What liberal bias? My media research suggests it's another right-wing myth
182
Anthony DiMaggio
Sun, July 2, 2023 at 4:00 AM MDT



Ron DeSantis and Donald TrumpPhoto illustration by Salon/Getty Images

Allegations of media bias are ubiquitous among Republicans. When Donald Trump was asked in June about the federal prosecution against him for illegally retaining classified government documents, he attacked the "fake news" media for their "continuation of the witch hunt" against him "that's been going on for literally seven years."

Such attacks are hardly new for Trump, who in May reportedly became angry with questions from NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal investigation, tried to grab Hillyard's phone and then told aides to "get him outta here."

The assault on press freedom is also nothing new for the Republican Party. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, now a presidential candidate, recently endorsed a legislative effort to curtail press freedom by designating anonymous news sources as "false" for legal purposes in defamation cases and eliminating the "journalist's privilege" protection, which shields reporters from having to identify anonymous sources in defamation lawsuits.




Not to be outdone, Trump weighed in on the question of how to punish journalists, suggesting that reporters who published the leaked Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade should be prosecuted, incarcerated and then raped in prison.

These developments are part of a larger right-wing assault on media freedom and the right of journalists to critically report the news. These attacks are driven by the assumption that the media has a liberal bias, and is responsible for routinely purveying "fake news" and systematically manipulating the public as a result.

The response from much of the public, including the GOP base, is what one would expect, with rising distrust of the news media. Recent polling finds a majority of Americans agree that "the news media fuels political division," with 61 percent of Republicans, 36 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats agreeing that the media are "hurting democracy." Half of Americans think that national news outlets "intend to mislead, misinform, or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting."

My own research has uncovered little evidence of a pervasive liberal or pro-Democratic bias in the news. But as reporters acknowledge, there's a pro-official bias that privileges whichever party is in power.

These narratives warning of media manipulation and pernicious liberal bias can create a separate reality for much of the public, independent of whether there is evidence of any such pervasive bias in media content and effects. As a scholar of political communication, I've spent the last 20 years studying the question of media bias in politics. My own scholarly work, looking at decades of reporting on various public policy issues, has uncovered little evidence historically of a pervasive liberal or pro-Democratic bias in the news.

As reporters themselves acknowledge, and as I find in my research, it is more accurate to speak of a pro-official bias in the news, in which reporters privilege whatever party is in power in Washington at a given time. None of this evidence necessarily matters, however, when the prevailing narrative in American political culture — particularly among Republican officials, right-wing pundits and much of the public — is that the media is purveying biased "fake news."

Independent of this heated and incendiary rhetoric, it's worth looking at the facts. For example, in my own research examining more than 160 polling questions between the mid-2000s and the mid-2010s, I found virtually no evidence of liberal media effects for consumption of various outlets such as CNN and MSNBC, which are commonly attacked for their purported bias.

Consumption of news MSNBC only had a significant association with liberal political attitudes on various questions 15 percent of the time, and this was true just 10 percent of the time for CNN. Rather, the primary culprit when it came to indoctrination effects was Fox News, with consumption of that channel's news significantly associated with holding right-wing beliefs 60 percent of the time, even after controlling for respondents' partisanship and ideology, among other factors.

These findings undermine claims about a pro-Democratic or liberal media bias in the years before Trump. But what about the period since he was first elected, which has generally been associated with more extreme partisan polarization? I updated my polling analysis to include the years of Trump's presidency — and the findings largely reinforce my previous research. Although there is certainly evidence of increasing polarization "on both sides," such polarization is still primarily a right-wing phenomenon, testifying to highly asymmetrical media effects that appear to favor GOP indoctrination efforts.

Examining polling from September 2019 and September 2020 from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and the Pew Research Center, I looked at consumption of various media, in relation to public opinion on political questions during the Trump era. I utilized statistical analysis to track how often consumption of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News is associated with respondents forming liberal and conservative political attitudes, after accounting for various factors, including respondents' ideology, partisanship, age, education, race, gender and income.

First of all, there is definitely reason for concern about "both sides" when it comes to the rise of echo chambers in American media. Clearly. liberals and Democrats are gravitating toward certain news sources, and conservatives and Republicans toward others. In the NORC survey, Democrats were significantly more likely to say they consumed CNN and MSNBC regularly, while Republicans were more likely to say they relied heavily on Fox News. Twenty-nine percent of Democrats said they relied "a lot" on MSNBC for their news, compared to just 3 percent of Republicans. Similarly, 36 percent of Democrats relied a lot on CNN, compared to 6 percent of Republicans. Alternatively, 44 percent of Republicans relied a lot on Fox News, compared to just 7 percent of Democrats. None of these trends are encouraging in a country that considers itself a democracy — at least if democracy requires an informed citizenry willing to consider different sources of information and views contrary to those they already hold.



Beyond the echo-chamber question, there's the matter of whether consuming these venues has an indoctrination effect on viewers. Here, the evidence suggests that Americans should primarily be concerned about the power of right-wing outlets like Fox News. Looking at both the NORC and Pew polls, I analyzed media consumption in relation to a battery of political questions. For the Pew poll, I examined attitudes about how well Trump responded to the COVID-19 crisis; opinions about how truthful Trump was in relation to conveying information about COVID; attitudes about the pro-Trump extremist movement QAnon; and attitudes about alleged mass voter fraud in U.S. elections.

The NORC survey fielded other political questions, including opinions about the overturning of Roe v. Wade; about efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act; about laws barring employment discrimination based on sexual orientation; about government financial support for religious schools; about support for Second Amendment gun ownership rights and a ban on semiautomatic rifles; about whether business owners should be able to refuse services to LGBTQ+ individuals for religious (or "free speech") reasons; about whether Trump should have ended DACA protections for unauthorized immigrants; about same-sex marriage; about affirmative action in college admissions; about Trump's travel ban against immigrants from Muslim-majority countries; about private companies denying birth control to employees based on religious objections; about corporations and unions spending unlimited money in U.S. elections; about federal court decisions on partisan gerrymandering disputes; about Trump's job approval rating during the COVID crisis; and about voting preferences between Trump and Joe Biden in the 2020 election. With such a large set of questions, whatever pattern is uncovered should tell us a lot about alleged partisan indoctrination in the media.

What we see here, in fact, is dramatic evidence of partisan indoctrination in the news — and it's primarily a right-wing phenomenon. In just four of the 20 survey questions was consumption of CNN associated with forming liberal political attitudes, after statistically taking into account viewers' partisan and ideological predispositions. The findings are stronger for MSNBC, with consumption associated with holding liberal attitudes for nine of the 20 questions. This is certainly evidence of indoctrination in favor of liberal values, significantly more than I found in the previous decade.

What we see here is dramatic evidence of asymmetrical partisan indoctrination in the news media — and it's primarily a right-wing phenomenon.

But far and away the strongest evidence of indoctrination is observed among consumers of conservative media. Consumption of Fox News was associated with holding conservative opinions an overwhelming 90 percent of the time — in 18 of the 20 questions surveyed. This is a far higher rate than during the decade preceding Trump, when Fox News viewership was correlated with forming conservative attitudes 60 percent of the time. These results tell us that partisan indoctrination has become overwhelmingly asymmetrical in the Trump era.

If we are concerned about ideological and partisan echo chambers, we should reorient the national discussion about media bias to focus first and foremost on the primary culprits: right-wing media outlets such as Fox News. The evidence explored here calls into question Republican claims that the "liberal media" is the leading indoctrination force in American politics and communication today. That role is reserved for the GOP's primary arm of mass communication, Fox News, which is crucial in mobilizing the party base to support conservative political causes.

But we shouldn't only be concerned about indoctrination. There's also the question of rising support for authoritarianism, and of public outrage being stoked against specific media outlets seen as overly critical of Trump. That rising anger is what fuels the Republican attack on press freedom, an assault that should be deeply concerning to anyone with a basic commitment to freedom of expression and constitutional democracy.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/liberal-bias-media-research-suggests-100001390.html

 

The despicable obsession with all things Trump continues to be evident on the forum.
Even in a thread titled "2020 democrat hopefuls most of the posts concern Trump, other deplorable candidates, and all things deplorable.

This has been a curiosity to Shooter but he thinks he understands now.

Despicables are all in with Biden. Anyone daring to challenge Biden for the 2024 nomination will be summarily shut down. Despicables are putting it all on Biden, no hedging of bets. No looking at any possible alternatives. No question about is there a better candidate for the country and the party.
It's Biden or nothing.

Good luck with that.

 

LOL! Change the pronouns, and you've got the obsession over Hillary...

Politics is transgendered!

 

Is no different than the deplorable obsession over Hillary. Get over it! Your guy isn't being made a victim!

 

I think Politico is right about this. At least I found it surprising.


A New Poll on the Trump Indictments Has a Surprising Result

Craig Ruttle/AP Photo
1.4k
Ankush Khardori
Thu, July 6, 2023 at 3:00 AM MDT




Not much unites the country when it comes to Donald Trump. And the public’s reaction to the former president’s two historic indictments has largely fallen along the kind of polarized partisan lines we might expect. But in one area, there’s something much closer to agreement.

According to a new poll commissioned by POLITICO Magazine and conducted by Ipsos, most Americans — including a large number of Republicans, who the former president is currently courting for his 2024 campaign — believe that the trial in the pending federal case against Trump for mishandling classified documents should occur before the GOP primaries and well before the general election.

Significant hurdles exist to such a speedy trial; this is an unprecedented set of circumstances within the legal system, with Trump not just a former president but the leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. But the results, both notable and surprising, could potentially push prosecutors and the presiding judge to move more quickly.

POLITICO Magazine commissioned this poll because we thought, despite some initial polling shortly after Trump’s federal indictment, that we could dig deeper into the public’s sentiment. How much do people really understand about the charges facing Trump and do they believe he’s guilty? What kind of punishments do they think fit the crimes if he is convicted? And, of course, what impact could all of this have on Trump’s presidential candidacy?


The poll was conducted from June 27 to June 28, roughly three weeks after Trump’s federal indictment and nearly three months after Trump was criminally charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The poll had a sample of 1,005 adults age 18 or older, who were interviewed online; it has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for all respondents.

At this point, roughly half of the country believes that Trump committed the crimes alleged against him.

Forty-nine percent of respondents — including 25 percent of Republicans — said that they believe Trump is guilty in the pending federal prosecution, which alleges that he willfully retained sensitive government documents after leaving office and obstructed a subsequent federal investigation. A nearly identical 48 percent of respondents — including 24 percent of Republicans — believe that Trump is guilty in the Manhattan DA’s pending prosecution, which alleges that Trump falsified business records in connection with a payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 election in order to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual relationship between the two.

On the question of timing, however, there was more unity.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (62 percent) said that the trial in the pending federal prosecution should take place before the presidential election next November — a figure that includes nearly half of Republican respondents (46 percent). A lower number, but a still-solid majority, said that the trial should take place before the Republican primaries begin early next year (57 percent of all respondents, including 42 percent of Republican respondents).

The findings could bolster the position of federal prosecutors, who have been pushing for a trial date as early as this December. Trump is expected to try to drag out the proceedings for as long as possible, particularly because he would likely be able to shut the prosecution down if reelected. But the federal statute that governs the setting of trial dates requires judges to account for not only the defendant’s interest but “the best interest of the public” as well.

What should happen to Trump if he gets convicted? Forty three percent said he should go to prison, but most were willing to spare him jail time. Nearly a quarter of respondents said that Trump should incur no punishment at all (22 percent), while 18 percent said he should receive probation and another 17 percent said he should face only a financial penalty.

The results were roughly similar when respondents were asked what the punishment should be if Trump is convicted in Manhattan. Most respondents said that Trump should not go to prison and that he should instead receive either no term of imprisonment, probation, or a financial penalty only (21 percent, 17 percent and 22 percent, respectively).

In both instances, a clear partisan breakdown was evident. For the DOJ case, 73 percent of Democrats thought Trump should go to prison if convicted, compared to 16 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independents. For the Manhattan DA’s case, 65 percent of Democrats backed prison time, compared to 14 percent of Republicans and 36 percent of independents.

The results also complicate the post-indictment narrative that the charges have improved Trump’s chances of winning his party’s presidential nomination. It’s true that he’s gained support in the polls since the indictments, but our survey suggests that they haven’t fundamentally changed Republicans’ opinion of his campaign. While 21 percent of GOP respondents said the federal indictment on mishandling classified documents made them more likely to support Trump, 23 percent said it made them less likely; fully 50 percent said it had no impact and 6 percent said they didn’t know. The results were similar for the Manhattan DA’s indictment over the hush money payment.

Among the broader public, a conviction in either case would be damaging to Trump’s electoral chances. An identical number — 41 percent of all respondents — said that a conviction in either the federal case or the Manhattan DA’s case would make them less likely to support the former president. Despite all the commentary that he’s Teflon Don, it’s clear that some of his missteps can cost him.

The results also suggest that the numbers could get worse as Americans learn more about the pending charges. Roughly one-third of respondents said that they are not particularly familiar with the allegations in either case.

That number could decrease as media coverage continues, particularly in the run-up to potential trials. A trial date in the Manhattan DA’s case is currently set to begin on March 25, though it is conceivable that, as a practical matter, Trump could have the nomination locked up by then if dynamics in the GOP primary do not change. So far, most of his opponents have struggled to articulate a message that distinguishes themselves from Trump while appealing to a voter base that is largely sticking with him despite his mounting legal problems.

The public’s preference for a relatively speedy trial date in the federal prosecution against Trump could prove tricky to accommodate. Many legal observers are skeptical that a trial is possible next year, particularly given the complexities of a case that involves classified documents and a defendant who has historically proven adept at mounting aggressive delay strategies.

Indeed, according to the most recent statistics available, the median time from filing to disposition in felony cases in the Southern District of Florida, where the federal case against Trump is pending, is nine months. But that figure is almost surely dragged down by the fact that the significant majority of federal criminal cases are resolved by guilty pleas and that very few trials in the district, if any, have posed the sort of complexities that the first-ever criminal prosecution against a former U.S. president will pose, particularly involving classified information.

Still, if prosecutors and the presiding judge want to look to the law and satisfy the public’s interest, they can point to the results from this poll.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-thing-unites-people-trump-090000414.html

 

Wrong thread

 

Nah.
He loves to play the underdog and whine, but that's despicable behavior so we just let it slide on by.

 

I don't put much stock in online polls in general and this polling outfit in particular. We will just have to see what other polls say and if this could be a trend. But one of the fairly common questions is will the Trump cult fever ever break? When will enough be enough?



Majority says federal prosecutors have strong case against Trump in Jan. 6 probe: poll

Majority says federal prosecutors have strong case against Trump in Jan. 6 probe: poll
205
Jared Gans
Mon, July 24, 2023 at 11:41 AM MDT




A majority of voters see the potential Jan. 6 case against former President Donald Trump as strong and a reason for him to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, according to a new poll.

The Harvard University CAPS/Harris Poll showed that 57 percent of registered voters said the federal case against Trump in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election is “very strong” or “somewhat strong.” That includes 87 percent of Democrats, 47 percent of independents and 31 percent of Republicans.

A plurality, 42 percent, believe Trump is likely guilty of the potential charges he could be facing for his involvement in the efforts to overturn the election, while 37 percent said he is likely innocent and should not be charged. A fifth said he might be guilty of the charges he could face but should not be indicted because the charges would be “too political” and interfere with the 2024 election.

The results come after Trump revealed last week that he received a letter from the Justice Department informing him that he is a target of the investigation. Trump was given four days to decide whether to appear before the grand jury that special counsel Jack Smith has organized for the case.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The letter could indicate that a charging decision on Trump is close.

A slight majority — 55 percent — said a third indictment, which would be the second federal one, filed against Trump is a reason for him to withdraw from the 2024 race, while 45 percent said he should continue running. More than 80 percent of Democrats said the indictment would be a reason to drop out, as did half of independents and 3 in 10 Republicans.

Trump has already been indicted in the hush money case over payments that ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet an alleged affair between her and Trump, and in the case concerning the classified and sensitive documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.

Trump has continued to hold a large lead in the Republican primary polls over his challengers despite the indictments against him and even saw a slight increase in his numbers in some polls following the indictments.

Pollsters found 56 percent of respondents said they expect an additional indictment against Trump would hurt him politically.

Nearly two-thirds of voters, including 55 percent of Republicans, said Trump actively tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but 56 percent said they expect he will be acquitted if he is charged.

“I think a well detailed Jan 6th indictment will not be like the other Trump indictment — the public could react quite strongly against Trump if this indictment has new information, according to the poll,” said Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll. “This represents real danger to a Trump candidacy.”

The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll was conducted from July 19-20 and surveyed 2,068 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.

The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/majority-says-federal-prosecutors-strong-174109197.html

 

Did I misread the title of this thread (in more than one way)?

 

No you are just repeating yourself. Like Clarise used to do all the time.

 

Point made.

 

Trump Attorney Claims Bad Headlines For Client Are ‘Election Interference’
By Charlie NashJul 24th, 2023, 8:18 pm

Former President Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba told Newsmax guest host Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Monday that bad headlines about her client are “election interference.”

After the Daily Beast reported that former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik would hand over roughly two thousand documents to Trump investigator Jack Smith, Gaetz asked Habba whether the development was “something the Trump legal team wanted to happen.”

“I can’t get into any, um, I can’t get into any details,” Habba replied Habba.


However, she added:

Every headline that comes out in media — I don’t even know if I would recognize the Daily Beast as a valuable media source — but the Daily Beast, you know, they come out with these leaks and, you know, I read a little bit more reputable newspapers, but listen, they come out with this for a reason, and everything is done in specific timing. Headlines are done for election interference. Watch.

We know that Hunter’s associate was supposed to come out and testify on Monday, I heard now he may not be doing so, but watch, they’ll come after Trump again around the same time so that, again, they say, ‘Look at the shiny ball, guys. Don’t look over here. We don’t want you to see it. We wanna give you another headline.’


https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-a...adlines-for-client-are-election-interference/

 

Press bias is most notable on racial issues. The first impression most of us got of the encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was of a smiling, innocent looking photo of a much younger Trayvon Martin, and a sullen, malevolent photo of George Zimmerman. We were told that Zimmerman had a gun, and all Martin had were skittles.

The media had access to more recent photos of Martin, looking like a thug, blowing smoke at the camera, and making an obscene gesture to the camera. The media also had access to photos of a bleeding Zimmerman that were taken right after the encounter. They clearly showed that he had been thrown on the ground and punched in the face. The media choose not to show these photos.

During the George Floyd riots the mainstream media told us frequently of the "mainly peaceful protests against racial injustice." There was little mention of the estimated two billion dollars in damage cause by the riots.

If a black man is killed by a white man anywhere in the United States this becomes national news, even if, as usually the case, the black man had been committing a crime.

If a black criminal kills a white person this is often not mentioned in the local news. If it is, the race of the criminal is almost never mentioned.

 

Racist arguments like that are blatant lies. The facts are that over 80% of white murder victims are killed by whites.

 

LOL, as the 2024 election gets closer, the libtards are going into full panic mode...

The Swamp is panicking. Senile joe biden is panicking. Jill the fart tart is panicking. Oblowme is panicking. hunter The Crack Head is panicking. The Marxist Democrat Party is panicking...