Thursday, June 15, 2006
Think Tank Bias
An annual survey of think tank citations in the mainstream media by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting found that the "greatest increase in exposure belonged to the Discovery Institute, a conservative think tank that rejects the scientific consensus on evolution."
The FAIR study points out that the think tanks the media turn to for “expert” sources are rarely described politically when they are quoted. Despite their biases think tank sources often appear as neutral observers of the news.
FAIR reports that the latest survey of think tank citations—which is based on appearances in major newspapers and TV and radio transcripts that appear in the Nexis database—found that 40 percent of such citations in 2005 were to conservative or center-right groups, 47 percent were to centrist groups and only 13 percent were to center-left or progressive groups.
The FAIR study points out that the think tanks the media turn to for “expert” sources are rarely described politically when they are quoted. Despite their biases think tank sources often appear as neutral observers of the news.
FAIR reports that the latest survey of think tank citations—which is based on appearances in major newspapers and TV and radio transcripts that appear in the Nexis database—found that 40 percent of such citations in 2005 were to conservative or center-right groups, 47 percent were to centrist groups and only 13 percent were to center-left or progressive groups.
