NY Times, WaPo seen as biased; WSJ neutral

Some fascinating results from a recent Rasmussen Reports survey:

A Rasmussen Reports survey on perceptions of media bias found that Americans tend to believe that the New York Times, Washington Post, and their local newspaper all show a bias in favor of liberals. A plurality believes that the Wall Street Journal delivers the news without bias. …

Though “liberal” can mean either left-wing or libertarian, modern American usage most often refers to the former, which is characterised by support for high taxes to fund social spending and a distrust of markets and private corporations. When libertarians use the term liberal, to describe their belief in individual liberty, free markets and small government, and distinguish themselves from social conservatives, they usually qualify it as “classical liberal”.

But back to the poll. Even among liberal readers, the New York Times is more often considered liberal than conservative (though most consider it unbiased). Major broadcasters, including CNN, are also seen as liberal. And yes, unlike the Wall Street Journal, Fox is considered to be conservative. I doubt, however, that Fox will be as embarrassed by these findings as the supposed “paper of record”.

These figures confirm something the Pew Research Centre discovered in its survey of journalists, which it conducts every five years. The most recent data, from 2004, found journalists themselves are much more likely to be self-described liberals. The commentary on this survey also notes that it did not establish an adequate distinction between the term’s left-wing or libertarian meanings.