June 24, 2005

About that PBS "poll"

You might have heard about the recent poll that showed that just 35% of Republicans think PBS has a liberal bias.

A quick scan of the PDF of the poll reveals something a bit... interesting. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it look like:

* at least one of the questions has a very large "unsure" percentage, and

* they polled "consumers" of PBS and NPR. A "consumer" is someone who watches PBS at least once or twice a month.

In other words, they asked people who don't really know all that much about PBS what they think of PBS. While some of those taking part might watch more PBS than others, a good portion of their sample just aren't familiar enough with the subject to make a determination.

The better way would be to find regular viewers, or to show people several hours of programming.

Based on a fair amount of personal experience, the idea that people involved in public television or non-profits in general are not completely liberal is ludicrous. Yet, we're somehow to believe that people to whom virtually any conservative thought is anathema are able to produce programming that doesn't reflect their biases?

Hopefully someone else will look at this survey in more depth and help further discredit those who are pushing it (like MMFA).

Posted to Politics at June 24, 2005 08:02 AM

Comments

That, and any establishment of public instuction or propagandization which is founded on official aggression, will tend to fulfill its founding premise, and make propaganda for more official aggression.

Posted by: John S Bolton at June 25, 2005 10:00 AM