MEDIA BIAS: IS IT THAT OBVIOUS?

IS IT THAT OBVIOUS?
Posted by Andrew Roman on Saturday, October 25, 2008 10:34:49 AM

Hold on to your hats. From the annals of impartiality comes this little statistical nugget – and don’t be surprised if you’re not surprised.

A new survey shows that Americans – by an overwhelming margin of nearly 8-1 – believe that journalists want Senator Barack Obama to win the election.

Do you need a minute to let that one filter in? Eight to one!

Pew Research Center for the People and Press , 70% of Americans say reporters would like to see the Illinois Senator become the next President, while only 9% say the media favor Arizona Senator John McCain.













Of those 70%, among Republicans, 90% see the media as wanting Obama in. Among Democrats, 62% do. Another statistic from the “no, really?” file … According to a survey from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, conducted from early September through mid-October:

Coverage of McCain has been heavily unfavorable—and has become more so over time. In the six weeks following the conventions through the final debate, unfavorable stories about McCain outweighed favorable ones by a factor of more than three to one—the most unfavorable of all four candidates—according to the study ...

57% of all surveyed stories about John McCain during the time period were negative, according to the study, while only 14% were deemed positive.




















As I do my very best to recollect a positive John McCain story coming from the main-stream media during the past few weeks, please talk amongst yourselves. There are chips and dip in the back. Help yourself to the cheese balls.

It’s interesting to note that a mere 8% of Americans believe there is no discernible bias from the media, while 13% just don’t know.

These numbers are not exactly revelatory, but I am admittedly prone to a strange fascination about the ones who list as “undecided” or just say “I don’t know.” It’s evocative of the all-over-the-place tracking polls that show Barack Obama leading John McCain anywhere from one point to thirteen points, depending on the poll. The “undecideds” therein suddenly – and predictably - become central.

Candidates do cartwheels to curry their favor, while every microphone in town seeks them out for the eleven ‘o clock news. The attention is cheap and expected, but the great wishy-washy of the electorate relish it.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I cannot help but wonder - with ten days left until November 4th - what it is that these “undecideds” don’t know. Have they not been paying attention? What’s left to figure out? Do these folks genuinely not know who they’re voting for?

I also have to ask … what exactly differentiates these people from, say, Democrats? (Light bulb goes on). Ask an undecided voter (if you can find one) specific questions about anything they claim to be uncertain about and more times than not you’ll discover a fledgling liberal bubbling beneath the surface, longing to break free.

For instance, if you were ask one whether or not they favored extending the Bush tax cuts to everyone, an answer beginning with anything other than the word “Yes,” would tend to indicate that you’ve probably got a liberal in the making. If they embellish their answer with some invective about the rich getting unfair tax breaks, declare the conversation finished, hand them a copy of the Noam Chomsky Reader and a bottle of vodka.

There’s nothing else to be said.

http://romanaround.blogtownhall.com/2008/10/25/is_it_that_obvious.thtml