MSNBC Really is More Partisan Than FOX, According to Pew Study

[TerryMiller]

Is this really a surprise?


MSNBC Really Is More Partisan Than FOX, According to Pew Study

How does Comcast allow such wretched bias in presidential coverage?

By David Zurawik
The Baltimore Sun
November 2, 2012

In writing about the Pew study released today, I was struck by the big story of how negative coverage on several levels of presidential politics had become.

I think this is big trouble for democracy, especially the hostile level of discourse in social media. And that it's something the media need to address collectively after the election.

But here's one of several fascinating smaller findings of the study that are kind of stunning -- even if they seem obvious and ho-hum to some of my more jaded, postmodern, aren't-we-cleverly-ironic colleagues:

ON MSNBC, the ratio of negative to positive stories on GOP candidate Mitt Romney was 71 to 3.

That's not a news channel. That's a propaganda machine, and owner Comcast should probably change Phil Griffin's title from president to high minister of information, or something equally befitting the work of a party propagandist hack in a totalitarian regime. You wonder how mainstream news organizations allow their reporters and correspondents to appear in such a cauldron of bias.

I thought show host Sean Hannity of Fox News defined party propagandist. But while his channel was bad, it wasn't as bad-boy biased as MSNBC.

The ratio of negative to positive stories in Fox's coverage of President Obama was 46 to 6.

Check out the full Pew study. It's a good one, and there is much food for thought in its findings as we approach the end of an election cycle marked by poor media performance.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-pew-study-suggests-msnbc-really-is-more-partisan-than-fox-20121102,0,7266571.story

Link to the Pew Study

 

[ez bake]

It's like someone did a 2 year study on what smells worse, Smegma or taint-sweat.

I hope they were kind enough to put all of those researchers out of their misery when the study was done.

 

[WTJ]

It's like someone did a 2 year study on what smells worse, Smegma or taint-sweat.

I hope they were kind enough to put all of those researchers out of their misery when the study was done.

I would not want that task. Well said!

 

[Vamoose]

MSNBC Really Is More Partisan Than FOX

No way. There's no way that's true.

 

[10Seconds]

I believe it. MSNBC has been my news of choice since about 2001. But I have noticed a shift myself as well.

It used to feel like watching the news, lately it felt like they were trying to convince me that what they were saying was the news.

The last straw for me was after the second presidential debate. Romney had actually made a good point and they were trying to twist the good comment against him. Heck there was plenty of bad they could have used, but at least give credit where its due rather than try to make it look like someone is lying or an idiot.

 

[flatwins]

I don't really pay attention to either one but if I chose one to avoid like the plague it would be MSNBC.

 

[TerryMiller]

I had to go looking, but I found the report of a study done by UCLA back in 2005 about bias in the media. It too is an interesting read, perhaps with this as the most surprising:

"Another finding that contradicted conventional wisdom was that the Drudge Report was slightly left of center.

"One thing people should keep in mind is that our data for the Drudge Report was based almost entirely on the articles that the Drudge Report lists on other Web sites," said Groseclose. "Very little was based on the stories that Matt Drudge himself wrote. The fact that the Drudge Report appears left of center is merely a reflection of the overall bias of the media.""

Media Bias is Real Finds UCLA Political Scientist

With regard to the study, it obviously was done before the present times as many sources might now be considered more leftist than what they were in 2005.

 

[Glocktogo]

I thought MSNBC was a comedy channel???

 

[tran]

I thought MSNBC was a comedy channel???

Right!