Media Bias 101 summarizes decades of survey research showing how journalists vote, what journalists think, what the public thinks about the media, and what journalists say about media bias. The following links take you to dozens of different surveys, with key findings and illustrative charts. (Most recent update: May 2014)
A printer-friendly, fully-formatted 48-page version of the report (updated January 2014) is available in PDF format here [1] (1.8 MB).
Part One: What Journalists Think
Surveys over the past 30 years have consistently found that journalists — especially those at the highest ranks of their profession — are much more liberal than rest of America. They are more likely to vote liberal, more likely to describe themselves as liberal, and more likely to agree with the liberal position on policy matters than members of the general public.
Early Polls of Journalists, 1962-1985 [2] Added January 2014
Exhibit 1-1: The Media Elite [3]
Exhibit 1-2: Major Newspaper Reporters [4] Updated January 2014
Exhibit 1-3: The American Journalist [5]
Exhibit 1-4: U.S. Newspaper Journalists [6]
Exhibit 1-5: Survey of Business Reporters [7]
Exhibit 1-6: Journalists - Who Are They, Really? [8]
Exhibit 1-7: White House Reporters [9]
Exhibit 1-8: The Media Elite Revisited [10] Updated January 2014
Exhibit 1-9: Washington Bureau Chiefs and Correspondents [11]
Exhibit 1-10: Newspaper Journalists of the 1990s [12]
Exhibit 1-11: Newspaper Editors [13]
Exhibit 1-12: The People and the Press: Whose Views Shape the News? [14]
Exhibit 1-13: How Journalists See Journalists in 2004 [15]
Exhibit 1-14: Campaign Journalists (2004) [16]
Exhibit 1-15: TV and Newspaper Journalists [17]
Exhibit 1-16: Journalists' Ethics and Attitudes, 2005 [18]
Exhibit 1-17: The News Media and the War, 2005 [19]
Exhibit 1-18: Slate Magazine Pre-Election Staff Survey [20] Updated January 2014
Exhibit 1-19: Indiana University Polls of Journalists [21] Added May 2014
Part Two: How the Public Views the Media
A wide variety of public opinion polls have documented the fact that most Americans now see the media as politically biased, inaccurate, intrusive, and a tool of powerful interests. By a nearly three-to-one margin, those who see political bias believe the media bend their stories to favor liberals.
Exhibit 2-1: The People and The Press, 1997 [22]
Exhibit 2-2: What the People Want from the Press [23]
Exhibit 2-3: ASNE Journalism Credibility Project, 1998 [24]
Exhibit 2-4: The People and The Press, 2000 [25]
Exhibit 2-5: Gallup Polls on Media Bias [26] Updated January 2014
Exhibit 2-6: The People and The Press, 2003 [27]
Exhibit 2-7: Bias in the 2004 Presidential Campaign [28]
Exhibit 2-8: Missouri School of Journalism 2004 [29]
Exhibit 2-11: Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet/Zogby Survey [32]
Exhibit 2-12: Coverage of the War in Iraq, 2007 [33]
Exhibit 2-13: Rasmussen Reports on Media Bias, 2007 [34]
Exhibit 2-14: Harvard's "National Leadership Index" Survey (2007) [35]
Exhibit 2-15: Sacred Heart University Polling Institute (2007) [36]
Exhibit 2-16: Public Reaction to Media Coverage of the 2008 Primaries [37]
Exhibit 2-17: Rasmussen Reports on Campaign 2008 Bias [38]
Exhibit 2-18: Public Overwhelmingly Saw Favoritism For Obama [39]
Exhibit 2-19: Pew Study Finds Media Credibility Plummets [40]
Exhibit 2-21: Trust and Satisfaction with the National Media (2009) [42]
Exhibit 2-22: News Media Both Too Liberal and Too Powerful (2009) [43]
Exhibit 2-23: 2010 Surveys Find Two-Thirds of Public Is “Angry” at the Media [44]
Exhibit 2-24: Gallup Finds Media Distrusted, Public’s Confidence Low (2011) [45]
Exhibit 2-25: Pew Finds Record Low Respect for News Media (2011) [46]
Exhibit 2-26: Record High 67% See Political Bias in News Media [47]
Exhibit 2-27: In Campaign 2012, Voters Saw Media Favoring Obama [48] Added January 2014
Exhibit 2-28: Seeing Liberal Bias in the News (2013) [49] Added January 2014
Part Three: What Journalists Say about Media Bias
Over the years, the Media Research Center has catalogued the views of journalists on the subject of bias. In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many journalists still refuse to acknowledge that most of the establishment media tilts to the left. Even so, a number of journalists have admitted that the majority of their brethren approach the news from a liberal angle.
Journalists Denying Liberal Bias [50] Updated May 2014
More Journalists Denying Liberal Bias [51]
Still More Journalists Denying Liberal Bias [52]
Journalists Admitting Liberal Bias [53] Updated May 2014