Media Scorecard

Voter Breakdown

Is there a liberal media bias?

Most newspaper executives and editors say no, but an analysis of the political affiliations of newspaper editors and reporters in Western North Carolina shows that a disproportionate number are registered as either Democrat or unaffiliated.

Despite this imbalance, local editors claim personal political views do not permeate their news coverage.

“I truly believe print media bends over backward to be fair,” said Vicki Hyatt, the editor of Waynesville’s Enterprise Mountaineer and a registered Democratic. “We are assiduous about getting both sides of an issue out and allowing equal space to say their views.”

Sylva Herald Editor and Democrat Lynn Hotaling said, if anything, journalists over-compensate for their personal bias.

Margaret Engel of the Freedom Forum, a media research organization started by USA Today founder Al Neuharth, said reporters place their credibility — the hallmark of their trade — above their personal beliefs.

“Their entire stock and trade depends on it. It undercuts their whole career and purpose as an underpaid and overworked newsperson if they are going to be carrying water from one side to the other,” Engel said.

Asheville Citizen Times Editor Bob Gabordi is registered as unaffiliated, but he said there is some truth to the perception of a liberal media bias. He believes, however, that it is not as widespread nor concerted as the “Rush Limbaughs of the world would have us believe.”

Gabordi said bias is often in the eye of the beholder.

He used an analogy from his son’s softball game to demonstrate this point. When a player on Gabordi’s team slid into first base at a recent game, Gabordi was certain the runner was safe. The coach of the opposing team was just as certain the runner was out, Gabordi said.

“That’s why it is important to have diversity in the newsroom. Otherwise, that runner is always going to appear safe or out,” Gabordi said.

That diversity, however, seems to be lacking.

Numerous national studies and surveys have shown that journalists hold views to the political left of the general public when it comes to their voting record and their stand on issues like abortion, the death penalty and social programs.

“Liberal bias in the news media is a reality. It is not the result of a vast left-wing conspiracy; journalists do not meet secretly to plot how to slant their news reports,” according to the Media Research Group. “But being a journalist is not like being a surveillance camera at an ATM, faithfully recording every scene for future playback. Journalists make subjective decisions every minute of their professional lives. They choose what to cover and what not to cover, which sources are credible and which are not, which quotes to use in a story and which to toss out.”

Locally, The Smoky Mountain News, an independent weekly covering Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, has among the worst scorecards for political diversity — 100 percent Democratic from ownership to reporters.

However, Scott McLeod, the editor, publisher and owner of The Smoky Mountain News, said that while personal political opinions may show up in the paper’s opinion pages, they should not filter into news reporting.

“Being fair and accurate is every reporter’s job. They are trained to write objective news stories,” said McLeod.

McLeod said the paper’s format — a tabloid size also preferred by sensational, big-city publications like the New York Daily News and liberal papers like the Village Voice — is often stereotyped by readers as liberal. This perception stems in part from historical notions about free, independent weekly papers, McLeod said.

“I think there is a credibility issue that people associate with tabloids as well,” McLeod said. “But in our news coverage, we do everything we can to be objective.”

The paper was twice called “ultra-liberal,” however, by U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, in his responses to a candidate questionnaire published in the newspaper’s 2004 voter guide.

The Robin Hood press

The Democratic and unaffiliated tilt witnessed among the rank and file of newsrooms is not as prevalent when examining the political affiliation of publishers and top-level management. While no reporters at the local papers in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain are registered as Republicans, that is not the case when it comes to their supervisors, who arguably have the final say in editorial news decisions.

The Smoky Mountain News’ analysis shows that 25 percent of the upper level management personnel at local papers are Republicans. Nationally, the corporate media owners, publishers and presidents are more likely to be Republicans, according to Engel. This trend undercuts claims of a “so-called” liberal media bias, she said.

Engel attributes the difference in political affiliations among reporters and management to their incomes — reporters are typically in the same pay scale as public school teachers, while editors and publishers are on par with corporate businessmen.

One question that is unclear is whether reporting jobs attract liberals or whether they become liberals once they get there. It’s some of both, according to those in the industry.

“If the media is already liberal and you’re hired there and you aren’t particularly committed to one affiliation, you quickly fall into place,” said Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the Media Research Center, an Arlington, Va., based organization that monitors the media for liberal bias.

But reporters are also molded by what they witness on the job. They frequently report on the hard-knocks of life — a single-mother laid off from a plant without healthcare, a family of four eating at a soup kitchen after the breadwinner is kicked off unemployment, school systems unable to afford computers.

Some do go into the business with an agenda, however.

“If you take a look at people who go into media, we tend to be people who feel strongly that the world can be a better place and we can help make that happen,” Gabordi said.

‘Cheap, dirty and sleazy’

A hot topic during this year’s presidential election coverage was the hue and cry over the liberal media bias that came to a head when Dan Rather was heavily criticized for using a suspect National Guard memo criticizing George Bush. That accusation has hit home with some local editors who feel they are unjustly lumped into that claim.

“I hate to get painted with that same broad brush, but after 34 years in this business, I’m used to being called just about anything,” said W.H. “Dink” NeSmith, president of Community Newspapers Incorporated, the chain that owns seven community newspapers in Western North Carolina.

Some editors, such as Hyatt with The Enterprise Mountaineer, simply write off claims of a liberal media bias as applicable to national outlets but not local papers.

“I assume they are talking about media other than us,” Hyatt said.

A 2004 study by the Pew Center for the People and the Press found a difference in national and local media outlets. Among those employed in large, national media organizations, 34 percent of journalists were self-described liberals compared to only 7 percent conservative. Among those who work at media organizations that focus on covering local and regional news, 23 percent are self-described liberals and 12 percent conservatives.

Hotaling with The Sylva Herald said the claim of a liberal bias is likely aimed at television.

“Personally I think the television media is more biased than print. People involved in newspapers do try harder, there is more of a tradition of being balanced,” Hotaling said.

In television, candidates’ platforms are boiled down to 30-second sound bites with little time for fact checking, while newspapers have the time and space to more thoroughly explore and explain the issues.

Television is more likely to be “cheap, dirty, sleazy and over the top,” according to Graham with the Media Research Group.

Unaffiliated or just sneaky?

Journalists outpace the general public in the unaffiliated category. Locally, one-third of reporters are unaffiliated. But, that doesn’t mean they are non-partisan, said media analyst Graham.

“If you ask them questions about where they stand on issues or who they voted for in the last election, people who claim they are unaffiliated or moderate turn out to be liberal,” Graham said.

Gabordi said the large number of supposedly unaffiliated journalists is a facade.

“I think a lot of people register as unaffiliated because we don’t want other people to know what we believe,” he said. “I think if you were to ask journalists in a confidential survey how they tend to vote, there is a pretty big spread between liberals and conservatives.”

Even Engel, who adamantly refutes claims of a liberal media bias, said there could be ulterior motives for registering as unaffiliated.

“Some feel very strongly if they are going to vote, they want to be registered as independent. They don’t want to report on political stories where either side can accuse them of bias,” Engel said.

One size doesn’t

fit all

The question of media bias has become more prevalent in the past decade with the rise of corporate ownership where more and more media outlets are owned by fewer and fewer conglomerates.

Gannett, the largest newspaper corporation in America, owns the Asheville Citizen Times. However, the company says it has a hands-off policy when it comes to coverage at its individual papers. That claim is backed up by the nearly even split in presidential endorsements in 2002 — 41 Gannett papers endorsed Al Gore, 37 endorsed George W. Bush and 20 did no presidential endorsement. These statistics are not yet available for the 2004 presidential election; they won’t be compiled until after the election so corporate headquarters doesn’t give the appearance of hovering over the shoulder of local papers.

“We won’t even ask individual papers what way they are going with endorsements until after the elections,” said Gannett spokesperson Tara Connell.

Local autonomy versus corporate control is also an issue for the slew of newspapers in mountain communities owned by the Athens-based company, Community Newspapers Incorporated.

“We absolutely positively will not try to edit our newspapers from out of town. We never try to influence their views, their opinions,” NeSmith said.

CNI owns 38 newspapers — including the Franklin Press, Cashiers Chronicle, Highlander, Smoky Mountain Times, Cherokee Scout, and Clay County Progress — and most are considered to be the local paper to their readers.

NeSmith, a self-described conservative, said the company does not make hiring decisions based on political affiliations. In the past two years, CNI has brought on new editors at the Franklin Press and Smoky Mountain Times — both are registered Republicans.

McLeod, editor/owner of the independent Smoky Mountain News, disagreed that corporate ownership does not affect the local autonomy of newspapers.

“In the media conglomerates, you lose choices,” McLeod said.