Play the Game: The Media Left/Right Bias Spectrum!

[InTheLight]

The is an off shoot from a thread that RevMitchell started. Here is a graphic I grabbed from the article he linked to in his post. This graphic shows where liberals and conservatives get their news. The further right on the x-axis the more conservative the person is, the further left on the x-axis the more liberal. Where these people get their news is indicated.

I thought it would be fun for us to list where we perceive the media outlets themselves should be placed on the spectrum. That is, where on the left/right spectrum would you place CNN? NPR? FoxNews? etc.

For this exercise zero is neutral and +10 is most conservative, and -10 is most liberal. I'll start.

First off, MSNBC needs to be moved more to the left. As should CBS and Huff Po. Wall Street Journal and Washington Post needs to be moved to the right. As does Fox News. Drudge Report is tough to call. Since they are a news compiler service their bias is in the stories they choose to highlight.

Anyway, here are my ratings. These rankings do not necessarily reflect the editorial department's position, instead it reflects the type and content of news stories and how they slant the news. There are some publications, like the New Yorker and Buzzfeed that I'm not familiar with, so they won't be on my rankings.

-9.0 MSNBC, Al Jazeera
-8.5 Slate, Huffington Post
-7.0 The Daily Show
-6.0 CBS News, NPR
-5.0 Colbert Report, PBS
-4.0 NBC News, BBC (though they change spots depending on party in power.)
-3.0 The New York Times (still the best news gatherer), Bloomberg
-2.0 CNN, USA Today
-1.0 The Economist, ABC News, Google News, The Washington Post (currently my go-to first news read)

0.0 Politico (they're hard to pin down, so I put them at 0), Yahoo News

+1.0 to +6.0 Drudge Report
+3.0 Wall Street Journal
+5.0 Fox News
+6.0 Breitbart, Sean Hannity
+7.0 The Blaze
+8.0 Rush Limbaugh
+9.0 Glen Beck

What say you?

 

[carpro]

Right off the bat, I can tell you that Limbaugh , Hannity . and Beck don't belong on the list at all.

Nobody from the left or right should get their news from commentators. Even they don't pretend to be journalists. That includes the commentators on the left.

You are right to place MSNBC as far left as they can go. The insidious nature of a network like MSNBC is that they do masquerade as a news network.

 

[InTheLight]

Might well list what I read most frequently.

* Mpls. StarTribune, my local paper, - 4.0 on the spectrum
* Washington Post
* Google News (have widget on my PC and phone)
* Drudge Report
* Breitbart, to get a jump on what will be posted on BB.
* NY Times

I also use the Feedly RSS app on my phone which lets me custom pick news sources. Kind of like a custom news compiler.

I also follow CNN Breaking News on Twitter. You can get stories from them about 15-30 minutes before most other outlets have them.

 

[InTheLight]

Right off the bat, I can tell you that Limbaugh , Hannity and Beck don't belong on the list at all. Nobody from the left or right should get their news from commentators. Even they don't pretend to be journalists. That includes the commentators on the left.

Agreed. But the Daily Show and Colbert Report were listed so I left Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck on there.

You are right to place MSNBC as far left as they can go. The insidious nature of a network like MSNBC is that they do masquerade as a news network.

Yes, they are terrible.

 

[Revmitchell]

-10.0 MSNBC, Al Jazeera
-10 Slate, Huffington Post
-10 CBS News, NPR
-10 NBC News, BBC
-5.0 The New York Times, Bloomberg
-10 CNN, USA Today
-10 The Economist, ABC News, Google News, The Washington Post
-10 Politico Yahoo News

+5.0 Wall Street Journal
+5.0 Fox News
+6.0 Breitbart
+7.0 The Blaze

Some of the others previously mentioned are not news sources but commentators. They would need to be in their own category.