New FAIR Study: Media Cites to Progressive Think Tanks a Whopping 13%

Sometimes I just like to see some really handy, cold hard facts and numbers. Something visual to go along with my futile exhanges with conservatives that end more often than not with my long-weary "Liberal Media my arse."

Not that they'll ever, ever be satisfied.

"Despite the greater decline for progressive think tanks, the percentages for right-leaning, centrist and left-leaning think tanks are all within normal historical ranges. Of perhaps greater concern to those looking for a more diverse media diet is that citations of left-leaning groups are increasingly from center-left groups rather than unambiguously progressive groups."

Study Finds First Drop in Think Tank Cites
Progressive groups see biggest decline
May/June 2006

By Michael Dolny

FAIR’s annual survey of think tank citations in the mainstream media focuses attention on the groups that media turn to for “expert” sources. Rarely described politically when they are quoted (Extra!, 5–6/98), think tank sources often appear as neutral observers of the news, in contrast to partisan politicians and representatives of advocacy groups. If the media have a “liberal” bias, as conservatives have long claimed, then one would expect news outlets to seek out progressive think tanks as sources. However, in the history of this study, begun in 1996, we have instead found a consistent preference for conservative think tanks over progressive ones.

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.

Report is here: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2897

Charts and graphs, no less.

bold emphasis and italics mine

Against RW. We are losing ground with this all the time, big-time.
Scary.