Massachusetts News Staff

February 1--A majority of the citizens, 64%, believe the media in Massachusetts is biased according to a Massachusetts News poll taken by Wirthlin Worldwide of six hundred residents (read the questions).

They were not asked in which direction the bias exists.

The citizens are not excited with the way the media is covering the issues that concern them the most. Only 31% gave them a good rating, while 22% voted for a poor rating, and 46% said they are only doing a fair job.

Globe Seen as Liberal

The respondents also believe that The Boston Globe is biased. Almost twice as many, 38%, said it is prejudiced in favor of the liberal side as compared to those who believe it is biased toward the conservative point of view, 21%. Nineteen percent believe the paper is neutral. Many people, 22%, some of whom live far from Boston, declined to answer the question.

The question about the Globe was one of the few questions where the answers differed based upon a respondent’s age and sex.

The largest group of people who believe that the Globe is conservative were women who live in Boston or women who are single with a child. Thirty-two percent of both of those categories of women thought the newspaper is biased in favor of the conservatives – whereas only 21% of the general population believe it has a conservative tilt. Only 19% of Boston males voted that it was conservative and only 19% of suburban females and 16% of females who live in the western part of the state.

The youngest age group, 18 to 34 years of age (of both sexes), also had a higher percentage who thought the Globe is conservative as compared with the rest of the population. Twenty-four percent of those who are 18 to 34 years of age thought the Globe was biased toward a conservative point-of-view, but that went down to 21% at ages 35-56 and to 13% for those over 55 years.

Of those respondents who thought the paper has a liberal bias, the highest group was suburban females at 51% while males from Boston and suburbia were close behind at 46% and 48%. 

There was a surprise in the age category because the group which believes that the Globe is biased with a liberal slant is highest in the 35 to 54-year-old category at 44%. It declined to 39% in the older group who are over 55 years of age. Only 28% of the young, 18 to 34 year group thought that the Globe has a liberal bias.