Conservatives Vs. The Newsroom

i've been saying this all along, but...here's some more proof:

Newsroom conservatives are a rare breed

In national news outlets, only 7 percent of journalists call themselves conservative. Does that deepen a trust gap?

By Randy Dotinga | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

If you'd like to check out an endangered species, don't bother with a trip to the zoo. Just drop by the newsroom of your favorite newspaper or TV station and ask to see the conservatives.

According to a new survey, only 12 percent of local reporters, editors, and media executives are self-described conservatives, while twice as many call themselves liberal. At national news organizations, the gap is even wider - 7 percent conservative vs. 34 percent liberal.

(ed-Okay, at this point i have to point out that as of the last american election, only 8% of journalists voted conservative compared to 90% democrat. i don't know why this isn't pointed out. voting habits or registration would be a better indicator...i don't want to say this report is liberally biased or anything..)

That gap, which has grown wider in the past decade, does not necessarily prove that America's mainstream journalism is biased, as conservatives have long complained. But the survey does confirm that US newsrooms do not mirror the political leanings of the nation at large.

But in an election year, and an era of growing partisanship on the airwaves, the question of alleged media bias has currency. Some editors contend that at the very least, media outlets should acknowledge that ideologically unbalanced newsrooms are bad for journalism and, in a time of declining circulation and viewership, bad for business, too.

"We should acknowledge that maybe the biggest problem is that most of us think too much alike and come from the same backgrounds," says David Yarnold, editor of the opinion pages at The (San Jose) Mercury News. "Find the pro-lifers in a newsroom. That's harder than finding Waldo."