If you’re looking for straight and unbiased news reporting, you may want to avoid MSNBC.
A new Pew Research Center study has found the liberal-leaning cable network is filled with opinion and commentary for 85 percent of its airtime.
Only a paltry 15 percent of MSNBC’s programming stuck to “factual reporting, according to Pew.
Fox News, by comparison, had a breakdown of 55 percent commentary and opinion and 45 percent "factual reporting."
CNN was the only one of the big three cable news networks to broadcast more straight news with 54 percent of its programming dedicated to factual reporting and 46 percent to opinion and commentary.
Pew’s findings are based on observing a half-hour of daytime programming for the first five months of 2012 and the first five minutes of primetime "general news shows."
Pew also found that in 2012, MSNBC devoted 57 percent of all its coverage to the presidential campaign, with Fox devoting 37 percent and CNN 30 percent.
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A separate Pew examination of programming in December 2012 found MSNBC “by far the most opinionated of the three networks, with nearly 90 percent of its primetime coverage coming in the form of opinion or commentary.
“And that remains the case with many of its packaged segments. Host Rachel Maddow, for example, often begins her show with a lengthy segment combining a monologue with video clips that can last for seven minutes or longer,’’ Pew said.
The findings are part of Pew's annual
State of the News Media report.
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