Chronicle of Bias
Our mission is based on the proposition that the American people will make the right decisions if they get the right information on which to base those decisions.
To that end, we intend to (1) establish through scientific analysis that the Houston Chronicle subjects its readers to a daily barrage of information that is biased toward liberal candidates, opinions, agendas, and misconceptions, (2) to expose that bias, and (3) encourage the Houston Chronicle through subtle diplomacy to bring fairness to their pages.
In 2007, James Campbell, then the “Ombudsman” of the HC, wrote a piece titled “Mixmasters”, in which he tried to defend the Chronicle in particular, and the Mainstream Media (MSM) in general, from charges of liberal bias. To do this, he cited a study by an organization called “Media Matters”. The “study” claimed that more conservative columnists were carried in America’s newspapers than were liberal columnists. According to Campbell, that year the HC published 133 columns by “conservative” columnists, and 122 by “liberal” columnists. He also claimed 63 columns by “moderates” like David Broder, Jim Hoagland, and Neal Pierce. Of course he left Cragg Hines, Marianne Means, Fromma Harrop, and other liberals out of the “mix”. All of this is disingenuous at best and propaganda at worst.
The only time that the HC carries a “conservative” columnist is when the writer has something bad to say about conservatives, the GOP, or George Bush, and according to Wickepedia, “Media Matters” is funded by “several wealthy liberals and MoveOn.org”. I think we can lean more towards the “propaganda” conclusion now.
At any rate, it incenses me to be played for a fool, especially by a bunch of fools like these, who try to do it so flagrantly and openly, so I decided to try to do something about it. That “something” is to track the output of the HC every day, and “score” the liberal and conservative bias, which I then turn into a “Percentage of Bias”. I do the scoring by using a unique method that I have devised, which yields inarguable scientific statistical results. As of this writing (3/3/2008), and after only tracking the HC for a little more than 2 months, I can tell you that the liberal bias is far worse than even I imagined. You can view my scoring and comments for any particular day by clicking on the calendar on the CoB homepage for that day. Please e-mail your comments to me at roy@chronicleofbias.com.
Feel free to quote me on any of this.