Media Bias

James Wyatt Routson

English 3

23 October 2012

Media Bias In America

The bias of journalists and news producers from within the mass media in America can be found in the selection of stories and events that are reported and how they are covered. In the United States there is mass media liberal and conservative bias. Numerous studies have shown results that there is a liberal bias and only a few have shown a conservative bias. Definitively there is bias involvement in mass media but neither of either bias in the mass media can be seen to sway the American public in either direction. Bernard Goldberg is a CBS news reporter and producer. He wrote a book entitled “Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News”, a non-fiction book and was #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. He offers examples in his book of liberal media bias. Brian C. Anderson has a countering book entitled “South Park Conservatives: The Revolt against Liberal Media Bias” where Anderson provides the argument that gradually conservatives are gaining power with the use of new media, especially new news delivering devices. Lastly, Eric Alterman wrote a book entitled “What Liberal Media: The Truth About Bias and the News”, in which he argues, that as a whole, mass media in America is actually not biased liberally, but conservatively.

Liberal is an adjective that is defined as favorable to progress or reform. Another word given to liberals is progressive. Progressive is defined as favoring or advocating progress, usually towards better conditions as apposed to maintaining things as they are. Conservative is of Latin origin meaning “to retain”, it is an adjective, which means disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc. or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. Therefore, ‘liberal bias’, is a bias of journalists and news producers from within the mass media that select stories and events that are reported and covered that are advocating progress and change....