
<p>One of the evergreen issues among the political class is the role of journalism in modern society. From the conservative perspective, the Fourth Estate has become a radical left-wing propaganda machine – politically benefiting Democrats. On the other side of the philosophic divide, we have progressives bemoaning the very existence of right-wing media platforms that benefit Republicans.</p>



<p>Conservative media will have large Republican staffs. ; At FOX News, for example, the personnel are overwhelmingly Republican – specifically 93 percent according to Statistics. ; But that is an outlier among the so-called mainstream media. ;</p>



<p>What can be empirically established is that most of the major media is controlled and populated by Democrats who lean to the far left. ; A Syracuse University/Newhouse poll in December of 2023 showed that only 3.4 percent of working journalists are Republicans.</p>



<p>While the broadcast networks are more balanced, Democrats still dominate in numbers and especially in influential positions. ; At ABC the ratio is 53 percent Democrat to 44 percent Republican &#8230; CBS has 55 percent Democrats to 41 percent Republican &#8230; and at NBC it is 57 percent Democrat and 38 percent Republican. ; More importantly, virtually all the on-air personalities and behind-the-scenes producers and editors are Democrats. ; ;</p>



<p>The cable news networks, other than FOX, are overwhelming progressive Democrats – many on the radical fringe. ; At CNN, the ratio is 79 percent Democrat and 19 Republican. ; NPR tops that with 87 percent Democrat and 12 Republican. ; And it should come as no surprise that the granddaddy of bias in news reports is &#8230; drum roll, please &#8230; MSNBC with 95 percent Democrat and a paltry 5 percent Republican – and many of those are GOP apostates like former Republican Chairman Michael Steele.</p>



<p>The highly vaunted “newspaper of record,” the <em>New York Times</em>, has a ratio of 91 percent Democrat staffers to 7 percent Republican.</p>



<p>The Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University has been tracking this question for more than 50 years. ; During that time, Republican presence in mainstream news has dwindled from 18 percent in 2002 and 26 percent in 1971.</p>



<p>That latter figure is significant since it was in that era that journalism began to transform from basic reporting – with opinion clearly reserved to the editorial department. ; That is when many of America’s leading J-schools introduced “advocacy journalism.” ; Frontline reporters were empowered to abandon the “who, what, where, when, why and how” tradition of objective and balanced reporting in favor of injecting opinion in news articles. ; The impenetrable wall between editorial and news reporting was beginning to be disassembled – and mostly for the benefit of the left.</p>



<p>The trend did not go unnoticed by old-school journalism and journalism professors. ; One of them was Sam Archibald, professor of Journalism and the University of Missouri. ; I know the story because I was deeply involved.</p>



<p>Archibald’s concern came to the attention of Sears, Roebuck &; Co.  ;He proposed the establishment of a congressional internship program focusing on J-school students interested in political and public affairs reporting. ; The purpose was to give them insight into the working of government and seminar session teaching professional standards and ethics – the importance of unbiased reporting. ; ; It was a direct pushback against the growing left-wing advocacy journalism movement.</p>



<p>I was keenly aware of the growing problem in journalism because, at the time, I was part of a two-man communications team in the Sears’ Washington office – which had primary responsibility for working with Archibald in administering the program. Each year, we would select approximately 30 J-school students to come to Washington to intern in various House and Senate offices. Archibald selected the students, and I helped select the congressional offices based on their requests.</p>



<p>I mention this program to show just how far back goes the concern over institutional bias in news reporting. ; The current situation sadly suggests that our best-intentioned efforts were not very effective in stopping the evolutionary corruption of journalism – from a reporting function to partisan advocacy.</p>



<p>While the radical left is winning the war in the newsrooms, traditional conservative journalism is winning over the public. ; ; That can be seen in ratings. ; FOX New has been on top of the cable news profession for the past 39 months – garnering more prime time and key demographic viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined.</p>



<p>Unlike television, radio talk shows have been dominated by Republican content and hosts. ; Left-wing attempts to compete for viewers failed miserably. ; That was that Air America network that crashed and burned. ; There was a failed effort to bring back the Phil Donahue Show. ; Also failed was the short-lived program that brought together former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and former Texas Governor Ann Richards.</p>



<p>Virtually everyone agrees that a free press is essential to a free society. ; It is not just being free from government control (suggesting that NPR should be privatized), but also free from established political and philosophic biases.</p>



<p>The current imbalance in terms is party affiliation is exacerbated by the preponderance of the hard left within that demographic and the intensity of the advocacy journalism.</p>



<p>It took a long time for American journalism to descend into the depth of contemporary propaganda – and it will not be easy to bring back the traditional ethical standards of journalism. ; But it is a worthwhile and perhaps existential endeavor.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

How did American Journalism get so corrupted?
