Bias of American Media – Influence of Media Money

As almost everyone would agree, media has a huge influence on our thought patterns and the way we perceive the world. With the presidential candidates starting to gain more press, the bias found in different networks and media groups starts to become more visible. The bias of the media is always influencing us daily, it just happens to be more noticed this time of year especially networks like CNN or ABC (left) versus networks like FOX (right). The way we make decisions about who we vote for to how we live our lives to what is right and wrong is built upon what we see and hear.

Back in September 2007, Gallup surveyed the American voters and found that 45% said the media is too liberal while 18% said the media is too conservative. I fall into the 45% category so there is my personal bias! The sad thing is most of it goes unnoticed because we get so used to it that our standards of what is liberal and conservative shifts over time.

One way of determining the bias of media is to look at the people who make up those companies and publishes the material and their contributions to the political parties. The following are total 2008 PAC contribution figures and where the majority of that contribution went. I’ve noted the more well known companies. [Facts provided by opensecrets.org].

Media Industries
Books, Magazines & Paper – $12 Million [78% to Democrats]
Motion Picture Industry – $8.9 Million [89% to Democrats]
Cable & Satellite TV – $6.3 Million [63% to Democrats]
Music Recording Industry – $3 Million [79% to Democrats]
Television Production / Distribution – $2.3 Million [86% to Democrats]

Books [including Educational], Magazines, & Paper [79% to Democrats]
Houghton Mifflin – [97% to Democrats]
National Geographic Society [95% to Democrats]
McGraw-Hill Companies [79% Democrats]
Reed Elsevier Inc. – [69% to Democrats]
Time Inc – [66% to Democrats]
News Corp [publishers – 55% Republicans]

Motion Picture Industry – $8.9 Million [89% to Democrats]
Time Warner – [99% to Democrats]
New Line Cinema – [97% to Democrats]
Paramount Pictures – [84% to Democrats]
News Corp – [78% to Democrats]
Sony Corp – [66% to Democrats]

Cable & Satellite TV – $6.3 Million [63% to Democrats]
Cablevision [82% to Democrats]
ESPN [81% to Democrats]
Comcast Corp [63% to Democrats]
EchoStar Communications [61% to Democrats]
News Corp [Cable / Satellite – 61% to Democrats]
Time Warner [60% to Democrats]

Music Recording Industry – $3 Million [79% to Democrats]
Vivendi – [72% to Democrats]
Warner Music Group – [86% to Democrats]
Sony BMG Music – [69% to Democrats]

Television Production / Distribution – $2.3 Million [86% to Democrats]
ABC News – [99% to Democrats]
CBS News – [99% to Democrats]
News Corp – [Production & Distribution – 95% to Democrats]
General Electric – [88% to Democrats]
SNL – [85% to Democrats]
Walt Disney – [TV – 86% to Democrats]
BBC – [62% to Democrats]

Internet companies
MSN – [91% to Democrats]
Yahoo! – [86 to Democrats]
Google – [81% to Democrats]

I would have thought Google would have the highest % to democrats due to their younger makeup and California location and MSN would be the lowest but I was wrong.

OTHER SPECIFIC TOPICS (since 1990)

Notice the disparity in Costs. It helps explain why our cultural worldview has shifted in the last 10-15 years. I don’t know whether to blame the heavy spender for “buying” their values into culture or whether to blame the low spenders for not spending enough.

Abortion –
Pro-Abortion – $16.5 Million [81% to Democrats]
Pro-Life – $6 Million [94% to Republicans]

Gun Lobby –
Right to Bear Arms – $19.7 Million [85% to Republicans]
Gun Control – $1.7 Million [94% to Democrats]

Entertainment Industry (TV, Movies, Music) –
Fight to Prevent Control and Produce whatever they want – $232 Million [69% of Democrats]

Whether you are more left or right, I hope you find it disconcerting that the those who make the decisions of what we hear and what we see as well as the very people who produce the shows, makes the movies, deliver the news are controlled heavily by one side. It is no surprise that our country has become more and more liberal. Just simply looking at how what is taboo and what is acceptable in Movies and TV Shows just in the past 10 years has changed tremendously. The rating system standards are completely different. Well $232 Million of lobbying will do that.

I hope you find this information helpful and interesting. I did try to find figures for both sides but all the major companies I was familiar with were all favored to Democrats, which makes sense since it’s the Media network.

Please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions.

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2 Comments

  1. I think context is in order here.

    Do you or do you not believe the lopsidedness of this involves kicking the republicans out of office? They ruined this country for 8 years and people simply had enough of them.

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