On Bias in the Media

For years now I have heard Right Wingers whine and cry about Bias in the media. The reality is that all people have some bias, it's just part of being human. I suppose it might also be true that there are more left leaning journalists that right wing journalists. Journalists are by nature and profession, curious and suspicious (to a degree). They are more likely to ask questions, get second opinions, search through documents for inaccuracies or suspect information. It seems to me that the same can be said for the left. The left is more likely to be suspicious of those in power, more likely to ask questions and fact check information that is given to them.

The right wing tends to be more trusting. They tend to like politicians who tell them what they want to hear and as long as it's what they want to hear they don't second guess. If you look at the current breed of North American conservatives (and there is really no division between the Canadian and American breeds anymore.) They are the people who believe in 'the Bible as irrefutable, historical, letter for letter fact.' The people who brought you "you are either with us, or you are with the terrorists" the people who believe the death penalty is the answer to crime and that it is somehow a betrayal of the soldiers to question a war once it is begun. They like things simple and don't like questions or alternative viewpoints.

Such a mindset does not lend itself to good journalism, especially not investigative journalism. It also does not lend itself to creativity or the arts (in case you were wondering why it seems that most actors, artists, writers, musicians and other creative types tend to lean to the left.) I don't know how you overcome this, if your mind works in a way that doesn't lend itself to good journalism I find it hard to argue that you should be hired anyway.

It is more than offset though, tby those who hold the pursestrings. The people that own media outlets tend to be much more conservative. First of all you want the largest audience possible, that means that you want to offend as few people as possible. But more importantly if you run a media organization that accepts advertising, the advertisers more and more play a huge roll in editorial decisions.

Take, for example, this article from Columbia Journalism Review

* Journalists are more likely to confirm that self-censorship exists generally than to personally admit to avoiding newsworthy stories. Still, the 26 percent who acknowledge personal self-censorship goes to 41 percent when reshaping or softening is included. There is a generational divide on this question, with younger journalists more likely than older colleagues to say they have avoided or toned down stories.
* Market pressures -- manifested when newsworthy stories are ignored because they are too boring or complicated -- are seen as the most common factor for not pursuing good stories. Nearly eight in ten of those surveyed say stories that are seen as important but dull are often or sometimes ignored, while a majority says the same of highly complex stories.
* Local journalists face especially difficult challenges. Nearly one-third (32 percent) acknowledge they have softened the tone of a news story on behalf of the interests of their news organization; only 15 percent of those in the national media say they have done so. And 26 percent of local reporters say they have been told to avoid a story because it was dull or overly complicated, but suspect the real reason for the decision was that the story could harm their company's financial interests. Just 2 percent of national reporters harbor such suspicions.
* Investigative reporters -- a discreet group drawn entirely from the members of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) -- are more likely than either local or national journalists to cite the impact of business pressures on editorial decisions. A strong majority (61 percent) of this group believes that corporate owners exert at least a fair amount of influence on decisions about which stories to cover; 51 percent of local journalists and just 30 percent of national journalists agree. Because this group does not comprise a representative cross-sample of journalists, its responses have not been included in the total results.

It should also be noted that this survey was done in 2000 - before 9/11 and market pressures in the media as well as the political pressures of the 'with us or agin us' age have almost certainly compounded the problem.
Another increasing problem is the advertorial, or advertisement disguised as a news story. This is obviously done to appease and lure advertisers.
Given all of this it is clear that while journalists may be likely to have a left leaning bias, they are still generally restrained by Journalistic Standards and Practices and that the "media" overall has something of a right wing bias.

So, to those of you who think the CBC has a left wing bias all I can say is that most of the time they are just telling you things you don't want to hear, or answering questions you'd rather weren't asked. It is not a matter of bias, it is a matter of curiosity and whether you have any or not.