# How does media bias work (within the organization itself?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 30, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277 "2019-04-30T19:53:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/1 "2019-04-30T19:53:43Z")
Without doubt, a lot of the bias is in the hiring to begin with - Fox News wouldn’t hire many if any liberals. But suppose that a Fox News journalist wrote an article that praised Elizabeth Warren (or some MSNBC writer penned an article that praised Trump) - would they be pulled into the chief editor’s office and threatened, “You had better change the tone of this article if you know what’s \*\*\*good \*\*\*for you?” ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/2 "2019-04-30T20:31:02Z")
This might have to be moved to humble opinions, but my experience from a journalist relative, is that it is more subtle than that. At least in local news. Editors get to decide what to focus on and what to run. So they assign reporters which stories to do. Also they can decide which story goes where. A couple of anecdotes from my experience: Run a story about Hillary on the front page because she was fairly attractive that particular day. Don’t run any stories about lesser known “non-traditional” presidential candidates because nobody cares about them. and the famous “If it bleeds it leads” ---
**Author:** ![jonesj2205](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/3 "2019-04-30T20:44:47Z")
Yeah it’s not really that glaring. It’s more the fact that every day a group of people have to sit down and decide what they think people are going to want to read. And certainly back in the day when I worked at a newspaper there was little to tell you what people actually did read and what they turned the page for. So there is a tendency to pick what I would read. Not overtly but shading the odds. And if a reporter notices this kind of story gets on the front page more (people hurt by economy or outsiders trying to change system) than there might be a little tendency to write more of those stories. I never experienced or heard of anyone demanding tone changes to fit their outlook and by the end of my newspaper career I could have been one of the people demanding it (missed opportunity I guess). ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/4 "2019-04-30T20:52:29Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Without doubt, a lot of the bias is in the hiring to begin with - Fox News wouldn’t hire many if any liberals. But suppose that a Fox News journalist wrote an article that praised Elizabeth Warren (or some MSNBC writer penned an article that praised Trump) - would they be pulled into the chief editor’s office and threatened, “You had better change the tone of this article if you know what’s \*\*\*good \*\*\*for you?” Fox News recently hired Donna Brazile. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/5 "2019-04-30T21:14:28Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Fox News recently hired Donna Brazile. And? Will she be reporting the news? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/6 "2019-04-30T22:48:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And? > Will she be reporting the news? I was responding to the OP: > [@](#): > > Fox News wouldn’t hire many if any liberals. The point is that the entire premise is false. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/7 "2019-04-30T22:57:34Z")
[Moderating] Moving from GQ to GD. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/8 "2019-04-30T23:29:47Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > This might have to be moved to humble opinions, but my experience from a journalist relative, is that it is more subtle than that. At least in local news. It may be subtle in normal media, but in the realm of conservative media, Fox News is far from normal. Back when Roger Ailes ran the place – and the tradition probably continues – there would be a “daily memo” telling anchors and staffers what to cover that day and how to spin it. There is a constant and persistent pattern of selective coverage, deception by omission, and shamelessly dishonest spin. Check out the marathon “Is Fox News really all that bad?” thread. The answer is “yes”. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/9 "2019-05-01T00:08:24Z")
Like any workplace, it takes patience and restraint to work with people who fundamentally disagree with you. If leadership lacks these qualities then they will have trouble keeping bias in check. Diversity of ideas may or may not be desirable to the organization. Media also has an implicit bias not to “bite the hand that feeds it”, that is, it makes no sense for a media company to piss off its advertisers and sponsors. Notice that I did not say viewers - individuals might primarily care about viewers but the corporate incentive only extends to viewers indirectly via advertisers and sponsors. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/10 "2019-05-01T04:15:48Z")
Fox NEWS has hired friends of mine who are definitely liberal. Back in the day, when I was a journalist, we worked hard to maintain objectivity. Here’s an anecdote. I was typing up interviews one of the other reporters did with three mayoral candidates (because I was a really fast typist, and also kind of a pushover when people asked me to do things like that). He asked all three of them the same questions, and they all answered at great length. Too great for it all to go into the paper. When I saw the draft of the story I said to him, “Wow, you really want [one candidate] to win, don’t you?” He did, but he was aghast that it showed in his story. But the thing was, all the candidates, in answering the questions, had sounded equally inane, or sharp, or stupid, or didn’t-get-the-question. Of [one candidate] he had picked only the parts that sounded smart. Not true of the others. They were permitted to sound inane, sharp, stupid, or downright crazy, as their answers indicated. He’d cherry-picked [one candidate]'s answers. He didn’t even realize it. He rewrote it. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/11 "2019-05-01T04:44:33Z")
Nowadays active cherry picking of what is not inane, dull, stupid, or downright crazy from the POTUS is needed to sound fair… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/12 "2019-05-01T12:53:54Z")
I suspect it probably works the same no matter what the ideological bent of the news enterprise is. You come to work at a place with a known editorial stance, and you produce according to that stance if you want a byline or otherwise want to see your stories and pieces make the news consistently. Token liberals/conservatives/centrists may be seen as attractive in limited doses. Where bias should stop is at a competent and professional editor’s desk. Obviously this doesn’t happen much. The result is a Daily Mail-style Liberal/Ocasio-Cortez Outrage Of The Day over at FOX, and a Trump/MuellerMuellerMueller Foam-At-The-Mouth Of The Day at ABC and CNN. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/13 "2019-05-01T14:09:22Z")
The bias I detect is not so much being on one side or the other, but a desperate urgency not to appear as if they are. thus, they feel compelled to treat a story on the anti-vax “movement” as if there were two reasonable arguments to be made, when there are not. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/14 "2019-05-01T14:25:55Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Back in the day, when I was a journalist, we worked hard to maintain objectivity. I still have faith that many journalists (even on Fox) feel the same way. There are some who obviously do not, especially higher up in the chain. But that has always been a problem - think of yellow journalism under Hearst. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/15 "2019-05-01T14:40:50Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The bias I detect is not so much being on one side or the other, but a desperate urgency not to appear as if they are. thus, they feel compelled to treat a story on the anti-vax “movement” as if there were two reasonable arguments to be made, when there are not. I don’t see anything wrong with running a story on the anti-vax movement. It is a real phenomenon and newsworthy in and of itself. There really are two arguments to be made, as evidenced by the large number of people taking a side on the “issue” of vaccinations. It just so happens that one side is almost always more reasonable than the other. Perhaps years ago, when anti-vax was a fringe position, media coverage was unwarranted. That time has passed. I work in an office that used to administer flu vaccinations, and some of our staff won’t vaccinate their kids. (we don’t administer flu vaccines anymore due to cost, not idiot staff) In my opinion media covering the anti-vax movement needs to be very careful to point out where the rest of society disagrees, so as to avoid one-sided coverage. That much is their duty as gatekeepers of information to the general public. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/16 "2019-05-01T14:47:11Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > Perhaps years ago, when anti-vax was a fringe position, Was? It still **is**. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/17 "2019-05-01T15:09:17Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Fox NEWS has hired friends of mine who are definitely liberal. > > Back in the day, when I was a journalist, we worked hard to maintain objectivity. Here’s an anecdote. I was typing up interviews one of the other reporters did with three mayoral candidates (because I was a really fast typist, and also kind of a pushover when people asked me to do things like that). He asked all three of them the same questions, and they all answered at great length. Too great for it all to go into the paper. > > When I saw the draft of the story I said to him, “Wow, you really want [one candidate] to win, don’t you?” He did, but he was aghast that it showed in his story. But the thing was, all the candidates, in answering the questions, had sounded equally inane, or sharp, or stupid, or didn’t-get-the-question. Of [one candidate] he had picked only the parts that sounded smart. Not true of the others. They were permitted to sound inane, sharp, stupid, or downright crazy, as their answers indicated. He’d cherry-picked [one candidate]'s answers. He didn’t even realize it. > > He rewrote it. This is how it works. People are usually blind to their own biases. People also tend to scrutinize claims that don’t agree with their priors and let pass claims that agree with them. If everyone at the organization had wanted that candidate to win, then no one would have caught the bias. Editors are ones who control who gets assignments and what is covered. These editors like stories that are biased in the same way they are and dislike ones that are biased in a different way. Thus the higher in the ranks of journalism people rise the more bias there is. Thus the current situation where 90% of journalists are liberals and the media is slanted left. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/18 "2019-05-01T15:55:09Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > This is how it works. People are usually blind to their own biases. People also tend to scrutinize claims that don’t agree with their priors and let pass claims that agree with them. If everyone at the organization had wanted that candidate to win, then no one would have caught the bias. > > Editors are ones who control who gets assignments and what is covered. These editors like stories that are biased in the same way they are and dislike ones that are biased in a different way. Thus the higher in the ranks of journalism people rise the more bias there is. > > Thus the current situation where 90% of journalists are liberals and the media is slanted left. By taking into account that they are mostly a corporation in the USA, I do not agree with those numbers. This is because when liberals do report on how much attention the mainstream “liberal” media gives them, they usually say that they are disappointed and see it [as right wing on many issues](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/consolidation-is-killing-the-myth-of-the-liberal-media), and center left in others. Now in a case like Trump and the current Republicans in power, it is hard to make the case that almost all the press was against Trump just for biased reasons. [https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/304606-final-newspaper-endorsement-count-clinton-57-trump-2](https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/304606-final-newspaper-endorsement-count-clinton-57-trump-2) > [@](#): > > Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has received fewer endorsements from the editorial boards of the nation’s largest newspapers than any major-party presidential candidate in history. > > Among the top 100 largest newspapers in America, just two — the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville — endorsed Trump. The Review-Journal is owned by Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who has spent millions trying to elect Trump. > > “Donald Trump, despite all of his faults, is best suited to blow up the inbred corruption of the Washington-New York elites,” the Times-Union wrote in a Sunday editorial. > > Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has received endorsements from 57 newspaper editorial boards across the country, including papers such as the Dallas Morning News, the Arizona Republic and the San Diego Union-Tribune, conservative bastions that have almost always backed Republicans. > > Four newspapers have taken the unusual step of explicitly advising readers to vote against Trump, even if they cannot bring themselves to recommend Clinton. > > Trump’s “reckless ignorance is more informed by disturbing Internet conspiracy theories than evidence, wisdom or reason,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote this weekend. Clinton “suffers from an inflated sense of entitlement and a well-earned lack of trust.” > > But, the paper concluded: “Job One: Reject Trump.” > > USA Today, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram and Salt Lake City’s Deseret News all advised votes against the Republican presidential nominee. IMHO the spectacle of seeing almost all of conservative press joining the liberal-center leaning one into telling all readers that Trump was going to be a bad idea, was because most of the press did know about information that was damming, but it was missing more confirmation. IOW, there was/is even more that was not revealed but that the editors knew it was out there, just to make an election fair… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/19 "2019-05-01T16:06:31Z")
For Dopers who worked in journalism, did you ever see or hear of anyone getting fired/demoted or otherwise reprimanded for not toeing the organization’s preferred stance on issues? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277/20 "2019-05-01T19:22:50Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > By taking into account that they are mostly a corporation in the USA, I do not agree with those numbers. This is because when liberals do report on how much attention the mainstream “liberal” media gives them, they usually say that they are disappointed and see it [as right wing on many issues](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/consolidation-is-killing-the-myth-of-the-liberal-media), and center left in others. > > Now in a case like Trump and the current Republicans in power, it is hard to make the case that almost all the press was against Trump just for biased reasons. > > [https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/304606-final-newspaper-endorsement-count-clinton-57-trump-2](https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/304606-final-newspaper-endorsement-count-clinton-57-trump-2) > IMHO the spectacle of seeing almost all of conservative press joining the liberal-center leaning one into telling all readers that Trump was going to be a bad idea, was because most of the press did know about information that was damming, but it was missing more confirmation. IOW, there was/is even more that was not revealed but that the editors knew it was out there, just to make an election fair… A [poll](https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/media-bias-left-study/) of financial journalists found that 4.4% were conservatives, 37% were moderate, and 58% were liberal. The Center for Public Integrity [found](https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/journalists-shower-hillary-clinton-with-campaign-cash/) that of journalists who donated to a campaign 96% donated to Clinton, and 4% Trump. It is indisputable that the vast majority of journalists are liberal and thus biased against conservatives. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-media-bias-work-within-the-organization-itself/833277.md?page=2)