Page "Media bias" Paragraph 32

Riccardo Puglisi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology looks at the editorial choices of the New York Times from 1946 to 1997.

He finds that the Times displays Democratic partisanship, with some watchdog aspects.

This is the case, because during presidential campaigns the Times systematically gives more coverage to Democratic topics of civil rights, health care, labor and social welfare, but only when the incumbent president is a Republican.

These topics are classified as Democratic ones, because Gallup polls show that on average U. S. citizens think that Democratic candidates would be better at handling problems related to them.

According to Puglisi, in the post-1960 period the Times displays a more symmetric type of watchdog behaviour, just because during presidential campaigns it also gives more coverage to the typically Republican issue of Defense when the incumbent President is a Democrat, and less so when the incumbent is a Republican.