Evaluating leftist bias in mainstream media

A recent trend has been to accuse mainstream medias of having a leftist bias and agenda. I had not really given any thoughts, so I decided I’d check it out. By this, I will regularly check local (i.e. Quebec and Canadian) news sources such as Cyberpresse, Yahoo, Radio-Canada, but also CNN and, if time permits, other sources or information, to see if I can find any trend in any direction. Whatever I find, I doubt it will be a very important bias; maybe one party or one side of an issue will receive a bit more time under the spotlight, but otherwise, I don’t expect to find any worthy news source that will paint one side in a really bad light, or the other side in a very good one. In other words, I expect to find something close to the center. Scratch that, I expect to find a slight left bias because I live in Quebec, which has mostly un-conservative values.

I’m doing this because there is a project for a new TV channel – a conservative one, one that has been dubbed “Fox News North”, or if you prefer a Canadian version of Fox. I have of course nothing against it; what I oppose however is that they blatantly say that mainstream news is leftist and biased, which I, for now, disagree with. Maybe it’s because I never noticed any such bias, and am shocked by that very possibility, or maybe because such bias might cater more to my own values (though I am more of a centrist, in my opinion, at least, thought it's hard to judge oneself objectively!). We’ll see over the course of the following days or weeks if I’m right or wrong (of course, I myself might be biased, but for the sake of it I’ll try to be as objective as possible; anyone finding something I missed may let me know in comments).

Finally, I have to say I find ludicrous the idea of fighting a possible-but-I-doubt-it-even-exists-and-if-it-does-it’s-quite-subtle-bias by erecting a wall of conservative bias; I think a blatantly conservative or rightist channel or newspaper might be more easily the target of criticism from the left. On the other hand, it may also prove a good defensive tactic; given the general climate in some circles, and the rising belief that mainstream = liberal/anticonservative, any criticism, even if justified, might be branded as leftist propaganda.

Specifically, I’ll check how much parties are represented, if they are presented in a favorable or unfavorable way, as well as if contentious issues are exposed in a way that favors a conclusion rather than any other (for instance, if an article say that ownership of guns is bad, then I’ll know it is biased). I’ll avoid editorials, of course, since they are the opinions of one person, but if I see one source having more editorials leaning on one side I’ll just note it. Of course, the fact that Obama or Harper appear often in the news is no sign of bias; they are the highest authority in their respective countries, after all.

I’ll give you news about this as I check this issue out!