Media Bias UCLA Study

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx

This article deals with a study conducted by a political science major from UCLA. The first thing she acknowledges is the fact that the Wall Street Journal, a well-known conservative source, has recently taken a liberal shift. She states that she assumed media bias would be present in multiple outlets, but just how pronounced the findings were surprised even her. She compares bias in media to the member of congress. "Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left." To me, this just shows how a change in the control of congress can completely reshape the way media outlets report news. For instance, just a few years ago, when republicans controlled congress, the bias was to the right.

In a study conducted using articles over the past ten years, comprising twenty major media outlets, eighteen of the twenty scored left of center. Only Fox News and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter. This shows conclusively that bias does exist whether or not the public acknowledges it.

Her next assertion is if viewers spent as much time watching Fox's "Special Report" as they did watching ABC's "World News" or NBC's "Nightly News" then they would receive a nearly perfect balance of right and left wing news. In my opinion, this would lead to a much more informed public. If everyone watched the news that was reported in a way they didn't agree with, the overall knowledge that people based their political stance on would be much more even. Often times, people only hear or read the news that they want to hear, because they know they will agree with that particular source. With more diversity in the media, bias would be less prevalent.

Overall, this report and study shows exactly how many media outlets cater to the bias that they think the public wants. If more reporting was done without bias, so as not to appease people, but instead inform them of what they need to know, the general population that watch news would be better adept at making decisions based on what they know. Media bias won't just go away, and it's almost natural because media outlets want to draw readership viewership and they know the best way to do that is through agreeing with the majority.