Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

via Media Matters

In reading the study Media
Matters recently revealed entitled Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: The
Conservative Advantage in Syndicated Op-Ed Columns, it brings to mind the
challenges progressives also have getting represented on the Sunday shows, not
to mention the disparity in talk radio, both of which I talk about a lot around here. Conservatives still have a big media advantage.
Some highlights of the huge gap we also face in print, via Media
Matters:

Though papers may be “willing to consider” progressive syndicated columnists, this unprecedented study reveals the true extent of the dominance of conservatives: Sixty percent of the nation’s daily newspapers print more conservative syndicated columnists every week than progressive syndicated columnists. Only 20 percent run more progressives than conservatives, while the remaining 20 percent are evenly balanced. In a given week, nationally syndicated progressive columnists are published in newspapers with a combined total circulation of 125 million. Conservative columnists, on the other hand, are published in newspapers with a combined total circulation of more than 152 million. The top 10 columnists as ranked by the number of papers in which they are carried include five conservatives, two centrists, and only three progressives. The top 10 columnists as ranked by the total circulation of the papers in which they are published also include five conservatives, two centrists, and only three progressives. In 38 states, the conservative voice is greater than the progressive voice — in other words, conservative columns reach more readers in total than progressive columns. In only 12 states is the progressive voice greater than the conservative voice. In three out of the four broad regions of the country — the West, the South, and the Midwest — conservative syndicated columnists reach more readers than progressive syndicated columnists. Only in the Northeast do progressives reach more readers, and only by a margin of 2 percent. In eight of the nine divisions into which the U.S. Census Bureau divides the country, conservative syndicated columnists reach more readers than progressive syndicated columnists in any given week. Only in the Middle Atlantic division do progressive columnists reach more readers each week. read more

Things like facts always bring out the worst in wingnuts. So I give you classic
Jonah Goldberg.

I haven’t looked at this new study being touted by Media Matters about alleged conservative dominance of op-ed pages yet — beyond looking to see what it says about yours truly. But I think Josh Patashnik at “The Plank” makes a good point about another way to look at the findings. … ..

Really, why look at the data before pontificating. It’s just way too much trouble.