad is not very or not at all important, but 68% say the news
media is providing too much coverage of embarrassing incidents and mistakes.
52% say that coverage of candidates' family and private lives is not very or
not at all important, but 48% say the news media is providing too much
coverage of candidates' family and private lives...
Do you think that the press coverage of the election is politically biased?
If yes, do you think it is too liberal or too conservative?
61% of Americans believe the news media's election coverage is politically
biased:
40% believe the media is too liberal
21% believe the media is too conservative
Only 30% believe that media coverage of the campaign is not biased in a
liberal or conservative direction....
Republicans have the strongest attitudes -- 68% believe that the press is
too liberal. Independents and Democrats are more ambivalent:
34% of Independents believe that the press is not politically biased, and
35% believe that it is too liberal
Democrats are the most likely to believe that the press is not politically
biased (38%), and are statistically equally likely to believe that the press
is too conservative (28%) or too liberal (25%)...
END of Excerpt
For the press release: www.ksg.harvard.edu
For the PDF of the full report: www.ksg.harvard.edu
Two previous CyberAlert items which documented polls earlier this year
showing public recognition of liberal bias:
The August 13 CyberAlert article, "Most See Media as Liberal, More
Trust Military than Media on Iraq," recounted:
Many Americans do not believe the news media are fair, accurate or even
moral, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People
and the Press. The poll of 1500 Americans conducted late last month found
that most of the public thinks news organizations are politically biased
(55%) and often publish inaccurate stories (53%), and that roughly a third
of the audience say the media are too critical of America (43%), hurt
democracy (36%) and are immoral (32%).
Half of Americans (52%) label the media as liberal, led by self-described
Republicans (75%) but also large percentages of independents (49%) and even
Democrats (37%). And while journalists tout themselves as the public's
objective eyes and ears, many more Americans are confident that the military
provides an accurate view of the war in Iraq (52%), compared with 42 percent
who trust that the press offers accurate reports.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Pew discovered that those who have chosen to
bypass traditional news outlets in favor of the Internet give the "harshest
indictments of the press."
For the entire CyberAlert rundown: www.mrc.org
The July 17 CyberAlert item, "Rasmussen Poll: By 2-to-1, Nets Biased to
Left; FNC Less Biased," reported:
As highlighted Monday night by FNC's Brit Hume, a new Rasmussen Reports poll
discovered that, by about two-to-one or greater, the public recognize a
liberal bias over a conservative bias on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR as well as
in the New York Times and Washington Post. "By a 39 percent to 20 percent
margin," a Friday summary of their survey relayed, "American adults believe
that the three major broadcast networks deliver news with a bias in favor of
liberals." The public perceive liberal bias by 33 percent to 16 percent for
CNN and 27 percent to 14 percent for NPR. More believe FNC delivers the news
with "neither" a bias in favor of liberals or conservatives than see ABC,
CBS, CNN or NBC as unbiased: While 25 percent consider the broadcast
networks to be without a slant, 32 percent think CNN is "without bias," but
even more, 36 percent, say that about the Fox News Channel.
On the newspaper side, in results released Sunday, Rasmussen learned than
Americans see the Washington Post as liberal over conservative by about
two-to-one (30 to 16 percent) while it's closer to four-to-one (40 to 11
percent) for the New York Times. "One of the more startling details,"
Rasmussen proposed, is that while liberals see all broadcast outlets and
most newspapers as having a bias in favor of conservatives, even "25 percent
of liberals see a liberal bias at the New York Times while only 17 percent
see a conservative bias. This makes the New York Times the only media outlet
that liberals are more likely to see as having a liberal bias than a
conservative bias."
http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2007/cyb20071129.asp#5
Liberal as Too Conservative
By two-to-one, 40 percent to 21 percent, Americans "believe the media
is too liberal" over "too conservative," the just-released "National
Leadership Index" poll by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard
University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, determined. Harvard's
findings in the survey taken in September match a Gallup poll, also
conducted in September, which found "more than twice as many Americans say
the news media are too liberal (45%) rather than too conservative (18%)." In
the Harvard poll, while 68 percent of Republicans said they think "the press
is too liberal," 35 percent of independents agree and even 25 percent of
Democrats consider the media to be too liberal, nearly as many as the 28
percent who see it as too conservative.
The Harvard survey discovered widespread dissatisfaction with how the
media are coving the presidential campaign as 64 percent "say they do not
trust the news media's campaign coverage," 88 percent "somewhat or strongly
agree that the news media focuses too much on trivial rather than important
issues," 84 percent "believe the news media has too much influence on
voters' decisions" and 83 percent think "large corporations have too much
influence over what information the news media reports during the campaign."
An excerpt from the PDF of the report released on November 28 by the
Center for Public Leadership, directed by David Gergen, at Harvard
University's John F. Kennedy School of Government:
.....Leaders in the press have inspired less confidence than leaders in any
other sector during each of the three years of the National Leadership Index
(2005-2007). Given the central role of the news media in covering
presidential politics, Americans were asked how they felt about media
coverage of the 2008 campaign.
64% of Americans say they do not trust the news media's campaign coverage...
88% somewhat or strongly agree that the news media focuses too much on
trivial rather than important issues
84% believe the news media has too much influence on voters' decisions
83% believe that large corporations have too much influence over what
information the news media reports during the campaign...
Americans say that what they want most, but are getting least, from news
media coverage of the election is substantive information about what the
candidates stand for. For instance:
92% say that it is somewhat or very important that the news media provide
information on candidates' specific policy plans, but 61% believe that the
news media is not providing enough coverage of policy plans
89% say that information on candidates' personal ethics or values is
somewhat or very important, but 43% say that the news media is not providing
enough coverage of candidates' ethics and values...
More than 40% of Americans also believe that the news media does not provide
enough coverage of candidates' general political values or philosophy, past
positions on political issues, and sources of campaign contributions.
Americans say they are getting too much coverage of the campaign topics they
are least interested in, such as candidates' personal lives, negative ads,
and "gotcha'" moments. For instance:
70% say that coverage of negative ads is not very or not at all important,
but 65% say the news media is providing too much coverage of negative ads
67% say that coverage of embarrassing incidents or mistakes that make a
candidate look bad is not very or not at all important, but 68% say the news
media is providing too much coverage of embarrassing incidents and mistakes.
52% say that coverage of candidates' family and private lives is not very or
not at all important, but 48% say the news media is providing too much
coverage of candidates' family and private lives...
Do you think that the press coverage of the election is politically biased?
If yes, do you think it is too liberal or too conservative?
61% of Americans believe the news media's election coverage is politically
biased:
40% believe the media is too liberal
21% believe the media is too conservative
Only 30% believe that media coverage of the campaign is not biased in a
liberal or conservative direction....
Republicans have the strongest attitudes -- 68% believe that the press is
too liberal. Independents and Democrats are more ambivalent:
34% of Independents believe that the press is not politically biased, and
35% believe that it is too liberal
Democrats are the most likely to believe that the press is not politically
biased (38%), and are statistically equally likely to believe that the press
is too conservative (28%) or too liberal (25%)...
END of Excerpt
For the press release: www.ksg.harvard.edu
For the PDF of the full report: www.ksg.harvard.edu
Two previous CyberAlert items which documented polls earlier this year
showing public recognition of liberal bias:
The August 13 CyberAlert article, "Most See Media as Liberal, More
Trust Military than Media on Iraq," recounted:
Many Americans do not believe the news media are fair, accurate or even
moral, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People
and the Press. The poll of 1500 Americans conducted late last month found
that most of the public thinks news organizations are politically biased
(55%) and often publish inaccurate stories (53%), and that roughly a third
of the audience say the media are too critical of America (43%), hurt
democracy (36%) and are immoral (32%).
Half of Americans (52%) label the media as liberal, led by self-described
Republicans (75%) but also large percentages of independents (49%) and even
Democrats (37%). And while journalists tout themselves as the public's
objective eyes and ears, many more Americans are confident that the military
provides an accurate view of the war in Iraq (52%), compared with 42 percent
who trust that the press offers accurate reports.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Pew discovered that those who have chosen to
bypass traditional news outlets in favor of the Internet give the "harshest
indictments of the press."
For the entire CyberAlert rundown: www.mrc.org
The July 17 CyberAlert item, "Rasmussen Poll: By 2-to-1, Nets Biased to
Left; FNC Less Biased," reported:
As highlighted Monday night by FNC's Brit Hume, a new Rasmussen Reports poll
discovered that, by about two-to-one or greater, the public recognize a
liberal bias over a conservative bias on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR as well as
in the New York Times and Washington Post. "By a 39 percent to 20 percent
margin," a Friday summary of their survey relayed, "American adults believe
that the three major broadcast networks deliver news with a bias in favor of
liberals." The public perceive liberal bias by 33 percent to 16 percent for
CNN and 27 percent to 14 percent for NPR. More believe FNC delivers the news
with "neither" a bias in favor of liberals or conservatives than see ABC,
CBS, CNN or NBC as unbiased: While 25 percent consider the broadcast
networks to be without a slant, 32 percent think CNN is "without bias," but
even more, 36 percent, say that about the Fox News Channel.
On the newspaper side, in results released Sunday, Rasmussen learned than
Americans see the Washington Post as liberal over conservative by about
two-to-one (30 to 16 percent) while it's closer to four-to-one (40 to 11
percent) for the New York Times. "One of the more startling details,"
Rasmussen proposed, is that while liberals see all broadcast outlets and
most newspapers as having a bias in favor of conservatives, even "25 percent
of liberals see a liberal bias at the New York Times while only 17 percent
see a conservative bias. This makes the New York Times the only media outlet
that liberals are more likely to see as having a liberal bias than a
conservative bias."
http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2007/cyb20071129.asp#5
