Media bias in Australia

I had to write a university paper on democracy and the media, so as part of my research, I looked at media bias in newspapers and was frankly gobsmacked. 

Throughout the course, we we asked to view the world through the perspective of the left wing paradigm, balanced tuition at undergraduate level at most Australian universities is unheard of unless you are studying business - even then you are bombarded with left wing ideals. 

I decided to research my paper from a right wing perspective as when we shared our short essays online; I noticed more than a little prevalence of the left wing perspective based on our learning material and instruction - I thought I might have a little fun.  

According to Andrew Leigh's research, with the exception of The Guardian and Fairfax, the Australian media is pretty much neutral. The chart displays just four news outlets with News Corporation being the most neutral and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation not far from the pace. The full reference grouping is not listed on the chart, just a number of interesting examples, the rest fall between the slightly left/slightly right bias.

A couple of caveats, the research of Andrew Leigh and Joshua Gans is a little contentious. Leigh, a former Australian National University economist may be interpreted loosely by some as somewhat bias as Leigh is currently a politician for the Australian Labor Party, or more simply - the left perspective. One also has to remember though, their work has been peer reviewed and published. 

Also consider, their research may be deemed fairly accurate as many would argue, you don't need a university education to appreciate The Guardian and Fairfax are left learning, the News Corp and ABC results are somewhat surprising though. 

Interestingly, News Corp is often accused of a right bias and the ABC having a left bias, the numbers would indicate otherwise. Likewise, Fairfax and The Guardian are no surprise either with their strong left wing bias. The United States tends to have a distinct left bias in reporting according to their research with a more neutral reporting stance in Australia - who would have guessed?