PBS and CBS are not conservative televisions stations.
I honestly can’t even imagine how you could suggest that they are.
Of course not.
If you recall, this was stated because the claim was made “if you removed Fox, then the GOP would have lost elections.”
Well yeah, no duh. Because it would be removing the primary conservative voice from the national media stage, shifting the overall dialog to the left. Not because those stations would become more left than they are, but because there are already many more mainstream stations that are already left of center.
Even if Fox weren’t so propaganda based, its removal would likely have the same projected impact.
The same way you claim that the rest of the mainstream tv news is liberal.
Ie it isn’t.
These two give greater credence to GOP framing, and more scepticism to Dem ones. That doesn’t inherently make them conservative. It does make them, however, excessively aggressive in appearing neutral.
I mean we live in a world where calling Donald J Trump a liar will get you labeled as liberal. That will get people screaming bias. So that these sources are considered slightly right of center tells you had far they bend over backwards to not appear liberal.
Which means they report news in a neutral way, but from a rightward/ GOP chosen framing.
And really that’s my main irritation, the chart you posted should clearly and definitively kill any nothin that mainstream media is leftward biased. MSNBC isn’t (wasn’t? Don’t follow current ratings) in the same ballpark as the Fox, CBS, NBC’s, ABC’s of the world. And they don’t pretend to be other than they are. While fox pretends they are the true neutrals, and everyone else liberal biased.
I agree it is liberal and it does not pretend to present itself as otherwise.
But every single other TV news source is neutral, aggressively so. Except CNN who is just shit all around. Milquetoast and content free.
But Fox weighs down the Overton window so heavily. And also consider what it takes for a source to be rated neutral. The very act of reporting that the President is a liar will be considered an act of liberal bias, and so to be considered neutral they consistently accept the framing that conservative and GOP sources choose. See: Green New Deal, is it top socialist or is it literal demons coming to eat your soul?
The very act of reporting that the President is a liar will be considered an act of liberal bias, and so to be considered neutral they consistently accept the framing that conservative and GOP sources choose . See: Green New Deal, is it top socialist or is it literal demons coming to eat your soul?
Sorry, I wasn’t looking at that earlier post, and when you admitted MSNBC’s bias, I was supremely distracted by you claiming that PBS and CBS were conservative… which I still don’t understand. It looks like you said it, because they weren’t? I still don’t understand it at all.
So, if you remove Fox, then you have a bunch of neutral sources, and then also one mainstream source which you agree is partisan to the left.
Resulting overall media coverage which is left leaning, if you were to remove Fox.
Again, that’s the only point here… that there aren’t really any other mainstream TV news sources which lean to the right. There’s no “normal” conservative TV news. So the removal of Fox would naturally result in an overall left leaning bias… which of course would result in an advantage to democrats in elections.
Part of the issue is ‘overton window’ placement. If Argle Bargle Keep Out the Brown Hordes is ‘right’ then a more rational universe’s ‘centrist’ may look ‘left.’
Also, collapsing everything into a left/right axis creates all kinds of distortions, the most tragic and destructive of which, of course, is the utterly bizarre and preposterous definition of ‘keep earth habitable’ as a ‘left’ issue. That framing is keeping people’s rational functions hostage in a way that will probably result in millions of avoidable deaths.
I think when it comes to many social and cultural issues that is true. But when it comes to spending money on projects that people don’t see as benefiting them, I am not so sure. People still think on the whole (I could be wrong as I have no studies to quote) that many things are not governments job and that the government shouldn’t be spending on those things. And for most that means things that don’t effect them directly. There are still a lot of people who consider themselves in the middle. Of course I think that as the GOP has gone further right more people actually are in the middle.
We have one here, and as it is the 10pm news station I usually watch it. The content you site is really a pretty small part of what they do, but I will admit the “Terrorist Desk” and some of the programs they show at 8:30 on Sunday’s is pretty right leaning.
There will always be a conservative mindset. But conservative as an ideology has changed even under Trump, and many of the traditional talking points that were probably, “rated,” by that panel are talking points that don’t consider the change in demographic and points that should be considered moderate when previously they were not.
I’m going to block quote here and apologies to the actual writers of that article. Pay attention to the percentages of some of these answers:
The Economy
82 percent of Americans think wealthy people have too much power and influence in Washington.
69 percent think large businesses have too much power and influence in Washington.
59 percent—and 72 percent of likely voters—think Wall Street has too much power and influence in Washington.
78 percent of likely voters support stronger rules and enforcement on the financial industry.
65 percent of Americans think our economic system “unfairly favors powerful interests.”
59 percent of Americans—and 43 percent of Republicans—think corporations make “too much profit.”
Inequality
82 percent of Americans think economic inequality is a “very big” (48 percent) or “moderately big” (34 percent) problem. Even 69 percent of Republicans share this view.
66 percent of Americans think money and wealth should be distributed more evenly.
72 percent of Americans say it is “extremely” or “very” important, and 23 percent say it is “somewhat important,” to reduce poverty.
59 percent of registered voters—and 51 percent of Republicans—favor raising the maximum amount that low-wage workers can make and still be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, from $14,820 to $18,000.
Money in Politics
96 percent of Americans—including 96 percent of Republicans—believe money in politics is to blame for the dysfunction of the U.S. political system.
84 percent of Americans—including 80 percent of Republicans—believe money has too much influence in politics.
78 percent of Americans say we need sweeping new laws to reduce the influence of money in politics.
73 percent of registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
Taxes
80 percent of Americans think some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
78 percent think some wealthy people don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
76 percent believe the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes.
60 percent of registered voters believe corporations pay too little in taxes.
87 percent of Americans say it is critical to preserve Social Security, even if it means increasing Social Security taxes paid by wealthy Americans.
67 percent of Americans support lifting the cap to require higher-income workers to pay Social Security taxes on all of their wages.
Minimum Wage
66 percent of Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
59 percent favor raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.
48 percent support raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour. (A survey of registered voters found that 54 percent favored a $15 minimum wage.)
63 percent of registered voters think the minimum wage should be adjusted each year by the rate of inflation.
Workers’ Rights
61 percent of Americans—including 42 percent of Republicans—approve of labor unions.
74 percent of registered voters—including 71 percent of Republicans—support requiring employers to offer paid parental and medical leave.
78 percent of likely voters favor establishing a national fund that offers all workers 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
Health Care
60 percent of Americans believe “it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage.”
60 percent of registered voters favor “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.”
58 percent of the public favors replacing Obamacare with “a federally funded healthcare program providing insurance for all Americans.”
64 percent of registered voters favor their state accepting the Obamacare plan for expanding Medicaid in their state.
Education
63 percent of registered voters—including 47 percent of Republicans—of Americans favor making four-year public colleges and universities tuition-free.
59 percent of Americans favor free early-childhood education.
Climate Change and the Environment
76 percent of voters are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about climate change.
68 percent of voters think it is possible to protect the environment and protect jobs.
72 percent of voters think it is a “bad idea” to cut funding for scientific research on the environment and climate change.
59 percent of voters say more needs to be done to address climate change.
Gun Safety
84 percent of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buyers.
77 percent of gun owners support requiring background checks for all gun buyers.
Criminal Justice
57 percent of Americans believe police officers generally treat blacks and other minorities differently than they treat whites.
60 percent of Americans believe the recent killings of black men by police are part of a broader pattern of how police treat black Americans (compared with 39 percent who believe they are isolated incidents).
Immigration
68 percent of Americans—including 48 percent of Republicans—believe the country’s openness to people from around the world “is essential to who we are as a nation.” Just 29 percent say that “if America is too open to people from all over the world, we risk losing our identity as a nation.”
65 percent of Americans—including 42 percent of Republicans—say immigrants strengthen the country “because of their hard work and talents.” Just 26 percent say immigrants are a burden “because they take our jobs, housing and health care.”
64 percent of Americans think an increasing number of people from different races, ethnic groups, and nationalities makes the country a better place to live. Only 5 percent say it makes the United States a worse place to live, and 29 percent say it makes no difference.
76 percent of registered voters—including 69 percent of Republicans—support allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children (Dreamers) to stay in the country. 58 percent think Dreamers should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements. Another 18 percent think they should be allowed to stay and become legal residents, but not citizens. Only 15 percent think they should be removed or deported from the country.
Abortion and Women’s Health
58 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
68 percent of Americans—including 54 percent of Republicans—support the requirement for private health insurance plans to cover the full cost of birth control.
Same-Sex Marriage
62 percent of Americans—including 70 percent of independents and 40 percent of Republicans—support same-sex marriage.
74 percent of millennials (born after 1981) support same-sex marriage.
Not my work, but thank you guys for the comments. I had gone to view the Gallup information after an NPR story but was searching for a broader view of the data as well which led to the Pew studies.
One stated fact I couldn’t find was I had read somewhere the skew of Conservatives to Liberals younger than 35 years of age. Sadly I can’t find that article now.
