Politico Media Panel Agrees Media ‘Leans Left’

By Jordan Chariton 

A Politico Playbook panel with CNN’s Jake Tapper, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, the New York Times’ Peter Baker and Mark Leibovich all agreed that in general the news media leans left.

“A certain type of person becomes a reporter,” Tapper said, suggesting since most big city reporters haven’t gone through the same experiences less fortunate Americans have—like poverty and minimum wage work—there is an awareness of that fact in their reporting.

“I rarely talk about politics with my colleagues,” Leibovich said, but suggested conversations in newsrooms drop clues that there is a “leftward lean.”

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NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell acknowledged her ties to MSNBC:

“I felt I had to say yes because obviously MSNBC has evolved,” O’Donnell said, also expressing that she’s worked hard in her career to be “intellectually aggressive”toward both sides of the political aisle.

Baker pointed out a bigger bias than politics: conflict and simplicity.

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