Time: Fri Dec 12 17:08:45 1997 To: From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: In Their Own Words: Journalists and Bias (fwd) Cc: Bcc: sls References: <snip> > >In Their Own Words: Journalists and Bias > >Introduction > >How much store should Americans put in the media's protestations that >political bias has nothing to do with what comes out of newsrooms? Time and >again, at Accuracy in Media, we hear the refrain, "I might have my own >opinions, but they do not affect what I report." Oh, bosh. Few reporters can >put their prejudices aside when they sit down before a word processor or >stand before a microphone. Furthermore, many prominent journalists have the >professional honesty to admit just that. >Following is a sample of statments from journalists themselves about how >bias does play a role in news coverage, and the cavalier attitude too many >news organizations towards fairness. Accuracy in Media intends to update >this compilation from time to time, so your contributions are invited. Post >them either on the AIM site or send them directly to me at >JosephG894@AOL.COM. > >--Joseph C. Goulden >Director of Media Analysis >Accuracy in Media > >Richard Harwood, former assistant managing editor and ombudsman, The >Washington Post, Op Ed column, 8 March 1996: > >"American journalists--probably a majority--try with varying degrees of >success to keep their partisan allegiances out of their work. But the >journalist without those allegiances is rare indeed, as every poll and >sociological study of the work force has confirmed. In nearly half a century >in the news business, I have never known a political writer, for example, >who was 'indifferent' to the outcome of a presidential election. And the >major newspaper that has no social and community values, values that are >expressed in what it chooses to print and not to print, is a very rare >institution." > >Harwood, Op Ed column, Washington Post, 28 October 1990: > >"You are not 'entitled' to a letter to the editor,to an op-ed piece or even >to a paid advertisement; if we don't like it, we don't print it. to ask for >'equal time' on the evening news or in the morning newspaper is, very often, >to bay at the moon. You have no 'right' to fair treatment, no 'right' to be >quoted accurately or in context or even quoted at all in news reports, >broadcasts, or commentaries....If your reputation is soiled in a front-page >story under a four-column hadline, it is most unlikely to be cleansed in the >same spot (if it is cleansed at all)." > >Evan Thomas, Washington bureau chief, Newsweek Magazine, on Inside >Washington, 11 May 1996:' > >Commenting on Speaker Newt Gingrich's charge that the media are biased,, >Thomas stated, "This is true. There is liberal bias. About 85 percent of the >reporters who cover the White House vote Democratic. They have for a long >time. Particularly at the networks, at the lower levels, among the editors >and the so-called infrastructure, there is a liberal bias. There is a >liberal bias at Newsweek, the magazine I work for." > >Bernard Goldberg, CBS News correspondent, The Wall Street Journal, Op Ed >piece, 13 February 1986: > >"There are lots of reasons fewer people are watching network news, and one >of them, I'm more convinced than ever, is that our viewers simply don't >trust us. And for good reason. >"The old argument that the networks 5and other 'media elites' have a liberal >bias is so blatantly true that it's hardly worth discussing anymore. No, we >don't sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we're going to >slant the news. We don't have to. It comes naturally to most reporters." > >Page two > >The Freedom Forum/Roper Center survey of 139 Washington-based bureau chiefs >and congressional correspondents, April 1996. >Question #49: How would you characterize your political orientation? >22 % Liberal >39 % Liberal to Moderate >30 % Moderate >7 % Moderate to Conservative >2 % Conservative >Question #53: Did you vote for Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ross Perot, or >some other candidate? >89 % Bill Clinton >7 % George Bush >2 % Ross Perot >2 % Other > <snip>
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