{"id":1520193,"date":"2022-06-17T08:12:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T12:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1520193"},"modified":"2022-06-17T08:12:12","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T12:12:12","slug":"hundreds-of-newspapers-work-to-bury-opinion-as-journalism-by-dropping-op-eds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hundreds-of-newspapers-work-to-bury-opinion-as-journalism-by-dropping-op-eds\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds Of Newspapers Work To Bury Opinion As Journalism By Dropping Op-Eds"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhundreds-of-newspapers-work-to-bury-opinion-as-journalism-by-dropping-op-eds%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1520193&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1280px-Tennessean_office.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Last week, the Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/media\/2022\/06\/09\/gannett-opinion-pages\/\">reported<\/a> that Gannett, the media giant that owns hundreds of newspapers across the country such as USA Today, is reducing its opinion pages in order to counter public perceptions of political bias. Gannett-affiliated newspapers \u201chave begun to radically shrink and reimagine their editorial sections, publishing them on fewer days each week and dropping traditional features such as syndicated columns and editorial cartoons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following an April \u201ccommittee of editors,\u201d the decision was made to scale back even political endorsements, noting that those, as well as editorials and columns, are \u201cfrequently cited\u201d by readers as the reason for subscription cancellations.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a nice gesture, I suppose, given that the op-ed and editorial sections of the vast majority of newspapers in this country are so obviously slanted to the left. But frankly, it\u2019s also irrelevant. That\u2019s because the decision obviates the more ubiquitous problem in corporate media: journalism, and especially print journalism, is an overwhelmingly leftist profession, and thus even \u201cstraight, factual\u201d reporting is informed by not-so-hidden leftist biases. Therefore, reducing the openly marked opinion content in these newspapers hides how most media outlets launder opinion journalism as reporting.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate <strong>Media Undeniably Leans Left<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The data on the liberal bias of journalists and media outlets is both well documented and incontrovertible. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/media\/2014\/05\/survey-7-percent-of-reporters-identify-as-republican-188053\">2014 survey<\/a> found that <em>four times<\/em> as many journalists identified as Democrat as Republican.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Fact_check\/Do_97_percent_of_journalist_donations_go_to_Democrats\">2017 Ballotpedia study<\/a> of contributions from donors identified as journalists discovered that \u201ca majority of the donors or a majority of the donations (depending on the study) benefited Democrats or liberal causes.\u201d And a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2020\/04\/10\/journalists-may-be-liberal-this-doesnt-affect-which-candidates-they-choose-cover\/\">2020 survey<\/a> conducted by several academics who explained their findings in the Washington Post found that of those journalists who said they identified with a political party, 8 in 10 said they were liberal\/Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>The only major television news network that doesn\u2019t lean far-left is Fox News \u2014 it competes with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, among others, all of whom to varying degrees favor the left. With the exception of the Wall Street Journal, the editorial boards of practically every other major newspaper in the country, including heavy-hitters The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, are decidedly leftist. Even media that historically didn\u2019t even report on politics, like ESPN, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/espns-rough-week-shows-its-decay-at-the-hands-of-liberal-politics\">now carry water<\/a> for various leftist causes, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/watch\/player\/_\/id\/29344012\">Black Lives Matter<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/espn\/story\/_\/id\/32317642\/coming-day-17-lgbtq+-athletes-share-their-coming-journeys\">LGBT messaging<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Factual Reporting\u2019 Is Nothing But<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Amusingly, Gannett\u2019s own research in 2018 found that young readers \u201coften can\u2019t tell the difference between news reporting and opinion, especially online,\u201d and that readers \u201coften mistakenly believe that news stories are dictated by the paper\u2019s editorial side.\u201d Perhaps that\u2019s because in many cases, there isn\u2019t much of a difference.<\/p>\n<p>George Mason Professor Timothy Groseclose in his 2012 book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Left-Turn-Liberal-Distorts-American\/dp\/1250002761\">Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind<\/a>\u201d notes that the political slant of most media outlets is far to the left of most of their customers, and even of the typical member of Congress, so much that media bias alone shifts elections. In a 2005 study conducted by Groseclose and Jeffrey Milyo, the two academics considered the think-tanks and policy groups most frequently cited by prominent mainstream media outlets, and determined a palpable leftist bias in those outlets \u201cstraight reporting.\u201d Indeed, their study was limited <em>just <\/em>to news content and didn\u2019t consider editorial, opinions, or even letters to the editor.<\/p>\n<p>That was more than 15 years ago, and the biases have become far more obvious. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/journalism\/2017\/10\/02\/covering-president-trump-in-a-polarized-media-environment\/\">October 2017 Pew Research report<\/a> noted that 62 percent of stories involving Donald Trump during his first 60 days in office were negative, compared to only 5 percent of stories that were positive. Barack Obama, in comparison, received far more favorable coverage in his first 60 days in office: 42 percent of stories involving Obama were positive, and only 20 percent were negative.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/cyber.harvard.edu\/publications\/2017\/08\/mediacloud\">May 2017 Harvard study<\/a> of Trump\u2019s first 100 days in office identified the same trend: 93 percent of CNN and NBC coverage of Trump was negative. That survey also found that 91 percent of CBS coverage and 87 percent of The New York Times coverage of Trump was negative. Indeed, The New York Times didn\u2019t feature <em>a single op-ed<\/em> from anyone endorsing Trump in 2020.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Many Journalists Don\u2019t Even Bother to Hide It<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Even more remarkable than the fact that corporate media still tries to retain the veneer of being the unbiased fourth estate is that they really think that their leftist beliefs are unvarnished reality. Take the Washington Post\u2019s Margaret Sullivan, who in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/media\/2022\/05\/05\/media-pro-life-abortion-rights-rhetoric-fail-eyal-press\/\">May article <\/a>noted that journalists \u201cfell\u201d for the rhetoric of the right by sometimes using the terminology of \u201cpro-life\u201d and \u201cpro-choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sullivan writes: \u201cWhen journalists agreed to accept terms such as \u2018pro-life\u2019 to describe those who oppose abortion, they implicitly agreed to help stigmatize those who support it. After all, what\u2019s the rhetorical opposite of \u2018pro-life\u2019?\u201d Sulllivan is saying that journalists should <em>presume <\/em>the pro-choice position. Of course, most corporate media already refer to the pro-life cause \u2014 which they almost universally attack \u2014 as \u201canti-abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s really just the iceberg tip. As I explained in a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/07\/we-need-a-more-forceful-pushback-to-a-hostile-media\/\">Federalist article last year<\/a>, to read the Washington Post (or really, any major newspaper) in print is to subject oneself to a barrage of stories catering to the latest leftist talking points on race and sex, from the front page to the sports section. How many news stories has The New York Times run in the last 12 months that offer a critical perspective on anti-racism ideologues like Nikole Hannah Jones or Ibram X. Kendi, or drag queen story hour? If I said zero, based on absolutely no attempt to substantiate my claim, would anyone bother to question me? We don\u2019t even need to fact-check.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, corporate media is so deeply compromised by its ideological biases that there is little hope for its renewal as a source of trusted, unbiased news, barring a dramatic, survivalist purging of editorial boards and newsrooms. Corporate media <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/03\/01\/business\/donald-mcneil-new-york-times-racial-slur.html\">push out<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/06\/06\/media\/dave-weigel-washington-post-suspended\/index.html\">suspend without pay<\/a> anyone who commits the slightest offense against woke ideology, while <a href=\"https:\/\/spectatorworld.com\/topic\/taylor-lorenz-goes-to-bat-for-bidens-disinformation-board\/\">fools<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/20\/washington-post-joins-new-york-times-in-portraying-america-as-racist-based-on-long-ago-deeds\/\">an obvious ideological ax to grind<\/a> are given extensive latitude to conjure up reporting that is obviously aimed at denigrating the right.<\/p>\n<p>If Gannett, the Washington Post, or CNN are really serious about rebuilding public trust, the answer isn\u2019t scaling back on opinions. They\u2019ll need to fire at least half their staff. I can provide them with a list, for anyone interested.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Casey Chalk is a senior contributor at The Federalist and an editor and columnist at The New Oxford Review. He has a bachelor\u2019s in history and master\u2019s in teaching from the University of Virginia and a master\u2019s in theology from Christendom College. He is the author of The Persecuted: True Stories of Courageous Christians Living Their Faith in Muslim Lands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, the Washington Post reported that Gannett, the media giant that owns hundreds of newspapers across the country such as USA Today, is reducing its opinion pages in order<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1520193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1520193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1520193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1520193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1520193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}