Here’s a tip for the discerning viewer of news and commentary: If you’re truly seeking straight and unbiased news reporting, you may want to avoid MSNBC. To most viewers who have watched MSNBC, a recent Pew Research Center study has found the liberal-leaning cable network filled with opinion and commentary for 85 percent of its airtime – not straight news.
Barely 15 percent of MSNBC’s programming stuck to actual “factual reporting,” according to Pew.
Their arch nemesis, Fox News, was broken down by Pew as 55 percent commentary and opinion and 45 percent straight, "factual reporting."
CNN, the leader of such networks back in the 1970’s, was the only one of the big three cable news networks to actually broadcast a majority of straight news at 54 percent, while 46 percent was devoted to opinion and commentary.
The Pew research was based on watching a half-hour of daytime programming for the first five months of 2012 and the first five minutes of primetime "general news shows." The research company also discovered that MSNBC during 2012 devoted a whopping 57 percent of their entire air time the presidential campaign.
By comparison, FOX spent 37 percent of their air time and CNN 30 percent.with FOX devoting 37 percent and CNN 30 percent.
Pew called MSNBC “by far the most opinionated of the three networks, with nearly 90 percent of its primetime coverage coming in the form of opinion or commentary. They went on to say, “And that remains the case with many of its packaged segments. Host Rachel Maddow, for example, often begins her show with a lengthy segment combining a monologue with video clips that can last for seven minutes or longer.’’
This study was all part of Pew's annual State of the News Media report.
Anyone really surprised?
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