Gathering Political News: Liberals vs. Conservatives

By Katy Andersen 

ka100211@ohio.edu

Even though the 2016 Presidential Election is still a year away, people are already talking about it.  You see and hear about the election on television, the Internet, social media sites, the radio and even through your family and friends.  In today’s world you cannot completely escape from the political discussion; politics seem to be everywhere. When it comes to figuring out how people choose to gather their information about government and politics, there seem to be trends among liberals and conservatives. 

Pew Research did a year long project to figure out the different ways people get their political information in three different settings: the news media, social media and conversations about politics people have with their friends and family.  Pew Research found that not only do liberals and conservatives have different political views but they also have very different ways of gathering political information. 

According to the study, those at the left and right end of the spectrum (about 20% of the population) have a much larger impact on the political process than people in the middle of the spectrum with mixed ideological views. 

This research found that conservatives tend to:

-                    Be more loyal to a single news source: most conservatives named FOX news as their source.

-                    Express more distrust in media than trust in media.

-                    On Facebook, more likely than those in other ideological groups to hear political opinions that are in line with their own views. 

-                    Are more likely to have friends that share their same political views. 

On the other hand, consistent liberals tend to:

-                    Rely on a larger array of new sources such as CNN, MSNBC, NPR and the NY Times

-                    Express more trust than distrust in the media

-                    Are more likely to block or un-friend someone on social media who doesn’t share the same political view

-                    Are more likely to follow issue-based groups rather than parties or candidates on social media. 

For those more in the middle of the ideological spectrum, the discussion on politics isn’t as big of a focal point in their lives.  When people in the middle do want to catch up on happenings in the political world, they focus on a variety of ways to get their news ranging from television to the Internet; CNN and local television being the top two sources mentioned.  People in the middle also tend to see more of a mix of views on their social media websites and are less aware of people’s political beliefs around them.  

The graphic below shows you which news sources people with certain ideological views tend to choose: 

As you can see, there is a divide on sources people go to for their political news.  Clearly, people favor news sources that provide news more in line with their own political leanings.   Surprisingly, Pew Research did find that The Wall Street Journal was the number one news source trusted by both liberals and conservatives. 

One of the number one things journalists are taught is writing objectively; however, when you see these results, one might believe that journalists who work for certain news agencies learn to bias their reporting according to the political leanings for the agency they work for.   Have we trained people to get their news from a particular source because we constantly reassure them they are going to hear what they want to when visiting that source?  Our job as journalist is to educate the public on candidates and issues to help them feel like they’re educated enough to make the "right" vote. Are we doing our job if we are just telling people what they want to hear?