I just noticed this; the media is reporting that some Canadians feel that the election coverage may be slightly biased. From my-admittingly redneck-point of view, this could very well be the understatement of the year. ;D
I'd be interested in seeing just how much media bias has been noticed by other members of Army.ca. I don't care who the bias is against or for, I'm just curious on seeing what people have noticed about our 'impartial' media over the campaign.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060118/elxn_media_060118A/20060120?s_name=election2006&no_ads=
Most Canadians happy with election media coverage
Updated Fri. Jan. 20 2006 3:29 PM ET
Canadian Press
A majority of Canadians who rely on the mainstream media for news about the federal election campaign have been happy with the coverage, although some have seen evidence of bias, a new poll suggests. The survey, conducted by Decima Research and made available exclusively to The Canadian Press, says 75 per cent of respondents found the media coverage either good or excellent, up slightly from the 73 per cent who held that opinion in December.
However, 40 per cent of the respondents to the poll, conducted Jan. 13-15, said they believe most journalists covering the election want a Conservative win.
That's a complete flip from a December survey, which found 40 per cent believed journalists wanted a Liberal victory.
Chris Waddell, a professor of journalism at Ottawa's Carleton University, which worked on the survey with Decima, said he thinks that feeling of bias stems from a misapprehension.
"To some degree, it's a reflection of what they see on the front page of papers every day, and what they've been seeing on the front pages and on television for the last couple of weeks is that the Conservatives have gone up in the polling,'' Waddell said.
"I think a lot of people translate all the talk of the Conservatives being in first place as a sense that the media actually wants the Conservatives to win.''
The poll surveyed 4,972 people who were part of a 12,000-person panel Decima assembled in December. A large majority of the original panel agreed to be interviewed on various topics at intervals during the campaign.
Decima says a random sample of this size would be considered accurate to within 1.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20. More information about the poll is available at www.decima.com.
The results also suggested that 40 per cent of respondents felt the coverage of the Liberals has been overly negative, compared with 19 per cent who thought that last month.
Another 27 per cent said they thought coverage of the Conservatives has been overly positive, compared with 16 per cent who felt that way in December.
A whopping 77 per cent said they felt the coverage of the NDP was just right in balance.
Bruce Anderson, head of Decima, said the results suggest that people want fairness and balance in election coverage, but don't expect the media to be perfect.
"People can perceive biases in terms of coverage, without being dissatisfied with the overall role that the media is playing,'' Anderson said. "This speaks to an appreciation of the freedom of and competition among the various media outlets in the country.''
Waddell said the results may stem from the fact that the campaign was policy-driven for most of the time.
"I think this campaign has been covered generally in a better fashion than previous campaigns, because a large part of the campaign seems to be focused much more on the issues than on the strategy or the personal attacks,'' he said. "A lot of the coverage was about the issues.''
The poll results also suggest that about 49 per cent of respondents felt there was just the right amount of poll coverage in the news, with 41 per cent saying there was too much.
However, 53 per cent said the polls results don't influence their vote at all.
Waddell said that probably reflects the fact that about half the electorate are solid supporters of one party or another and aren't about to be swayed by polls.
I'd be interested in seeing just how much media bias has been noticed by other members of Army.ca. I don't care who the bias is against or for, I'm just curious on seeing what people have noticed about our 'impartial' media over the campaign.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060118/elxn_media_060118A/20060120?s_name=election2006&no_ads=
Most Canadians happy with election media coverage
Updated Fri. Jan. 20 2006 3:29 PM ET
Canadian Press
A majority of Canadians who rely on the mainstream media for news about the federal election campaign have been happy with the coverage, although some have seen evidence of bias, a new poll suggests. The survey, conducted by Decima Research and made available exclusively to The Canadian Press, says 75 per cent of respondents found the media coverage either good or excellent, up slightly from the 73 per cent who held that opinion in December.
However, 40 per cent of the respondents to the poll, conducted Jan. 13-15, said they believe most journalists covering the election want a Conservative win.
That's a complete flip from a December survey, which found 40 per cent believed journalists wanted a Liberal victory.
Chris Waddell, a professor of journalism at Ottawa's Carleton University, which worked on the survey with Decima, said he thinks that feeling of bias stems from a misapprehension.
"To some degree, it's a reflection of what they see on the front page of papers every day, and what they've been seeing on the front pages and on television for the last couple of weeks is that the Conservatives have gone up in the polling,'' Waddell said.
"I think a lot of people translate all the talk of the Conservatives being in first place as a sense that the media actually wants the Conservatives to win.''
The poll surveyed 4,972 people who were part of a 12,000-person panel Decima assembled in December. A large majority of the original panel agreed to be interviewed on various topics at intervals during the campaign.
Decima says a random sample of this size would be considered accurate to within 1.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20. More information about the poll is available at www.decima.com.
The results also suggested that 40 per cent of respondents felt the coverage of the Liberals has been overly negative, compared with 19 per cent who thought that last month.
Another 27 per cent said they thought coverage of the Conservatives has been overly positive, compared with 16 per cent who felt that way in December.
A whopping 77 per cent said they felt the coverage of the NDP was just right in balance.
Bruce Anderson, head of Decima, said the results suggest that people want fairness and balance in election coverage, but don't expect the media to be perfect.
"People can perceive biases in terms of coverage, without being dissatisfied with the overall role that the media is playing,'' Anderson said. "This speaks to an appreciation of the freedom of and competition among the various media outlets in the country.''
Waddell said the results may stem from the fact that the campaign was policy-driven for most of the time.
"I think this campaign has been covered generally in a better fashion than previous campaigns, because a large part of the campaign seems to be focused much more on the issues than on the strategy or the personal attacks,'' he said. "A lot of the coverage was about the issues.''
The poll results also suggest that about 49 per cent of respondents felt there was just the right amount of poll coverage in the news, with 41 per cent saying there was too much.
However, 53 per cent said the polls results don't influence their vote at all.
Waddell said that probably reflects the fact that about half the electorate are solid supporters of one party or another and aren't about to be swayed by polls.
