# Which major news outlets lean left, and which lean right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 12, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718 "2007-12-12T06:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/41 "2007-12-12T23:31:25Z")
Several years ago, the NYT Public Editor wrote, in his weekly column, about this issue. Although he was speaking about the NYT, I think it’s valid for most media outlets. His hypothesis was that the paper had a big city, urban perspective that could be perceived as liberal bias, since large urban areas tend to be more liberal than other parts of the country. This “perspective” was reflected in the types of stories the paper chose to run or not to run, even if none of the facts in the stories were being skewed one way or the other. Made sense to me, and I think this is an entirely different matter than being biased. The reporters and the paper reflect the environment they are in and the primary customer base they are catering to. Readers in Omaha, Nebraska might not want to read about two gay people celebrating their nuptuals, for example, but it might seem perfectly ordinary to someone in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/42 "2007-12-12T23:38:22Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] Doubt there’s a GQ type factual answer to this. [/QUOTE] Ya think? I couldn’t even get a consensus on [the editorial stances of newspapers.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=372981) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/43 "2007-12-12T23:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] Where you are standing kind of skews your perception of the issue. I’d say that the NY Times is very liberal, but I’ll bet you and I have a much different perspective about where the middle of the political spectrum lies. [/QUOTE] I’m fairly sure it is not only well to the left of where you seem to think it is, but [slowly trending in a leftward direction.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=426042) ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/44 "2007-12-13T01:11:00Z")
[QUOTE=aptronym] Even if true, on some level, he had to look one good picture and one bad picture and not realize there was something wrong. I bet if he were a big Bush supporter he would have noticed. I don’t understand why everyone goes into a frenzy every time it’s suggested that the media has a liberal bias. It’s possible that liberals examine things more closely and conservatives rely on tradition, and journalism espouses the former. It’s equally possible that liberals are ruled by emotions and conservatives by fact and journalism relies more on an emotional impact of a story rather than complex facts. Just let your bias determine why the media is biased. [/QUOTE] As long as you begin and end with the conclusion that the media has a liberal bias, right? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![aptronym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@aptronym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aptronym)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/45 "2007-12-13T01:21:11Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] As long as you begin and end with the conclusion that the media has a liberal bias, right? :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/46 "2007-12-13T03:09:02Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Obvious left leaning one is CNN…(duh!) [/QUOTE] I stopped reading the OP at this point. CNN tries to out-Fox Fox with its coverage. Left-leaning, my ass. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/47 "2007-12-13T03:29:59Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I think two very objective and credible news outlets that still display obvious leanings are the Wall Street Journal (to the right). [/QUOTE] If you follow the link in post 23 you will see that the WSJ was judged to be the most left-leaning of all the major news outlets studied. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/48 "2007-12-13T03:35:27Z")
The Daly Show and Cobert Report do not count. They are comedy shows. Much of Fux News in comedy but they are not trying. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/49 "2007-12-13T03:43:32Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] I’d say that the NY Times is very liberal [/QUOTE] So, is all the reporting in the lead-up to the Iraq War just an anomaly? Yeah, it leans left but it so happens that on what might be the biggest political issue of the decade, it just fed us total lies and fabrications without any sort of due diligence or fact-checking. :rolleyes: I mean, hell, I am not even asking for a left-leaning outlet. I am just asking for one that does their freakin’ job rather than essentially just being a parrot for the White House. [The only major news outlet which can be said to have done their job on Iraq in the lead-up to the war with any sort of consistency was Knight-Ridder.](http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services-miscellaneous-business/4706116-1.html) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/50 "2007-12-13T03:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] If you follow the link in post 23 you will see that the WSJ was judged to be the most left-leaning of all the major news outlets studied. [/QUOTE] I don’t want to read the report, but I am surprised. The Wall Street Journal is as pro-business as it gets and I always thought that put it firmly right leaning. I question there criteria. From the report: > [@](#): > > As noted earlier, our media data does not include editorials, letters to the editor, or book reviews. That is, all of our results refer only to the bias of the news of media. There are several reasons why we do not include editorials. The primary one is that there is little controversy over the slant of editorial pages—e.g. few would disagree that Wall Street Journal editorials are conservative, while New York Times editorials are liberal. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/51 "2007-12-13T03:49:32Z")
[QUOTE=jshore] So, is all the reporting in the lead-up to the Iraq War just an anomaly? Yeah, it leans left but it so happens that on what might be the biggest political issue of the decade, it just fed us total lies and fabrications without any sort of due diligence or fact-checking. [/QUOTE] Considering that the war in Iraq had a fairly strong level of support among Democrats, I fail to see how this indicates the NY Times is conservative. Also, I don’t really see the war in Iraq as being a liberal/conservative issue. There are many conservatives who oppose the war now and opposed it then. There are many liberals who supported the war then and some who support it now. Among the groups that actively opposed the war from the beginning was the ultra-conservative John Birch Society. If you want to start looking at liberal/conservative issues, you really need to examine reporting on things such as gun control, abortion, welfare reform, tax reform, government spending issues, health care and those kinds of things. That is where there is a pretty clear liberal/conservative split and one where you can detect a pretty clear liberal bias in the Times. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/52 "2007-12-13T04:12:36Z")
It makes them part of the corporate structure. They are conservative in that regard. They take the corporation stance over workers every time.They are blatantly anti union. The NYT is definitely not liberal. Falling lockstep in the Iraq war was not as much a conservative stance as one that no longer does real reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/53 "2007-12-13T04:49:04Z")
[QUOTE=Pasta] This won’t be cut and dry, I think. I wouldn’t have put a “duh” on your CNN example, for instance. But, I lean left, so everything else will look like it’s to my right. To contribute a source, in any case: “The Daily Show” ranks as a major news source for the 18-30 demographic. It’s left leaning. (And funny.) [/QUOTE] No kidding, CNN is not a lefty news source. All of mass media is owned, controlled, and dominated by conservatives. This is a fact not hyperbole. The FCC even works for corporate America. The only liberal leaning news sources available are on the internet. PBS is the best source for unbiased news or news that doesn’t blur into entertainment. The media was never liberal. It was labeled liberal, as if liberal is a horrible word, by corporate America and then neoconservatives because the news reported facts that didn’t favor a conservative agenda/big business. There is no longer strong investigative journalism. It doesn’t exist in mainstream media. There is a complete lack of responsible journalism today, even with the highly respected news outlets like _The New York Times_ and _Washington Post._ The reporting on Iraq is a perfect example. _The New Media Monopoly_, by Ben Bagdikian, will explain the influence, importance, and ultimate erosion of responsible news information caused by corporate control. It is frightening when you consider the power and influence mass media has in shaping public perception and opinion. People can’t make informed choices when the news fails to report important stories, only represents one side of the political spectrum, and saturates broadcasting with conservative pundits. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/54 "2007-12-13T04:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I don’t want to read the report, but I am surprised. The Wall Street Journal is as pro-business as it gets and I always thought that put it firmly right leaning. [/QUOTE] It is because, up to now, the WSJ’s reporting division has always been carefully insulated from its editorial division and allowed freedom of action and editorial independence. [Don’t expect that to last.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=430981) (See also [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=440691)) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/55 "2007-12-13T06:14:24Z")
I cited a peer-reviewed study in the last thread we had about this which measured media bias. They found that most news organizations were not just to the left of the country, but to the left of the Democrats in Congress. They also found that the least biased news program on TV was Brit Hume on Fox. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/56 "2007-12-13T06:24:06Z")
pssst: post #23 sounds a lot like your study ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/57 "2007-12-13T06:30:18Z")
[Columbia Journalism Review](http://www.cjr.org/resources/) This is what Time Warner owns. Media consolidation has pretty much eliminated a multiple viewpoint. The FCC wants more consolidation.There is very little differing opinions available any more. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/58 "2007-12-13T06:45:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] They found that most news organizations were not just to the left of the country, but to the left of the Democrats in Congress. [/QUOTE] The study did not say that. It said they were to the left of the average congressperson in a Republican-majority Congress. Indeed, most of them were to the right of Joe Lieberman. Do you still stand by your study? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/59 "2007-12-13T15:15:02Z")
[Eric Alterman](http://www.amazon.com/What-Liberal-Media-Truth-About/dp/0465001777/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197558377&sr=8-1) and [David Brock](http://www.amazon.com/Republican-Noise-Machine-Right-Wing-Democracy/dp/B000FVQV16/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197558641&sr=1-2) are useful correctives here. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718/60 "2007-12-13T16:14:35Z")
[Criticisms of that study](http://mediamatters.org/items/200512220003). From Media Matters, FWIW. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-major-news-outlets-lean-left-and-which-lean-right/429718.md?page=4)