S01E14 – Does the mainstream media have a liberal bias?

In this episode of Finding Common Battle Grounds, Josh, Ryan, and Tom explore whether there is a liberal bias in the mainstream media. We begin by detailing what we understand the mainstream media to be – major television networks ABC, NBC, and CBS, major newspapers and reporting agencies like Reuters, Associated Press, Newsweek, the New York times, and certain cable and radio stations. We note that there are different ways that bias can manifest in media – in how the news is reported and in what is considered important news. Josh argues that the news – at least political news – is reported with a left-leaning bias in mainstream media while Ryan argues that most non-political news is actually not biased in the mainstream media, even if there is a bias in what is considered important. We agree that journalists may be left-leaning even though many are still objective in their reporting. We also agree that bias is always relative – if you lean to the right, any media to the left will seem biased, and the inverse is true as well. Finally, we agree that MSNBC and Fox News are whores for money and viewers and that it would be ideal if everyone would consume more middle-of-the-road media like that produced by the Wall Street Journal or BBC News.