33% of journalists are Democrats compared to 3% of Republicans

The study was carried out by Newhouse School of Public Communicationsfrom Syracuse University in New York State, found that 36.4% Journalists in America Democratic supporters, by the country's current president, Joe Biden. 10 times more than this percentage 3.4% Who declare themselves Identified with the Republican PartyFormer President Donald Trump.

The survey does not have regular frequencies, but has been carried out since 1971. The 3.4% who identify with Republicans in newsrooms today is the lowest percentage of this group since the survey began.

When asked about party identity, it is those who say it is the big group “Freedom”: 51.7% of Americans can run for public office without a political party affiliation.

The Syracuse University study interviewed 1,600 journalists across the United States from January 10 to April 10, 2022. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

As shown in the chart above, the visible reduction in the percentage of journalists identified with the Republican Party draws attention to the results.

At the same time, over nearly five decades, the number of media professionals sympathetic to the Democratic Party has remained relatively stable.

Part of the Syracuse Research report The American Journalist Under Attack: Media, Trust, and Democracy (American Journalist Under Attack: Media, Faith & Democracy, in Portuguese). Here it is completeness of the study (PDF – 1 MB, in English).

Objectivity in discussion

The ideological preference of journalists in the United States is linked to another debate present in North American society (and in Brazil): the effectiveness or not of one of the oldest rules of the profession, the obsessive search for objectivity, and the task of always including all versions of the truth in a report.

For many newspapers and journalists, this effort to remain neutral when reporting a story and hear all sides can create an unbalanced balance between true and false reporting. It turns out that the decision about who listens or doesn't depends on how the journalist sees the world. And how you interpret what is true or false and your role in filtering what is relevant and in the public interest.

For example, if someone says “The Earth is Flat”There are advocates who issue statements saying that lie Or simply Do not publish anything. Another line of journalism always wants to report what is said and interprets context and reality: “Although the shape of the earth has been determined and proven by science for centuries, the earth has been said to be flat”.

Famous Pew Research Center A survey conducted in 2022 showed how journalists in the US have a disconnected sense of community when trying to find balance in their version of the truth. According to the study, only 44% Media professionals feel that it is important to listen to all sides when investigating a story. In society in general, this percentage 76%.

oh Pew Research Center Interviews were conducted with 11,889 American journalists from February 16, 2022 to March 17, 2022, and 19,829 American adults from February 7, 2022 to March 13, 2022. Journalists have a margin of error of 1 percentage point. and 1.6 percentage points for the general public. Here it is completeness Survey (PDF – 4 MB, in English).

Wrong direction

The Syracuse University report cited at the beginning of this post found that 60.1% of media professionals in the U.S. consider the practice of journalism in the country to be “going in the wrong direction”.

The survey asked what is the biggest problem facing journalism. Here are the 5 most mentioned themes:

• People's trust in the news media is declining – 20.8%;
• Coverage of local and community news was curtailed – 12.8%;
• Partial Journalism – 12.7%;
• Fake news – 9.9%;
• Complex business model – 9.3%.

Brazil

In Brazil, a study conducted by UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) in 2021, 80.7% Journalists define their political position as left (52.8%), Center-left Or to the left (two%).

On the other side of the political spectrum, only 4% Among those interviewed they responded that they identified with the concepts ok (1.4%), center right (2.5%) or to the right (0.1%)

There are more 4.7% Journalists who define themselves as Center This is 8.7% They don't want to express their ideological position.

The survey conducted by UFSC interviewed 6,650 journalists from August 16, 2021 to October 1, 2021. 1,978 experts responded to this question. Here it is completeness Survey (PDF – 2 MB).