How the Media Works to Distract You From the Truth; Media not mentioning that US Invasion/Occupation caused over 1.2 MILLION IRAQI DEATHS!

Frank James Explains It All For You

Frank James, National News Correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, took a look today at a new Media Matters study finding that conservative columnists get more space than progressives ones in papers nationwide. This isn't a shock to anyone who's spent time conscious in the past 100 years, but it's still useful to discuss. Kudos to James for providing an explanation that's exactly right:

There's one explanation for MM's results which has nothing to do with a nefarious conservative cabal running the newspaper industry...

Newspapers are generally in business to be profitable. That means, more often than not, providing consumers with products that reflect their tastes. Thus, more conservative syndicated columnists than not.

Most of a newspaper's revenue comes from advertisers, not subscribers. (And on the Tribune blog where James wrote this, the revenue comes 100% from advertisers.) Newspapers naturally want to keep their advertisers—ie, their consumers—happy. Advertisers tend to be conservative businesses. Hence, more conservative syndicated columnists.

Of course, I left out two sentences of what James wrote. Here's what he actually said:

There's one explanation for MM's results which has nothing to do with a nefarious conservative cabal running the newspaper industry.

Demographically, newspaper readers tend to be older than non-newspaper readers. An older audience is likely to be more conservative. Newspapers are generally in business to be profitable. That means, more often than not, providing consumers with products that reflect their tastes. Thus, more conservative syndicated columnists than not.

I'm sure James is being honest here: he truly doesn't understand that a newspaper's readers are its product, not its consumers. (They're sold to its actual consumers, the advertisers.) You might find it beyond belief someone could get to his position in the newspaper business and have no idea how it works, but in fact people like James rise to the top not in spite of, but because of their ability to completely miss what's right in front of their face. The consumers prefer it that way.

AND: Here's a table from the Tribune Co.'s 2006 annual report, showing the sources of revenue for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Newsday:

As you see, in 2006, 79.7% of their revenue was from advertising, and just 14.1% was from readers. Gosh, I wonder whose tastes they tend to reflect?