While there’s little doubt that left-leaning bias is rampant throughout much of the political media, is that bias powerful enough to swing a presidential election? According to a survey of those who voted for Joe Biden in November, it made a big enough difference to hand six swing states to the former vice president.
Unfortunately, there are no recounts for media bias. So, how do we prove the effect of that bias, and what can conservatives do to counter it in the future?
Brent Bozell, president of the watchdog Media Research Center, surveyed swing-state Biden voters and found that the media’s refusal to cover certain stories may have cost President Donald Trump the election.
The Media Research Center asked voters about eight news stories, including the unfolding scandal involving Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings that may have included Joe Biden himself, a former staffer’s sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden, and positive stories about Trump’s successes, including 33% economic growth during the pandemic, an upcoming coronavirus vaccine rollout, and Middle East peace deals.
The Media Research Center found that 17% of Biden voters wouldn’t have voted for him had they known about one or more of the stories. Bozell’s calculations show that was enough to move six swing states into Trump’s column, giving him 311 Electoral College votes—enough to retain the presidency.
For example, 39% of Biden voters said they didn’t know about the record 11 million jobs created from June to October in the snapback from the pandemic. If they had, 5.4% would have changed their vote. And if they had known about Biden’s sexual assault allegations, 8.9% said they wouldn’t have voted for him.
Of course, reporting wasn’t always this slanted. Years ago, Sam Yette, a former Newsweek reporter and a leftist who nonetheless took pride in his straight reporting, once invited me to his journalism class at Howard University.
I was there to test his students to see if they could interview and write a story about a conservative black woman with whom they likely disagreed without injecting their biases. The hitch was that I got to grade their papers. Yette’s lesson that day was how to report the facts without editorializing.
Unfortunately, today, editorializing regularly gets passed off as news, and we’re seeing its grave effects. The media’s coverage of the presidential election served the left’s agenda, not democracy.
So what’s the solution to countering the bias?
The first part of the solution is continuing the great work of the Media Research Center and others to expose bias and let Americans know they’re being lied to.
The second part is growing the reach of conservative news outlets like The Washington Times, Fox News, Newsmax, talk radio, and The Heritage Foundation’s own Daily Signal (where we produce both news and opinion, but we clearly label them as such and work to keep our opinions out of the news).
Alternative outlets like these are critical to reporting on the multitude of important stories that the legacy media refuses to cover—or cover truthfully.
The third part is conservatives showing up where the rest of America is tuned in. Conservatives can’t expect that Fox News will steal away every viewer from CNN or CBS, or that The Daily Signal will wrest all the readership from The New York Times.
While it’s important for conservatives to inform their base through friendly media outlets, they have to do more than preach to the choir. They need to show up on left-leaning media outlets, especially whenever they can be live and unedited.
Good things can happen when they do. Trump proved in this election that the conservative policies that unleashed our economy and left more money in the pockets of American families appealed to people who didn’t necessarily consider themselves conservative. Ditto for issues like immigration reform and election integrity.
Trump’s conservative approach to many issues led to significant increases in the number of blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans who voted for him over 2016.
When conservatives speak to people other than conservatives, their ideas can win many of them over.
In the end, journalists who disguise opinion as straight news are admitting that they don’t have enough confidence in their leftist philosophy to trust people with the facts to make up their own minds. And they’re right—the appeal of leftism withers in the sunlight of truth.
Those kinds of journalists aren’t the guardians of truth that the Founders envisioned for the media in our democracy. Instead, they’re little better than the propagandists who’ve done the bidding of tyrants and dictators throughout history.
Their credibility rests on a thin thread that will eventually break as more Americans seek the truth. It’s up to conservatives to expose Americans to that truth, making sure the media either changes their ways or that thread snaps once and for all.
Reprinted with Permission from - Daily Signal by - Kay C. James
The media needs to be continually called out by truthful reporters like Lix Wheeler. I would love to see conservative reporters sticking microphones in the face of the mainstream media as they leave work every day. We also need to educate ourselves and close our accounts with the like of Facebook and Amazon.
Contribute to individual candidates you like, instead of to the party.
The lack of humanoids demorats info will cost them. Biden will be the same as obummer no real growth blaming trump 4 all ails in the mext 4 years. So enjoy your poverty ,& ,homelessi future where south of the border will be the new americans. Hate 2 be white 4 the next 4 ye0ars
In general terms, establishment Republicans were big-government politicos who appeased their base with the pretense of fiscal conservatism, but were moderate or even liberal in regard to the size and role of government. Form a new Political Party – The Freedom Pasty!!! President Trump and FreedomWorks.org have consolidated the base!!!!The American Revolution 2.0.!!!!!
Our Supreme Court is compromised and has ceased to valid! Roberts has told his “colleagues” that, if they rule anything in President trump’s favor, there will rioting and that, using a severe expletive, he will do anything he can to get rid of President Trump!!! If Roberts had even a 100th of an ounce of honesty, he would immediately resign!!! Understand, when a government stops following it own laws, it has ceased to be legitimate!!!! The House and Senate has become terrorists also. It just may be time for honest Americans to physically remove the liars and cheats from office!!!! We no longer have fair and honest Elections!!!!!
To get the USA back to its founding principles al of the demonrats,antifa,blm and socialists must be executed for treason right now!!..There is a new civil war coming…BOOM!
I believe things will only improve if we address the breakdown of family values within the hearts and minds of our people….our fellow citizens. The breakdown of the family unit with the accompanying erosion of traditional values equals higher concentration of people making choices in violation of God’s laws. The more ripened in iniquity we as a people become, the more we will fall into all of the traps and snares into which Lucifer lures us. The more we fall into the snares and traps, the more public sentiment including political policy will become foundation-less. Those who have no foundation, will fall for anything. And like a vicious destructive yet consistent cycle the more often and the deeper the erosion of family and the values taught in the family, the more broken we become.
As unpopular as it sounds, I find myself praying to God to bless our nation with STRONGER family values and also in 2020 for the first time, I contributed my God-given money to political forces that I believe will work to strengthen the values upon which a happy society is built and upon which a society prospers. I imagine that we as an entire nation would do well to spend WAY MORE TIME supplicating the Lord as described above. I believe if we all work WAY HARDER at living God’s laws with exactness (see the 10 commandments as a good start) as individuals, sincerely pray daily, and regularly support causes that hold firm to the belief in obedience to God’s laws, He will bless us with exactly what we are requesting if enough of us do it.
Let us become ripened in righteousness!
If anyone doesn’t believe this, just try it and see for yourself……don’t take my word for it, just test it….try it….like an experiment. But I find it is effective only when I do it with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ.
These are my terribly unpopular ideas but I can tell you from first-hand experience that IT WORKS!!!!!!
Matthew Hunter
801-755-2839
It’s time to write our local and national news stations and the advertisers that support these stations and tell them enough is enough. We won’t watch this garbage anymore. We must hit them economically to get their attention. In our house we won’t watch the news anymore. We rely on conservative (honest) stations on TV and the net. You also must use intelligent common sense to analyze the data through reason. I know, that is something that is totally lacking with some people, but many could make the switch.
Untrue. You must continue to support the GOP–because that is ALL we have. Stop pouting.
I truly wish we would not use the terms conservative and liberal as if they were opposing evils. It is the extremists we need to oppose, both from the Progressive left and the fundamentalist right. Most of US are moderates who lean somewhat left or right.
YES, YES & YES. Thank you!
What can I do to change things? Voting did NOT help
Other than holding your elected officials’ feet to the fire and harassing them with letters, emails and phone calls to oppose everything that the Dems are planning to do, our options are dwindling. Many if not most of the Republicans have shown no backbone to stand up to the Dems and media and are happy to try to get along with them. If we cannot get more Conservative fighters in elected offices, our only options may be another revolution or civil war. I pray to God this does not happen, but every day it’s looking more and more as if it will.
Voting DID help. We just lost this time. That’s all. Another election is in 4 years.
With the concern about Fraud during this very important Presidential election, and Congress sitting on their hands as usual-Why not just have another voting election-this is too important. Only valid US citizens with the appropriate ID and bi partisan monitoring. Concern is the Dominion company that runs the voting booths-Isn’t China heavily invested in them and weren’t they made in S. America by a socialist country? Look, it’s not to late, America’s future rests with integrity not the dishonest media, the traitorous Biden family on and on. There are so many people out there thinking they are going to get a free ride-they need to wake up-nothing is free. I will never support Biden. He sold out our country a long time ago. As far as he and Obama creating so many jobs in 2008-take a hard look at this. They took a lot of 40 hour jobs and made them 4 10 hour jobs-we know this when my brother’s son law applied to a big outdoor supply store. The stores did not have to pay benefits. Also, people who were tired of the loss of jobs and no expectations never returned to work after the unemployment expired-these numbers make Obama and Biden look great another line of BS-they never looked good. There is no way Trump lost this election!
The first thing to do is cut them off. Don’t watch them and that includes Fox News. We do have other options. I would like to throat punch George Snotpus and David Makemesick.
Contrary to one point made above regarding the percentage of folks who would not have voted for Biden, I think it would not have mattered anyway. The left had this thing worked out so that no matter how many votes President Trump got they would have manufactured more votes.
If Uncle Joe and “Knees” Harris actually come in to office I believe that to bring the country together that the two should get together and enjoy a motorcade through downtown Dallas.
Talk about a happy new year!!
VERY VERY terrible thing to say. Honestly! You sound like Kathy Griffin wanting to cut Trump’s head off. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???????
The author of this article suggested that one approach to combating the liberal media bias was for more conservatives to go on these shows. Wouldn’t they have to be invited? Unlikely that many would or they’d be cut off like happens sometimes even on Fox News!
Don’t be so charitable by including Fox News in it. This is not the same Fox today as back when Roger Ailes created it. With characters like Donna Brazile, Juan Williams, Chris Wallace, Jessica Tarlov, Marie Harf, Leslie Marshal, Neal Cavuto your Fox subscription is worthless. Might as well watch CNN or vist Mother Jones. Fox has lost it’s way and stabbed loyal viewers in the back.
Stop watching/subscribing to the left media options. When their “viewers/numbers” decline, they will have to make changes.
Unfortunately most viewers rely on their local news outlets which are controlled by the Big Three, ABC, CBS & NBC or Fox. These outlets dribble out what their mainstream masters tell them. The average American won’t spend the time to seek ot the truth from reliable sources. The MSM has become the American propaganda machine of the CCP. Most Democrat politicians are in bed with the Chinese Communists. I fear for our country, our liberty and freedoms are on the way out the back door. When we cannot have a fair presidential election, it’s all over. The only remedy will come through the shedding of blood, on both sides. I only hope and pray there are enough patriots left in America who are willing to stand up for our Constitution and against Democratic Socialism.
Simple- 75+ million voters must stay together, fight everything the socialist, failed,corrupt democrats try to do and in 2 years start throwing ALL of them out!
We the People must impose OUR will , Stand up America!
Amen!