
CMPA's claim to be 'non-partisan' is undermined by an analysis of its sources of funding. Information provided by mediatransparency.org [4] reveals that the overwhelming proportion of CMPA's funding comes from conservative foundations. The funding information, covering 1986-2002, lists the following donors:
Carthage Foundation, part of the Scaife Foundations - $267,000 from 5 donations
Earhart Foundation
John M. Olin Foundation - $730,000 from 15 donations
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Sarah Scaife Foundation, part of the Scaife Foundations - $760,000 from 9 donations
Smith Richardson Foundation - $416,916 from 3 donations
Thus, out of the total of $2,523,916, nearly all of it ($2,173,916) came from just three sources: the John M. Olin, Scaife, and Smith Richardson foundations. In other words, CMPA received 86% of its funding from those 3 donors. Here is a sample of other right-wing causes funded by these 3 donors, as listed by their respective SourceWatch articles:
John M. Olin Foundation - American Enterprise Institute, Project for the New American Century
Scaife Foundations - American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation
Smith Richardson Foundation - American Enterprise Institute, Hudson Institute
According to Salon journalist Joe Conason, the availability of this information does not indicate an openness on the part of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. In a Jan 2003 exchange of views with Lichter, Conason said "The IRS form 990 returns filed by [Lichter's] center redacts the names of all the individuals and organizations that contribute to it, thereby concealing them from public scrutiny. But the watchdogs at Media Transparency have collated the 990 returns filed by the conservative foundations, which disclose their contributions to Lichter's outfit." [5]
As at August 2004, the CMPA website contains no information about the Center's sources of funding.
Liberalsssss lefistssssss, we hatesss them preciousss, we hatess them.
It puts the Liberals and the leftists in the basket, or else it gets the hose again...
LOL, what a joke... exactly the sort of thing that every right-winger will fall for each and every time.
Is there a reason that the Methodology section of the release does not contain their methodology? "Scientific content analysis" doesn't actually tell us anything about what criteria they were using or how they reached their conclusions.Methodology
The Center for Media and Public Affairs is a media research organization that uses scientific content analysis to study news and entertainment media content. CMPA is affiliated with the George Mason University, where CMPA President Dr. S. Robert Lichter is Professor of Communications.
From the release:
Is there a reason that the Methodology section of the release does not contain their methodology? "Scientific content analysis" doesn't actually tell us anything about what criteria they were using or how they reached their conclusions.
CMPA has monitored every presidential election since 1988 using the same methodology, in which
trained coders tally all mentions of candidates and issues and all evaluations of candidates. We report
the evaluations by non-partisan sources, excluding comments by the candidates and campaigns about
each other, because research shows that non-partisan sources have the most influence on public
opinion, and they are also more subject to the discretion of reporters. However, we maintain data files
on partian evaluations as well.
From the release:
Is there a reason that the Methodology section of the release does not contain their methodology? "Scientific content analysis" doesn't actually tell us anything about what criteria they were using or how they reached their conclusions.
Fair enough, but that is only the barest outline. It still doesn't give an outline what they classify as a source (are they including all Fox News programming including the vast amount of commentary shows or, as corp was joking, just the news ticker). What definitions of positive and negative references are they using? How do they control for bias in the coders?It does...
CMPA has monitored every presidential election since 1988 using the same methodology, in which trained coders tally all mentions of candidates and issues and all evaluations of candidates. We report the evaluations by non-partisan sources, excluding comments by the candidates and campaigns about each other, because research shows that non-partisan sources have the most influence on public opinion, and they are also more subject to the discretion of reporters. However, we maintain data files on partian evaluations as well.
I realize this is just a press release and not the full study, but as near as I can tell, the full study is not available. There is no way to evaluate the reliability of this study.
In other words, their unsupported claim will be pointed to again and again by right wing kooks with the promise of an actual study that can't be shown because of technical problems?It is only a 2 page press release, not the actual study. The actual study is not up on their site and their previous studies have not been transitioned to their new website, so this thread will be long dead before the methodology is revealed.
Is your motto:
'Even less fair and balanced than Fox.'?

LOL, what a joke... exactly the sort of thing that every right-winger will fall for each and every time. I wonder why they bother creating fake "non-partisan think tanks", when we know right-wingers would believe it was honest even if the place were called the Darth Vader Institute of Crushing theRebel AllianceLiberals.
gtc posted while I was writing...
In other words, their unsupported claim will be pointed to again and again by right wing kooks with the promise of an actual study that can't be shown because of technical problems?
Compare to Indiana University, which performed an analysis on Bill O'Reilly's use of rhetoric and who actually provided the full study and tables before issuing a press release.
I smell baloney, but I'm willing to withhold judgment until I see the actual study. I wonder if Cicero and pomeroo will do the same?
From the release:
Is there a reason that the Methodology section of the release does not contain their methodology? "Scientific content analysis" doesn't actually tell us anything about what criteria they were using or how they reached their conclusions.
Calling people names once every 6.8 seconds is being "a conservative commentator"? In practice, I tend to agree. I'm just surprised that you do.You cite a study that shows a conservative commentator to be a conservative commentator.
Who are you referring to?He is only slightly more neutral than the talking heads of the major networks who attend Democratic fundraisers and actively promote liberal causes.
From Fox New's website:But--The O'Reilly Factor is not a news show. It doesn't pretend to be.
It refers to itself as a news show twice ("cable news program" and "investigative reporting").Now in its tenth year on the air, “The O’Reilly Factor” on the FOX News Channel remains the dominant number one cable news program in the USA. In fact, it has been the highest rated broadcast for more than 200 straight weeks! Blending news analysis with investigative reporting, “The Factor” has gained international prominence as well — it is now seen in more than 30 countries.
It is truly amazing how much you assume without any actual knowledge. I have watched Fox News newscasts before and it is not hard to find conservative bias at all.You would be hard-pressed to show me comparable examples of conservative bias on a Fox newscast.
Try that experiment for yourself.
You'll notice I actually read what was available and criticized it based on its lack of information.I watched Lichter explain that liberals will criticize the study because they resent its findings. If you find that you automatically dismiss anything that runs counter to your prejudices, a la Joe Ellison and skeptigirl, you understand what he's getting at.
You were asked to cite specific errors Bernie Goldberg made in Bias. What exactly did he get wrong? Why hasn't your side been able to show errors of fact in that book? Why do you refuse to read it?
I often watch Fox newscasts. They contain none of the blatant partisanship that characterizes the major networks. You rely exclusively on mockery because you're intellectually bankrupt.
Oops, it looks like I made a mistake here.
The study claims that 30 minutes of Fox "News" was slightly "more balanced" on a single issue during a specific time frame than the network evening news, not that the network itself is fair and balanced. So, I was wrong to think that the study asserted that FNC was fair and balanced.
Now y'er talkin'. I'll take a look. thanks.
GOLDBERG (page 57): During the Clinton impeachment trial in 1999, as the senators signed their names in the oath book swearing they would be fair and impartial, Peter Jennings, who was anchoring ABC News’s live coverage, made sure his audience knew which senators were conservative—but uttered not a word about which ones were liberal.
REALITY: Goldberg paints the picture that Peter Jennings identified every conservative in the Senate. He called THREE senators conservative.
GOLDBERG: Claimed that that the liberal press corps refuses to ID Rob Reiner as "liberal."
REALITY: Apparently, Bernie missed this report by Claudia Eller in the Los Angeles Times: ELLER, 8/16/00: In 1987, Horn went into business with yet another liberal activist, director Reiner, who starred in "All in the Family" and became one of Horn’s four partners in film and TV producer Castle Rock Entertainment.
Perhaps Bernie didn’t get his paper the day this appeared in the Washington Post: WILLIAM BOOTH, 10/22/98: The California Children and Families Initiative, better known as Proposition 10, is the brain child of Rob Reiner, the actor...Joining Reiner, an avowed liberal, on proposition mailers, radio and television spots are some odd bedfellows, including actor and National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston, millionaire former representative Michael Huffington (R), crooner Pat Boone and former surgeon general C. Everett Koop.
Does Bernie read USA Today? If so, he surely caught this: JILL LAWRENCE, 6/17/98: Reiner played the long-haired, liberal son-in-law on the 1970s sitcom All In The Family. His real politics are similar, and he feared Californians would dismiss his initiative as a liberal cause. Then Conservative Republican Michael Huffington called. He sized up Reiner over lunch. "After we were finished talking, there wasn’t even an ounce of reservation," Huffington says. He immediately signed on as co-chairman and now calls Reiner "my new best liberal Democrat friend."
GOLDBERG In Chapter 9, Bernie goes on about the way the mainstream press mistreats men. (page 134): Take a story by Times reporter Natalie Angier that begins this way: "Women may not find this surprising, but one of the most persistent and frustrating problems in evolutionary biology is the male. Specifically…why doesn’t he just go away?" [Goldberg’s ellipsis]
REALITY: The 1800 word article had absolutely nothing to do with males and females of our tribe ("men" and "women") and just talked about evolutionary reproduction. Indeed, here’s a part of the wicked horse-whipping we "males" were receiving this day: ANGIER: But evolutionary biologists point out that most mutations are potential trouble, and the entire system of copying chromosomes from one generation to the next has evolved to prevent accidental alterations to the genetic text, not to court them. Thus, Dr. Redfield’s new calculations underscoring the mutational guilt of the male put a heavier burden than ever on theorists seeking to explain the purpose of sex.
GOLDBERG (page 161): Edward R. Murrow’s "Harvest of Shame," the great CBS News documentary about poor migrant families traveling America, trying to survive by picking fruits and vegetables, would never be done today. Too many poor people. Not our audience. We want the people who buy cars and computers.
REALITY: Does it strike anyone as odd that Goldberg would be calling it liberal bias for a news agency to kill a story about poor immigrants? How does that strike Goldberg as liberal?
GOLDBERG (page 57): Robert Bork is the "conservative" judge. But Laurence Tribe, who must have been on CBS Evening News ten million times in the 1980s (and who during the contested presidential election in 2000 was a leading member of Team Gore, arguing the vice president’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court), is identified simply as a "Harvard law professor." But Tribe is not simply a Harvard law professor. He’s easily as liberal as Bork is conservative.
REALITY: According to LEXIS, Tribe has appeared on the CBS Evening News just nine times since 1993 (as far back as LEXIS can go in this case) On one occasion, CBS used Tribe and Bork together; on May 14, 1994, they were asked to comment on Stephen Breyer’s appointment to the Supreme Court. Note how the professorial pair were ID’ed by reporter Jacqueline Adams:
ADAMS: A year ago, Judge Breyer discussed the last Supreme Court opening with President Clinton, but then hid his disappointment over coming in second to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Today, legal scholars from both ends of the political spectrum applauded Breyer as the intellectual counterpoint to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and as a proven consensus-builder.
Can one have a liberal or conservative bias on 2 hours of coverage on Britney's latest self destruct button?
I don't think you'll be able to con me. I was riveted to those hearings and, for reasons I've never quite understood (masochism, perhaps), I used to watch Jennings every night. Peter was an egregious offender in what the National Review used to call the "ultra" game. ....
Um, Goldberg said the media refused to identify Reiner as liberal. I provided a few quick examples where they did. You asked for errors in Bias and I provided one.Typically, you distort Goldberg's identification of a media tendency and pretend that he's claiming that nobody has ever identified the far-left Reiner as a liberal. He is making a point that is obvious to everyone whose ideological blinkers don't obstruct their vision: Chuck Norris is always "conservative" or "rightwing" actor Chuck Norris; Rob Reiner is not routinely labeled "far-left" or "liberal" actor Rob Reiner.
The problem being why sex evolve? What was the evolutionary means to create a male? Both you and Goldberg read far more into the word "problems". It is a problem in the science of evolution. Your reqrite is not a problem for me and your imagined result is just that, your imagination.You would be better off actually reading Goldberg's book than relying on someone else's tendentious interpretation... So, let's try this version of Angier's lead sentence: Men may not find this surprising, but one of the most persistent and frustrating problems in evolutionary biology is the female. Do you think that the clueless author of that gem might--just might--be required to rewrite it? If you figured out that the probability of getting that lead published in a major daily is zero, you're beginning to get the idea.
How does shoddy journalism reveal liberal bias? Don't take your eyes off the central tenet of his book. His book was not written to expose shoddy journalism, it was to expose liberal bias. The anecdote he provided here does not support his conclusion. It may support a secondary insight but that is all. I think we both can agree that shoddy journalism is not the sole purview of either political stripe.Goldberg is contrasting a real liberal, Edward R. Murrow, who practiced real journalism with the ersatz variety he finds in today's newsrooms and the shoddy journalism they produce.
Um, isn't that what Goldberg does? Prove his "point" via anecdotes? Then you have the temerity to disapprove when I do it against him? All I am trying to show you is where Goldberg got it wrong. Bottom line, Goldberg said Tribe had been on millions of times (I know he was exaggerating) when he actually had been on 8 times. Goldberg said Tribe was not identified as liberal. I showed that was false. I note how YOU insert "routinely" in an effort to inoculate Goldberg from being wrong. That is hallmark "moving the goalposts".Again, you're trying to invalidate a general assertion by using a single example. Anybody who reads the NY Times or watches a network news broadcast understands that Robert Bork is always identifed as "conservative" or "rightwing" judge Robert Bork. Tribe is simply not routinely identified as a liberal.
Yet in the event that Goldberg described, Goldberg certainly leads the reader to believe that Jennings identified each and every conservative as conservative. Such was not the case as he identified only three. You asked for errors in Bias and I provided one.
Um, Goldberg said the media refused to identify Reiner as liberal. I provided a few quick examples where they did. You asked for errors in Bias and I provided one.
The problem being why sex evolve? What was the evolutionary means to create a male? Both you and Goldberg read far more into the word "problems". It is a problem in the science of evolution. Your reqrite is not a problem for me and your imagined result is just that, your imagination.
How does shoddy journalism reveal liberal bias? Don't take your eyes off the central tenet of his book. His book was not written to expose shoddy journalism, it was to expose liberal bias. The anecdote he provided here does not support his conclusion. It may support a secondary insight but that is all. I think we both can agree that shoddy journalism is not the sole purview of either political stripe.
Um, isn't that what Goldberg does? Prove his "point" via anecdotes? Then you have the temerity to disapprove when I do it against him? All I am trying to show you is where Goldberg got it wrong. Bottom line, Goldberg said Tribe had been on millions of times (I know he was exaggerating) when he actually had been on 8 times. Goldberg said Tribe was not identified as liberal. I showed that was false. I note how YOU insert "routinely" in an effort to inoculate Goldberg from being wrong. That is hallmark "moving the goalposts".
Pomeroo, you asked where Goldberg was wrong in Bias. I showed you a few examples and also mentioned the larger picture of the danger of Goldberg using anecdotes and making sweeping generalizations from them. Goldberg makes assertions from anecdotes. Sure, they are not just one or two anecdotes but his whoile book is just anecdotes. Even Coulter attempts better research than Goldberg as she seems to know how to use Lexis-Nexis. Goldberg can't even use that!
Can you honestly say with a straight face that Goldberg has provided any scientific evidence for his claims? Studies? Research? Anything?
