why does the media lean to the left? it doesn't make sense to me?

Question

mainstream media is owned by even larger corporations whos goals are to make money. so why dont they lean to the right? like most other business. by going to the left are they going against their self-intrest?

Answer 1

They're a for profit industry like everything else. Ownership has nothing to do with it. They will do whatever rakes in the advertisers, pays their bills and makes them the most money. For years, the main stream media did tend to lean more to the left. However, that trend is changing. Fox has been number one for quite some time. They have strong support and I've noticed that CNN and a few others, who used to lean more to the left are becoming more moderate and some are even hiring people who are leaning towards the right.

As a business person, if I owned a station that was a hit by promoting the left, (even though I'm conservative), I certainly wouldn't change it to meet my own views. :)

Answer 2

Journalist tend to be well informed and educated, however I am not sure that the media in general is left or liberal leaning. Without question Fox news is if not Right leaning it is definitely Republican leaning. The radio has been dominated by corporate money that only has conservative or right wing nutjobs on.

Honestly I think that people are just more sensitive to views that they dont agree with. I have a personal liberal bias so I see the media as being favorable towards the right. Conversely, people with a conservative point of view would probably see the media as being left leaning because expression of those views would cause a stronger reaction.

Answer 3

Reporters may tend to lean to the left, editors and publishers definitely lean to the right. Reporters write stories, editors and publishers give them their final shape and slant.

The mainstream media are in fact pretty right-wing. I read on these boards all the time about supposedly leftist CNN, but the other day I saw one of those slogans over the anchor's shoulder that read "Iran's Hypocrisy", and the anchor was going on and on spouting Bush's selectively declassified assertions as though they were already proven true.

We got in way too much trouble the last time Bush started slinging assertions and the media (ALL of them) repeated them like the gospel.

The Left Wing Mainstream Media is a great big myth.

Answer 4

They actually do go to the right. It's an invention of the FOX news channel to accuse the media of being liberal so that they can capture the right wing market.

The media, like any other form of entertainment, is fighting for ratings. In order to do so, it has to constantly attack the institution in charge. But since the Bushies have no way to spin some of their actions, they defend themselves by attacking the attacker and calling them the "liberal media".

If anything, the media actually is slanted to the right trying to overcompensate for the accusations. There are so many issues that quickly get buried. Remember Jeff Gannon, the male prostitute that was given a White House press credential and visited the WH over 90 times (confirmed by sign in sheet) when there was no press conference?

Oh, you don't remember? That's because it was in the paper for one day and then forgotten. If that happened during Clinton's term, you'd never hear the end of it. A male prostitute given a press credential and visiting the White House over 90 times when there was no press conference is at least as big a scandal as the Monica Lewinsky story!

And the media hounded Bill Clinton for years during the Whitewater/Monica fiasco. Millions of dollars spent to convict the President of oral sex. The "liberal" media didn't seem too lenient on the Democrat.

Right now, the media is deciding who we will choose for President by giving some candidates more time (and free publicity) than others during broadcasts as well as debates.

Answer 5

Please. I didn't hear anything from conservatives when the media backed down from the bush administration for the first 6 years. Now that the media is finally reporting the truth, all I hear about is whining conservatives stating the media is leaning to the left.

Couldn't be that it isn't leaning to the left as much as they stopped kissing up to the bush administration, and starting to show that "the emperor has no clothes"?

Answer 6

it boils down the the ceo's. They themselves call the shoots on the format. ABC made adjustments. NBC is losing views daily because they remain hard left and very biased. Most news papers who slant left have been loosing subscribers for years, partly because of the Internet but also because of their unbalanced opinions taken out of the editorial page directly into the main news articles. Look what happened to Dan Rather. Even the New York Times is waking up to the faulty path of misinformation propagandizing and changing their ways. I would suggest to you, explore many avenues of information. Nether side will give you the whole truth.

Answer 7

Fox leans to the right.... It just depends on the bias of the company that owns the media.

Answer 8

If you put down the Kool-Aid for a second and let me explain for the 100th time:

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA DOES NOT HAVE A LIBERAL BIAS!!!!

The mainstream media, unlike the right-wing "media," actually try to be fair in their journalism.

Answer 9

It's pretty sick that media are run by any political interests. Media is quite powerful and to put that power into a source that can influence a dumbed down public is truly scary.

Answer 10

Actually if you think about it the right is out numbered. IN at this particular time Bush has a 33% following. So the other 66% is listening.