We highlight two recent fascinating interviews from the USA regarding the left wing bias of CNN, and two news media examples from New Zealand, which show why trust in the media being balanced and fair is at an all-time low. But what’s most interesting is that even the political left are getting sick of the bias.
EVEN THE LEFT ARE CALLING OUT LEFT WING MEDIA BIAS!
We always knew that the mainstream media leans heavily left.
And thatโs not an opinion. Thatโs a fact.
But what happens when even the left get sick of the left wing bias. Itโs happening!
In NZ they have researched the political leanings of newsrooms via a Massey University Worlds of JournalismStudy published in 2022, and they found that
65% of journalists admitted that they leaned left in their political views, and just 12% leaned right.
And there has also been research on the coverage by the NZ media of some recent crucial social issues. Coverage should be balanced and close to 50/50.
During the cannabis debate in 2020, an analysis of all the media coverage found that 66% of the coverage leant in favour of a yes vote.
During the debate about a conversion therapy ban and despite concerns about freedom of expression & belief, and the criminalising of parents and pastors and professional counsellors, there was a 78% bias in support of the law
And when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the media manifested their opposition to the decision with an 82% bias against the decision.
Shocking.
And thatโs why trust in the media is at an all time low.
Now please note that is not just my personal view as a social conservative. These are from random sample professional surveys.
It seems that even those on the side of the media โ the left โ are getting sick of the bias.
And that was on display for all to see last week.
In 2019, I actually attended a conference in Atlanta Georgia, so I popped down to check out the head office of CNN. As someone who has been heavily involved in the media, CNN was always held in high esteem โ up until about 10 years ago.
Last week, left leaning host Stephen Colbert in front of a left leaning New York audience make a comment about CNN being balanced – or โobjectiveโ was the word I think he used โ to a host of CNN, and the audience burst out laughing. It was very telling. Have a watch
Ouch. Remember this is a left wing host with a left wing audience with a left wing interviewee.
They almost laugh as to say โ yeah weโre objective โ ha ha ha ha. Sarcasm!
A couple of days later, ย in an interviewย with the same CNN host on the HBOย showย Real Time with Bill Maher,
Maher called himself a big supporter for CNN โ but he also argued that many consider CNN extremely biased and he completely understands why.
โCNN is the place where both sides can watch, and I think my show is evidence of that. We have lawmakers on from both the parties. Weโll haveย Elizabeth Warrenย on one night and weโll haveย Ted Cruzย on another night. I think lawmakers from both parties should take questions, and you should push both of them,โ
Well, that sounds nice in theory โ but let me explain how that actually works. And itโs a case in New Zealandinvolving me as the token conservative.
During the same sex marriage debate back in 2013, I was invited onto 1 News Breakfast. My understanding was that it would be an interview with me. Just me v the interviewer. But for the last 18 years of doing this job, the interview is never balanced and definitely not tilted in our favour.
Not only do they bring in someone from the opposite side as another interviewee, but usually the interviewer is also against our position.
So the interview was with the breakfast host, who, of course, was certainly not on our side. But they also bought inpop psychologist Nigel Latta. Now in my view, he was deliberately positioned behind me so I couldn’t see what he was up to, but he was making faces and gestures when I was speaking. I didn’t realise this until after the interview.
But not only that. They timed the interview to the exact day when a pro same sex marriage campaign was launched by none other than the weather presentator on the breakfast show โ Tamati Coffey who is gay.
And so leading into the interview, they did a puff piece. On this new campaign.
So that makes it the interviewer, one of the guests.
AND even the weather guy.
And me. The token conservative.
3 to 1. And they called it balance.
(Plus the famous people in the promo campaign.)
Have a watch of the first 2 minutes of the interview that followed the campaign advert. This is from 2013.
That sounded really fair eh
But not only were they 3:1 biased, but they were also promoting the website for the pro gay marriage website in the ribbon along the bottom.
Are you feeling sorry for me? No โ donโt. These types of biased interview setups are typical of the mainstream media these days. They canโt win 1-1 so they have to stack the table.
But they claim that theyโre balanced because theyโve had a stack debate with a token social conservative.
As Bill Maher said to the CNN host,
โWhen you look at the panel, it does look like tokenismโฆโ
โThey come across that way. In a moment like that. It was like 5 to 1..โ
MSNBC make no excuse that they are rabid left wing.
But in NZ, 1News and Stuff and Radio NZ and the NZ Herald and the Newstalk ZB newsroom pretend to be balanced. But theyโre not.
We all know that.
But even the left are getting sick of the left wing bias, it seems.
And thatโs a good thing.
In fact, there was a study which has just been released in the US. The US Media Research Center study looked at all 2024 presidential campaign coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from July 21, the day Biden exited the race through the next four weeks. 194 reports with a combined airtime of 437 minutes.
84% positive for Kamala
89% negative for Trump. So just 11% positive.
Shocking eh.
Now you know why trust in the media is at an all-time low and will continue to deteriorate.
Just to give you one more example, let me show you the Editorial from the Press (formerly the Christchurch Press) at the weekend. Itโs truly one of the most biased pieces you will ever read.
Entitled โNow the race is really onโ, let me quote some lines from it
๐โ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐, โ๐ค๐๐๐๐โ, ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ก, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง, ๐ก๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐ต๐๐๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ฆ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ก๐๐.
.. ๐คโ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ, ๐ ๐๐๐๐–๐ก๐๐ค๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐พ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐. * ๐ผ๐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐คโ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ , โ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ข๐โ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐โ, ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐ก ๐๐ก ๐กโ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ถโ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐, ๐พ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐.
..๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐ , โ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
๐โ๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ฆ ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ถโ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐. ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ โ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐โ ๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐.
๐ป๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐–๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ธ๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ โ๐๐ค๐๐๐ง, ๐กโ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ.
๐ต๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐ ๐คโ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐, ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ก ๐ค๐๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โ๐ด๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐โ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
๐โ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ โ๐พ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐?โ ๐ด๐๐ โ๐๐ค ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐? ๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ โ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐คโ๐๐โ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐กโ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐.
How truly embarrassing. Editorials are usually written by the senior journalists at a newspaper. It is quite evident that the newsroom at The Press is controlled by a bunch of activists, and you’ll be able to hear the sobbing and wailing in their newsroom from Auckland if Trump does win in November.
If you pay to read the Press, you may have no cents left.
And if you rely solely on the mainstream media for watching and reading the news, maybe its your head that needs reading.