WASHINGTON - September 12 - Media Matters for
America today released "Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: The
Conservative Advantage in Syndicated Op-Ed Columns," a comprehensive and
unprecedented analysis of nationally syndicated columnists from nearly 1,400
newspapers or 96 percent of English-language U.S. daily newspapers. Because of the
time, labor, and difficulty involved in gathering such a wide scope of detailed
information about America's newspapers, no one has ever
before determined exactly where syndicated columnists are
published. The report shows that conservative syndicated columnists
are carried in far more newspapers, with much greater audience reach than their
progressive counterparts, giving them a distinct advantage in the marketplace of
ideas.
Among the report's key
findings:
- Conservative Syndicated Columnists
Dominate Daily Newspapers -- Sixty percent of the nation's newspapers print more
conservative syndicated columnists every week than progressive syndicated
columnists. Only 20 percent run more progressives than conservatives, while the
remaining 20 percent are evenly balanced.
- Conservative Syndicated Columnists
Reach Millions More Than Progressives -- In a given week, nationally syndicated conservative
columnists are published in more than 153 million newspapers. Progressive
columnists, on the other hand, are published in 125 million newspapers.
- Top Syndicated Columnists Are Mostly
Conservative -- The
top-10 list of columnists, sorted by the number of papers in which they are
carried or by the total circulation of the papers in which they are published,
includes five conservatives, two centrists, and only three progressives.
- In Region After Region, Conservative
Syndicated Columnists Enjoy Advantage -- In eight of the nine regions into which the U.S. Census
divides the country, conservative syndicated columnists reach more readers than
progressive syndicated columnists in any given week. Only in the Middle Atlantic
region (which includes New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) do progressive columnists reach
more readers each week.
"Together these results
prove what many have suspected for years -- that our opinion pages are
consistently skewed to the right, allowing conservatives a disproportionate
advantage in shaping public opinion," said David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters. "The integrity of our nation's newspapers is at stake
when the debate of today's pressing issues is dominated entirely by one side of
the argument," Brock
said.
About the Report and Media Matters for America
Media Matters
amassed information
on 201 nationally syndicated columnists published by nearly every daily
newspaper in the country. Contacting each paper individually to ask which
syndicated columnists are published, we obtained information from 1377
newspapers, or 96 percent of all English-language daily newspapers in the
United
States.
This study is unparalleled in its scope and
level of detail. Despite the enormous influence of America's op-ed pages, no one has
ever before determined where syndicated columnists are specifically published.
Previous examinations of syndicated columnists relied on data provided by the
syndicates themselves, while Media
Matters contacted each and every English-language daily newspapers to
ensure the highest level of accuracy.
Media Matters
is a
not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to
comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative
misinformation in the U.S.
media.
Report is Available at: www.mediamatters.org/reports/oped/
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