The Media In Denial
Editorial
Piece
Investor's Business Daily - July 21, 1998
Most people don't trust the media, a new poll claims. That's not too
shocking. What is surprising - and laughable -is what the poll blames
for all this mistrust: corporate pressure from media owners.
We have another culprit in mind, one that the mainstream media never
seem to consider. Maybe people hold the fourth estate in such low esteem
because they're put off by the bias that taints most reporting.
The latest poll was put out by Newsweek in the wake of a bogus story
run on CNN. The cable news channel claimed that U.S. forces used nerve
gas on American defectors during the Vietnam War. That's certainly a
dramatic story. The only problem was the facts didn't support it. CNN
wound up retracting the report.
CNN's blunder is just the latest in a series of media miscues. The
Boston Globe forced columnist Patricia Smith to quit after it discovered
she had made up quotes in stories. The New Republic fired Stephen Glass
for making things up in 27 articles for the magazine.
Not surprising, then, that 53% of the 752 people polled by Newsweek
believe news organizations are often inaccurate. Only 39% said the media
get their facts straight. Another 55% said they believe only some or
very little of what they hear or read in the media.
But the poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, seemed
to have its own agenda. It asked what impact media mergers have had
on the quality and accuracy of news reporting - 35% said it made coverage
worse.
Another question asked what reporters are most likely to be influenced
by - competitive pressure from other journalists, pressure from owners
for higher ratings and profits, a desire to become a celebrity or a
desire to report the news fairly and accurately.
Missing from that list is any mention of the reporter's political belief.
Did pollsters not consider slanted stories to be an issue? Or did Newsweek
simply neglect to ask the question? If so, that's a telling omission.
Poll after poll indicates that the most influential voices in the media
lean to the left. A '96 study by the Roper Center for the Freedom Forum
found that 61% of 139 Washington-based reporters said their politics
fell left of center. Nearly nine out of 10 Washington reporters voted
for Bill Clinton in '92.
A TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics survey on behalf of
Editor & Publisher magazine found that 58% of newspaper editors voted
for Clinton in '92. And 57% voted to re-elect him four years later.
At IBD, we're pretty clear about what side of the fence we fall on
- we believe in the free enterprise system and limited government. Others
in the media aren't so upfront. They offer a liberal slant, cloaked
in the guise of objectivity. Then they wonder why no one trusts or believes
them.
Certainly, bias can't explain all of the media's problems. And how
much it influences coverage can be debated. But to disregard it completely
- as Newsweek apparently has - is an exercise in self- denial.
