Friday, August 21, 2009

My letter to CNSNews.com



Hello, I have many issues regarding this mews site after a good friend of mine referenced this site in a discussion after he misinterpreted a post.

My first was with the misleading article done by Terence Jeffrey.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52602

The article states the case that more Americans consider themselves conservative then Liberal. While true, that's not where my problem stands. What I take issue with is how the piece portrays the study. Reading the information it presents, one would surely have to think "Well if there are more conservatives then liberals, there must be more republicans then democrats." Which is just untrue. Registered democrats reach over 75 million making them the biggest part in the United States, while only approximately 35% consider themselves a democrat. Having all this information, one would fully understand why there can be more self identified conservatives and yet the democrats still won several recent elections. I mean, if there are as many republicans as the Mr. Jeffrey implies, why doesn't the republican party succeed in basically every nationwide election? This is assuming conservatives vote republican and liberals vote democrat of course, which also, is not the case and the author didn't even bother mentioning this fact to put it into perspective.

The following information is from the source of the study.
"While Americans' party identification and political ideology are related, they are by no means one and the same. For instance, while residents of Alabama and Mississippi are the most likely to be conservative ideologically, they are not the most Republican in their party affiliation. According to Gallup's report on party identification by state earlier this month, that distinction goes to Utah, whose net conservative score is only slightly higher than that of South Dakota (a Democratic-leaning state).

In fact, while all 50 states are, to some degree, more conservative than liberal (with the conservative advantage ranging from 1 to 34 points), Gallup's 2009 party ID results indicate that Democrats have significant party ID advantages in 30 states and Republicans in only 4.

Bottom Line

Despite the Democratic Party's political strength -- seen in its majority representation in Congress and in state houses across the country -- more Americans consider themselves conservative than liberal. While Gallup polling has found this to be true at the national level over many years, and spanning recent Republican as well as Democratic presidential administrations, the present analysis confirms that the pattern also largely holds at the state level. Conservatives outnumber liberals by statistically significant margins in 47 of the 50 states, with the two groups statistically tied in Hawaii, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

When considered with party identification, these ideology findings highlight the role that political moderates currently play in joining with liberals to give the Democratic Party its numerical advantage."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122333/Political-Ideology-Conservative-Label-Prevails-South.aspx#1

After reading the entire poll, I don't see how a news website could leave out information this critical other then to mislead it's readers.

Another thing I found very offensive were the vulgar, hateful, and outright racist comments made by the readers. I know CNSNews isn't responsible for it's readers actions or comments, but some of these remarks are something I wouldn't expect from a news site, at all.

"Even though roughly 30% of us knew that Obama was a lying socialist, HE STILL GOT ELECTED!"

"We need to get the conservatives to the polls. The loudest banter comes from the liberal-purchased media outlets. They scream & cry louder & adorn their Subaru's with stickers of how cool they are. They're always bitching & crying out their cause. Then the media advertises to them to vote; "you lil hippie whipper snappers have a voice, make it heard in DC, vote MTV viewers, vote, vote; bring on your ****, your criminals and all your freeloader friends; get to the polls and vote!" Perception sells to those that aren't able to stand on their own - therefore they run like lemmings to the polls and vote for who they are told to vote for. Told by Hollywood and the media. Demi's win. While on the other side of the fence, us Pub's are hard at work all day and night, not sittin' around watching Oprah and all the media buys. We speak amongst ourselves and prove to ourselves that we are not crazy, and all along, just preach to our own choirs."

"I think Obama is loosing the black supporters because of the Black man who was beat up by SEIU at one of the rallys a few weeks ago (the one all over the news). I think we can honestly say now... OBAMA HATES BLACK PEOPLE"

"This may be true - but the reality is this: 1) our high schools are in the hands of teacher unions led by either marxists or goons; 2) our universities are in the hands of tenured "liberals" - that's how they call themselves but in fact they are 98% marxist professors. Ladies and gentlemen - we have a one-party classroom."

"it fails to mention the biggest story no one is talking about. And that is ACORN running the 2010 Census. We can have all the conservatives this poll claims, but it will be all for naught when ACORN makes up all these dead people, illegals, criminals and other assorted skells who will vote for demoocrats- early and often."

As a student and independent voter, even I am hard-pressed to be not insulted by these. I'd expect a moderator to keep out such 'spam' comments that do nothing to further the discussion, as anything less lowers the standard.

So that's that, my third and final issue was found in the 'About Us' section of CNSNews.com

"The Cybercast News Service was launched on June 16, 1998 as a news source for individuals, news organizations and broadcasters who put a higher premium on balance than spin and seek news that’s ignored or under-reported as a result of media bias by omission.

Study after study by the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com, clearly demonstrate a liberal bias in many news outlets – bias by commission and bias by omission – that results in a frequent double-standard in editorial decisions on what constitutes news."

The parent organization of this site, is a right-wing site that did the studys mentioned in your 'About Us'. As they clearly demonstrate in their about me section.

"The mission of the Media Research Center, "America's Media Watchdog," is to bring balance to the news media. Leaders of America's conservative movement have long believed that within the national news media a strident liberal bias existed that influenced the public's understanding of critical issues. On October 1, 1987, a group of young determined conservatives set out to not only prove — through sound scientific research — that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values, but also to neutralize its impact on the American political scene. What they launched that fall is the now acclaimed — Media Research Center (MRC)."

http://www.mrc.org/about/about.aspx

Which brings me to why I choose to write to you with these questions. As journalists, it is your duty to do exactly what you and your parent site say. To get the real facts and story, not to be like any liberal bias media there may be out there, to be above bias and sinisterism. So why are there obvious hypocritical statements being openly made at both websites? Your readers trust your word as journalists and reporters, which makes this all the more troublesome.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to hearing from you with any answers or clearing-up that can be done.

Again my email is jaytylerkmail@yahoo.com