Comments on: American newspapers and slants- help wanted from readers PLEASE

By: John Paul

John Paul — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:43:21 +0000

The best papers, judged by my personal reading and Pulitzer prizes for writing (not cartooning or photos) over the last fifteen years are listed below. Their biases, as reported by the most comprehensive and logical study of the matter I’m aware of (Groseclose, 2005) follow their names.

Washington Post: Somewhat Left
NY Times: Left
LA Times: Left
Wall Street Journal: Farthest Left (excluding Editorials, which are almost always strangely the opposite)

There exists a second tier of newspapers which are apparently quite good, though I’ve only read the Tribune extensively. With their generally perceived (but NOT verified) biases:

Chicago Tribune: Right
Miami Herald: Right
Boston Globe: Left
Long Island Newsday: Left?
Portland Oregonian: beats me

Some papers are large in terms of circulation but pretty worthless if you’re looking for informative, relevant, original journalism. Beyond the above mentioned papers, newspapers in America are pretty darn weak. We tend to use the internet, weekly or monthly periodicals, and television news stations for our news.

The USA Today is a joke. Who cares if it’s right or left – it’s a waste of time, regardless. It’s written for children. My local paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, contrary to a previous poster’s strange opinion, is actually seems pretty neutral to me. That means it’s to the right of most papers. It’s also not very good, sadly. The Washington Times and New York Post are common examples of right leaning newspapers, but again, look elsewhere for journalism. One thing I noticed in my examination of Pulitzers is how many different papers used to win them. It seems the talent pool has been mostly laid off!

By: William Long

William Long — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:19:40 +0000

Where does the Christian Science Monitor stand in the left-right spectrum?
The Washington Post (my favorite) is no where near as far left as the NY Times.
The Washington Times is right of center!

By: Blair

Blair — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:13:24 +0000

Joe, just curious, did you ever find such a thing?

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:17:58 +0000

I came across this website while doing some research. My wife and I are trying to find a newspaper to subscribe to.

We live in Milwaukee, and the only local newspaper available to us is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which is a border-line socialist bit of trash.

I am a libertarian. I am looking for a newspaper that is relatively neutral in political stance. I know what my beliefs are, and I find it very aggravating to have a newspaper attempt to subliminally feed me political propoganda.

However, I also need a national newspaper that doesn’t include a bunch of local garbage that I’m not interested in (like maintenance on the Golden Gate Bridge), nor local sports (like how the Pittsburgh Penguins are doing). I need national topics and national sports coverage.

Therefore, I’m afraid that my only choice is the USA Today. The Wall Street Journal only concerns itself with business, while the rest of the national newspapers either lean way too far to the left (not that its their fault), or are filled with local crap.

If anyone has any other viable alternatives for me, please provide me with this feedback. I would appreciate it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 May 2006 20:49:52 +0000

Houston Chronicle is right leaning. As for all the biggies like New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post are left leaning. USA Today is somewhat right/ centre .. not really all right.

So, we can see most media are mostly left leaning and liberal. I think FOX News has made the most of the vacuum and took the right wing market by storm. But interestingly, Left wing scholars like Noam Chomsky consider even all left leaning newspapers to be dubious sources. So, in whom should we trust ? National Public Radio ? (which by the way is fully Left) lol

By: Kenn

Kenn — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 05:03:12 +0000

I’d be interested what anyone thinks of the papers in the Tampa FL area. Which of either the StPete Times OR the Tampa Tribune is liberal or conservative ?

By: Chris Miller

Chris Miller — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 13:21:02 +0000

Where I am based there is only one paper. It swallowed the Globe Democrat years ago to become the sole owner (the local journals and independents newspapers are so small they don’t count)of printed media space here for such a large city. Look at the St Louis Post-Dispatch. They run one of the first published newspaper websites that existed also.

http://www.stltoday.com/

They now have RSS feeds and all the archives have been and remain Lotus Notes based.

By: Richard Schwartz

Richard Schwartz — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 06:03:41 +0000

The Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader is probably the most right-leaning newspaper in the US. It was owned by a fellow named William Loeb for a long time, and although he died 20 years ago his conservative influence on local politics here can still be felt; and because of New Hampshire’s position as the first presidential primary election its importance in national politics is far greater than most small city papers.

By: Gary Potter

Gary Potter — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 23:23:39 +0000

Star Telegram (right) Dallas Morning News (left) and I agree that papers are more city than region oriented.

St Pete (Florida) Times (Right)

By: janice

janice — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 20:04:26 +0000

Any thoughts on US radio and TV journalism? What’s the take on that? Or has the internet become the most effective medium for readers/listeners/writers looking for independent, thought provoking US journalism?
J