Why are most journalists liberal?

Question

I don't care about Fox News or CNN or anything...just why have 90% of the people I met in Journalism and Mass Communication major in college liberal? Are liberals more apt to want to investigate news, or does investigating news make someone liberal? I don't care about the "what about this source" or "This one anchor isn't liberal." I just want to know what about journalists make them almost uniformly liberal? Their past, their professors, their parents, etc?

Answer 1

Most conservatives are looking for jobs that will make them more money.

Answer 2

Liberals are more apt to go into journalism "to make a difference" rather than to actually report facts in an objective manner. In other words, they want to tell the public the story behind the facts, or provide an understanding of what the facts mean.
Additionally, most of your journalism and communications classes are considered liberal arts, and they are taught that way. There are not that many conservative professors on college campuses anyway, so classes like journalism and communications are taught predominantly by liberals. It's the same with Sociology classes.
There's actually a good book on this subject by Bernard Goldberg, who used to report for CBS News. The book is called BIAS, but don't let the title throw you. I'd recommend this book for any journalism or communications /broadcasting major that is thinking about going into broadcast news.

Answer 3

This probably is a two-parter. First, we're talking about young people here. Youth are more idealistic than adults, and have less to lose. Therefore, they are more willing to take chances and seek change. Was it Churchill who said most young adults should be liberal, and most older people should be conservative? If not, you get the idea.

Then, journalists in general are a bit more idealistic than the population at large. Some really do want to change the world in some way, and see journalism as a way to do it. The same probably applies to young lawyers and politicians. So, they are more likely to take liberal positions on several matters.

Having been in the media for many years, reporters and editors in the business are a little more left than the populationi, but it's fair to say the median shifts right over time.

Answer 4

Conservatives are interested in making money, not in making a difference through reporting (as naive as the idea might be).

My experience with conservatives, they tend to be a lot less curious about the world around them. They really don't care to learn about and listen to other people. Their ways and beliefs are the "right ones," end of discussion.

That doesn't make them all bad people, but it does explain why most of them aren't interested in spending their time finding out what other people think instead of making money and gaining status and prestige.

Answer 5

I noticed that too, I'm a communication major.
I think Republicans are just more inclined to want higher paying jobs like in finance or business. Reporters make VERY little money.

Answer 6

If I had to guess I'd say that liberals generally tend to complain more (I'm not trying to be funny) and so they'd seek out a career to let them do so. What I mean is that, I think liberals get more satisfaction attacking conservatives and conservative politics than vice versa. Also, liberal politics are much easier to overplay and to sway people with so it would be easier and the journalist wouldn't have to think as much or try as hard and neither would the reader. Just an opinion.

Answer 7

Well, I'm not sure that I agree with your generalization...however, journalism does teach people how to report information from a neutral position. "Just the facts" is a journalism school mantra. So, I'm not sure I have answered your question, but journalists have learned to separate their personal views from the facts

Answer 8

Because they find that being in the media is an easy job and garners a platform for them to ***** and complain. You will find that most professors are Liberal and when you give them a room full of weak minded kids they convince them of their agenda.

Liberals like to talk and point fingers but when the dirty work has to be done you won't find them anywhere. Same with actors, sit in a trailer all day, then come out for 15 minutes to do a scene. They then have the nerve to call it work. No wonder most actors are liberal.

Answer 9

Who says they're liberal? I hear them report facts, not their opinions.

Answer 10

They all make their opinion known, but theyre not all liberal.