Sunday, May 30, 2004
A Frightening Prospect:
Here's John Leo:
I hadn't thought of the subject in those terms. And the prospect is truly disturbing.
Have we reached that tipping point already? John Leo works in media, and those in media would be the last to realize what was happening.
I've known conservatives and moderates who have quit journalism in frustration and disgust--generally over absurd requirements to find black experts to give their lacrosse story ethnic balance. But I have no sense as to how widespread that phenomenon is. Anecdotes?
Splash, out
Jason
Pew reports that just 7 percent of journalists and news executives call themselves conservative, compared with 33 percent of the general public. The self-identified liberals (34 percent) are five times as common as conservatives in the news business. As you might imagine, this got very little play in the mainstream media. Howard Kurtz did a good job with it at the Washington Post. But that was about it. Those who did report or comment on the survey tended to play up the large number of news people (54 percent) who call themselves moderate. Why is it such a big deal to have a newsroom that's only a third liberal? asked Eric Alterman, author of What Liberal Media?
I would say that the big deal is that media workers are becoming more liberal at a fairly rapid pace--up from 22 percent nine years ago to 34 percent now, according to Pew. It would be a bigger deal if the hiring of liberals reached the point (as it has in the academic world) where conservatives don't bother to apply for jobs.
I hadn't thought of the subject in those terms. And the prospect is truly disturbing.
Have we reached that tipping point already? John Leo works in media, and those in media would be the last to realize what was happening.
I've known conservatives and moderates who have quit journalism in frustration and disgust--generally over absurd requirements to find black experts to give their lacrosse story ethnic balance. But I have no sense as to how widespread that phenomenon is. Anecdotes?
Splash, out
Jason
Comments:
A telling point is that the large number who call themselves "moderate" may be doing so in self-delusion by contrasting themselves with the flat-out "liberals" and the noisy leftists.
Bt then, some would accuse me of that as well. I support some conservative issues, and many liberal ones, and conservatives may consider me more liberal (or liberals think me conservative) than centrist/moderate - which is usually what I consider myself.
Confusing.
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Bt then, some would accuse me of that as well. I support some conservative issues, and many liberal ones, and conservatives may consider me more liberal (or liberals think me conservative) than centrist/moderate - which is usually what I consider myself.
Confusing.
