A new study from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications has found that only 3.4% of American journalists are Republicans.
The proportion of Democrats has grown to 36.4%, and the number of Independents increased from 50.2% to 51.7%, while the already low Republican share of journalists has been halved. These results are based on an online survey conducted in early 2022 with 1,600 U.S journalists.
At just 3.4%, the proportion of Republican journalists in America is alarmingly low, indicating a severe lack of political diversity in newsrooms. In contrast, the proportion of Democrats increased by 8.3% in the past 10 years. The last study, conducted in 2013, pegged the proportion of Republican journalists in America at 7.1%, while Democrats made up 28.1% and Independents were at 50.2%.
Over 50 years ago, the first iteration of this study found that 35.5% of respondents were Democrats, 25.7% were Republicans, and 32.5% were Independents. While surveys of journalists across the country in local newsrooms provided a more bipartisan picture in the past, the national media’s composition has been severely liberal since the 1980s. These findings suggest that the fourth estate’s partisan lean has become increasingly skewed toward the left in recent decades.
The results from a Gallup poll conducted in November show that today’s newsrooms are wildly out of step with the general public, with only 3.4% of journalists being Republicans. In contrast, Independents make up the largest proportion of the American population at 40%, followed by Democrats and Republicans at 29%. Yet, many of these Independents likely lean Democrat, given the study’s findings that more than a third of journalists identify as Democrats.
Moreover, an October Gallup poll revealed that trust in mass media to report the news accurately, fairly and completely to the public is at an all-time low. Only 32% of Americans have “a great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the media to report the news accurately, fairly, and completely, while 58% of Democrats and 29% of Independents have confidence in the media. Only 11% of Republicans feel the same way.