User:Sohmc/Sandbox/Rfc: Liberal bias?

= THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS = I will submit this once I've gathered all my thoughts and written something coherrent. This is just something to gather my thoughts.

The whitesheet
I'm not sure how to approach this topic because I don't want to start a flame war. So please assume the best about me and I'll try to be as open and honest as possible.

I've come to notice that that a large majority of articles have a liberal slant. It's very subtle but over time became noticable. The primary thing I see is that "conservative" articles are labeled as conservative, usually within the article's introduction. Here are some examples:
 * From Washington Times:
 * The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and is owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate owned by the Unification Church which also owns newspapers in South Korea, Japan, and South America. The Times is sometimes considered to be a socially and politically conservative alternative to the larger and more well-known Washington Post.


 * From Hot Air (news site):
 * Hot Air is a U.S. website providing news and commentary from conservative and libertarian points of view. It is written by Ed Morrissey and the pseudonymous Allahpundit.


 * From Michelle Malkin:
 * Michelle Malkin (née Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author.  Her weekly, syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites nationwide. She has been a guest on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, and national radio programs.  Malkin has written four books published by  Regnery.

While on the face this may seem just a regular summary of an article, when I read introductions like this, it almost makes it sound that liberalism is "normal" while conservatism is outside of mainstream. Take this in conjunction with the "liberal" articles I show below. These introductions do not contain political stances, dispite a wide agreement that they are liberal. The rest of the article does show this, but by not having it in the introduction makes it seem "normal".

Similar "liberal" article introductions usually contain no reference to political stance.
 * From The Washington Post:
 * The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation.


 * The newspaper is written as a broadsheet, with photographs printed both in color and black and white. Weekday printings include the main section, containing the first page, national, international news, business, politics, and editorials and opinions, followed by the sections on local news (Metro), sports, style (feature writing on pop culture, politics, fine and performing arts, film, fashion, and gossip), and classifieds. The Sunday edition includes the weekday sections as well as several weekly sections: Outlook (opinion and editorials), Style & Arts, Travel, Comics, TV Week, and the Washington Post Magazine. Beyond the newspaper, the Washington Post operates a syndication service (The Washington Post Writers Group) and under its parent company of The Washington Post Company, is involved in the Washington Post Media, Washington Post Digital, and washingtonpost.com.


 * From Rachel Maddow:
 * Rachel Anne Maddow (born April 1, 1973) is an American radio personality, television host, and political commentator. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio. Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. She was also a guest host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Race for the White House. Maddow is the first openly gay anchor to be hired to host a prime-time news program in the United States.


 * Asked about her political views by the Valley Advocate, Maddow replied, "I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform."
 * ''In this introduction, the article never states that she is liberal, like in Michelle Malkin but instead makes a quote.

I know there was an article some time back about Wikipedia tending to have a liberal slant, which is why I'm not really sure how to approach this topic. And for complete openness and transparancy, I do consider myself conservative. However, I hope this isn't being read as "I think all Wikipedia articles should be deleted!" or anything like that. I am looking for more of honest feedback and frank discussion on this topic. While I think it is impossible to be truly neutral, I do think it is possible for all authors and editors to agree on a policy that can be even-handed.

I will openly admit that there may be some selection bias here simply because I know far more conservative articles than I do liberal ones. For all I know, there may be liberal articles that openly state that this fact.

I cannot stress enough that I believe the quality of all articles listed here are good. And again, I'm not trying to start a flamewar but instead am looking for honest feedback on this topic. I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this and I'm hoping I'm not the only one. There are many other examples that I can add, but I think these articles are a good place to start.

Here's hoping for helpful comments and a good discussion.