UCLA media study deeply flawed
Conservative blogs like Protein Wisdom are crowing about a UCLA study published December 14 that found that the media has a significant liberal bias.
The study started with the ADA score of our Senators and Representatives. Then it looked for citation correlations between a congressperson and a media outlet. So if Colorado Republican Wayne Allard cites the Heritage Foundation a lot and the Denver Post cites the Heritage Foundation a lot, then the Denver Post would have the same score as Allard, which in 2004 was a 5, or super-duper conservative.
This methodology is riddled with problems.
First of all, Senator John Kerry is a liberal. But his 2004 ADA score is a 25, or "pretty darn conservative." In fact, the ADA rates Kerry as more conservative than Republican Senators Snowe, Murkowski, McCain, Collins, Coleman, DeWine, Voinovich, Smith, Specter and Chafee. So using ADA scores to judge political bent is obviously difficult.
More importantly, the study misunderstands the meaning of the word "bias." Bias doesn't cite its sources. Bias presents lies as fact. Bias doesn't need to cite the Cato Institute when it feeds you the President's party line.
There are several more stat-geek reasons this study ought to be ignored. The Left Coaster is a good place to start.
UPDATE: Check out this link. It seems the authors of the study were both fellows at the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, AEI and the Hoover Institute. Surprise, surprise.
The study started with the ADA score of our Senators and Representatives. Then it looked for citation correlations between a congressperson and a media outlet. So if Colorado Republican Wayne Allard cites the Heritage Foundation a lot and the Denver Post cites the Heritage Foundation a lot, then the Denver Post would have the same score as Allard, which in 2004 was a 5, or super-duper conservative.
This methodology is riddled with problems.
First of all, Senator John Kerry is a liberal. But his 2004 ADA score is a 25, or "pretty darn conservative." In fact, the ADA rates Kerry as more conservative than Republican Senators Snowe, Murkowski, McCain, Collins, Coleman, DeWine, Voinovich, Smith, Specter and Chafee. So using ADA scores to judge political bent is obviously difficult.
More importantly, the study misunderstands the meaning of the word "bias." Bias doesn't cite its sources. Bias presents lies as fact. Bias doesn't need to cite the Cato Institute when it feeds you the President's party line.
There are several more stat-geek reasons this study ought to be ignored. The Left Coaster is a good place to start.
UPDATE: Check out this link. It seems the authors of the study were both fellows at the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, AEI and the Hoover Institute. Surprise, surprise.
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