Liberal Bias

[A_Wanderer]

The top 10 most read articles from NYTimes.com from 2005 - give the people what they want!

* 1. Maureen Dowd: What's a Modern Girl to Do?
Published: October 30, 2005
Burning your bra or padding it. Demanding "Ms." or flaunting "Mrs." Splitting the check or letting him pay. Playing it straight or playing hard to get.

* 2. Maureen Dowd: United States of Shame
Published: September 3, 2005
W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives.

* 3. Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World
By KURT EICHENWALD, Published: December 19, 2005
A 13-year-old was drawn into performing sex acts for an online audience in a tale of the dark collateral effects of technology.

* 4. How Personal Is Too Personal for a Star Like Tom Cruise?
By SHARON WAXMAN, Published: June 2, 2005
Tom Cruise is puzzling associates and members of the public with his behavior while promoting the Paramount movie "War of the Worlds."

* 5. Officials Struggle to Reverse a Growing Sense of Anarchy
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL, JOSEPH B. TREASTER and MARIA NEWMAN, Published: September
1, 2005
Bodies floated in stagnant floodwaters, and food and water supplies dwindled for thousands of trapped, desperate residents who had not yet managed to find a way out.

* 6. Thomas L. Friedman: Osama and Katrina
Published: September 7, 2005
If President Bush goes back to his politics as usual, Katrina will have destroyed a city and a presidency.

* 7. Macabre Reminder: The Corpse on Union Street
By DAN BARRY, Published: September 8, 2005
It is remarkable that on a downtown street in a major U.S. city, a corpse can decompose for days, like carrion, and that is acceptable.

* 8. Editorial: Waiting for a Leader
Published: September 1, 2005
George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life Wednesday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom.

* 9. Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report
By DAVID JOHNSTON, RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL, Published: October 25,
2005
Notes of a previously undisclosed conversation between the vice president and his chief of staff appear to differ from I. Lewis Libby's federal grand jury testimony.

* 10. Paul Krugman: A Can't-Do Government
By PAUL KRUGMAN, Published: September 2, 2005
America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job.

Zoe Brains Blog

 

[financeguy]

"* 5. Officials Struggle to Reverse a Growing Sense of Anarchy
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL, JOSEPH B. TREASTER and MARIA NEWMAN, Published: September
1, 2005
Bodies floated in stagnant floodwaters, and food and water supplies dwindled for thousands of trapped, desperate residents who had not yet managed to find a way out."


Ok I get it. Reporting unpalatable FACTS now equals liberal bias.

 

[A_Wanderer]

As does this :sense of bafflement smilie:

* 4. How Personal Is Too Personal for a Star Like Tom Cruise?
By SHARON WAXMAN, Published: June 2, 2005
Tom Cruise is puzzling associates and members of the public with his behavior while promoting the Paramount movie "War of the Worlds."

It isn't a declaration that all articles are biased, it simply lists the top 10 accessed articles on the website.

 

[financeguy]

Articles like that one reflect the modern obsession with celebrities, I guess.

 

[Irvine511]

[BOk I get it. Reporting unpalatable FACTS now equals liberal bias. [/B]

yes, that's it precisely.

 

[nbcrusader]

As does this :sense of bafflement smilie:It isn't a declaration that all articles are biased, it simply lists the top 10 accessed articles on the website.

And if the list, as a whole, reflects the top interests of the readership, it would not be far off to suggest that the publication is gear to the readership.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Maybe the title should have read Liberal Bias in NYT Readership

 

[bonoman]

maybe you should try to prove your point without using meaningless top ten lists

 

[A_Wanderer]

The list is from a NYT mailing list, it presents information, that information defines the ten most read articles on their website, hardly meaningless information.

 

[bonoman]

meaningless when trying to prove liberal bias

 

[A_Wanderer]

And where was it declared that it proved liberal bias of the paper, even the title of the thread has a wink on it, one that was there ever since it was posted.

 

[kobayashi]

It could be construed as demonstrating a bias among readership and, via a small leap, the bias of the publication itself.

Or, it could more simply be construed as the top 10 accessed NYT stories in a year that did not go very well for the American people or its leader. Seriously, 2 and 6-10 all appear to cover major news stories that, most would agree, were not the brightest days for the Bush admin.

I am struggling to think of a positive story or a positive spin on these stories that would qualify as major news (and I use this term loosely, as the list demonstrates that there are also some more informal stories there). Iraqi elections might be the only candidate and that was, by most accounts, not entirely positive nor was it, arguably, as important as the hard news stories that are there.

Given the year that was and the fact that it is a somewhat frivolous 'most accessed' list, I'd say it sounds just about right.