Commentary

What Partisans Chew On: The News Sources Favored By Republicans And Democrats

1. Brian Bieron from Bieron Communications, June 11, 2025 at 9:07 a.m.

   It is a well-researched fact that the majority of major US media institutions are staffed by left-leaning people, often very left-leaning. The perspectives of most of those major media institutions clearly leans left as a result. It's also a fact that most people self-select for news sources that reinforce their personal perspective. It's often small things like word choices, source selection, and story placement. So, Democrats have many more friendly media options to choose from and self-distribute more widely. Conservatives have fewer choices among large, traditional outlets and so self-aggregate to fewer options. There is nothing surprising or sensational there, just math. Instead, the entrenched ideological distance between major media and the majority of Americans is the story, and also a big contributor to the general loss of confidence in traditional US media as new-media options grew.  

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Artie White from Zoom Media Corp replied, June 11, 2025 at 11:10 a.m.

This kind of comment pretends to be neutral but pushes a familiar narrative: that the left controls all the media and conservatives are just victims of a rigged system. YAWN. In reality, right-wing media is incredibly powerful; Fox News alone shapes the worldview of millions daily, and that’s before you even get to talk radio, Facebook echo chambers, or sites like Daily Wire. Media bias isn’t a left-wing monopoly, it’s a symptom of a fractured ecosystem where every side builds its own reality. Let’s stop pretending one side owns propaganda.

Brian Bieron from Bieron Communications, June 11, 2025 at 12:10 p.m.

@Artie - Come on, that's not close to what I wrote. I didn't say or imply that the Left controls "All the media". Nor did I say or imply that there are not powerful right wing media sources. In fact, just the opposite. The individual power of the smaller number of right wing sources is in large part due to the fact that more than half of Americans are conservative and their attention is divided among fewer traditional media sources. That's the math part. I mistakingly thought readers here would get that without me spelling it out. Sorry. But please, comment on something I actually wrote.

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Artie White from Zoom Media Corp replied, June 11, 2025 at 12:24 p.m.

Nice bait and switch, Brian, but the narrative you're pushing is clear even though you're attempting to apply a veneer of supposed objectivity. "The majority of major US media institutions are staffed by left-leaning people, often very left-leaning" is careful phrasing of the old & worn-out "liberal mainstream media" song and dance. And it's false.

Saying “most Americans are conservative” is a rhetorical trick used to claim moral or cultural majority. The reality: America is ideologically mixed, with shifting coalitions depending on the issue - ex: gun rights / reform, marijuana legalization, Medicare, etc. It’s more complex than your bite-sized bumper sticker statement. According to Gallup as of early 2024:

38% of Americans identify as conservative
31% as moderate
28% as liberal

Your "entrenched ideological distance" is not math, it's just one person's subjective interpretation of reality.

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