On Balance, Is the MSM Liberal, Conservative, or Somewhere In-Between?

[Mr. Ected]

My gut feeling is, the media is moderately conservative, with occasional flourishes of liberalism, for which their shame and remorse is immediately overcompensated.

The only people propounding a liberal media are those who are constructing straw men.

If the media was indeed liberal, it would have the Limbaughs and Hannitys of the world in an immediate chokehold.

[Ikonoklast]

1. Leans right. Defender of all things corporate.

Journalists need not apply, just failed actors and soap stars that can read the propaganda and look good on the tube.

Print media only slightly less so.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

2. You left out another option;

controlled by corporations which are always going to be conservative. They can't help it. Because a corporations main objective is to return dividends and post profits, these things by their very nature are conservative.
So we get a liberal news show if it posts a profit. Simple as that.
:shrug:

[Mr. Ected]

3. Absolutely, You Pegged It.

And with politicians and media sharing a bed, it pretty much makes a friggin mockery of the first amendment.

[Deja Q]

4. Whatever makes the most money and attention. Therefore they are apolitical by nature.

And the media is only as liberal as the conservatives who own the outlets. ;)

[tom_paine]

5. Corporate-Authoritarian n/t

[Warpy]

6. It's corporatist

You know that by the paucity of labor stories and stories critical of the businesses owned by it's megacorporate owners.

We need trust busting and nowhere is it more obvious than our over controlled news media.

[supernova]

7. They are status quo

They will support whoever is in power at the moment.

We've had 30 years of nonstop Repub rule, so of course they lean right. And the one 8-year interruption they treated as a fluke that must be corrected.

[Captain Hilts]

8. It's lazy. nt

[dem629]

9. It depends on the viewpoint of the consumer.

Someone like Gingrich is going to say it's left, because he's further on the right.

Someone like Kucinich is going to say it's right, because he's further on the left.

So, it largely depends on perspective.

[Robbien]

10. They lean no way except for themselves. As Pincus says papers are narcissistics

Walter Pincus: Newspaper Narcissism
http://www.cjr.org/essay/newspaper_narcissism_1.php?page=all

American journalism is in trouble, and the problem is not just financial. My profession is in distress because for more than a decade it has been chasing the false idols of fame and fortune. While engaged in those pursuits, it forgot its readers and the need to produce a commercial product that appealed to its mass audience, which in turn drew advertisers and thus paid for it all. While most corporate owners were seeking increased earnings, higher stock prices, and bigger salaries, editors and reporters focused more on winning prizes or making television appearances.
. . .

Editors have paid more attention to what gains them prestige among their journalistic peers than on subjects more related to the everyday lives of readers. . .

We have also failed our readers in the way we cover government. The First Amendment not only guaranteed freedom of the press from government interference, it also gave American journalists the opportunity—I believe the responsibility—to find and present facts on issues that require public attention. Our press is not protected in order to merely echo the views of government officials, opposition politicians, and so-called experts. Too often, though, that’s what occurs.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. corrupt corporate sycophants nt.

[Mari333]

12. corporatists. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Neither. They are in the business of selling products.

Whatever political stance is likely to sell the most Twinkies, Toothpaste, or Beer, is what decides.