by Brent Baker
A new Gallup Poll found more evidence that a large plurality of Americans think the news media are liberal as more than three times as many said the media are “too liberal” as responded the media are “too conservative.” A piddling 13 percent think the media are “too conservative.” Well, they have Donahue to watch.
Even amongst Democrats, more believe the media are “too liberal” than “too conservative.” Gallup reported that though “a majority of Democrats perceive the news media to be mostly balanced in their news coverage,” 18 percent see the media “as being too conservative” while “27 percent say they are too liberal.”
MRC Communications Director Liz Swasey saw the poll question cited by National Journal's Hotline. The subscriber-only National Journal Web site listed the responses to this question: “In general, do you think the news media is — too liberal, just about right or too conservative?”
The replies:
Too liberal: 47 percent
Just about right: 37 percent
Too conservative: 13 percent
No opinion:3 percent
The question was part of a Gallup Poll, released on Friday, of a “national sample of 1,004 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Sept. 5-8, 2002.” The Gallup Web site lists many results for the poll in an article titled, Americans Trust Each Other to Make Sound Judgments in Public Affairs; Public divided in rating news media, but not the specific question about media bias, though an explanatory paragraph noted the Republican versus Democratic split on the question.
The Web site article listed by party the percent of respondents who “trust” the news media a “great deal” or a “fair amount.” For Republicans 49 percent; independents 52 percent and Democrats 59 percent. The Gallup article then explained: “Democrats' high confidence in the news media is most likely due to the Democrats' more favorable perceptions of the news media's fairness. The Sept. 5-8 Gallup Poll finds that a majority of Democrats perceive the news media to be mostly balanced in their news coverage; only 18% perceive them as being too conservative and only 27% say they are too liberal. By contrast, nearly three-quarters of Republicans (72%) say the media are too liberal, while only 20% say the news media are about right in their coverage.”
For Gallup's story on its poll:Click here.
Only Conservatives Get Labeled by ABC News
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's coalition, which even Monday's Washington Post described as “left-of-center,” includes the Green Party, but ABC News refused to apply any label to him or it on World News Tonight/Sunday, but twice tagged his opponent as “conservative.”
Anchor Carole Simpson introduced a story on the September 22 broadcast: “In Germany, U.S. policy on Iraq has played a key role in the extremely tight race between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his conservative challenger. Schroeder may win even with fewer votes because of strong coalition support.”
Richard Gizbert then began his report from Germany:”Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was far behind in the polls as recently as last month, trailing his conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber…”
That was it. Gizbert applied no further labels to either candidate.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
