Media, is it baised?

Before we can explore deeper into the topic, we must first define a few key terms.

Media: The News, the press, the way people obtain information on everything.

Bias: Favorable treatment to certain politicians, policy positions groups and political outcomes.

There’s no doubt that some people within the media are openly and even unapologetically biased—on both sides of the political spectrum. Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are much harsher to Democrats than that are to Republicans. On the other side of the fence, the New York Times is the opposite; often criticizing Republicans.

Those are not; however, instances of Media Bias.

The media’s “stated commitment to avoid partisan or political bias” only applies to the hard news—not editorials or commentaries.

Now, that doesn’t mean that different stations/papers/websites don’t tell the news in a biased way.

This is; however, very difficult to measure as most of the evidence is very anecdotal.

For example: The Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has produced studies indicating that conservative think-tanks are cited more often than their liberal counterparts.

On the other side of the coin, the Center for Media and Public Affairs found that John Kerry had the most favorable coverage of any candidate in over 20 years.