Liberals, where are they hiding?
An interesting WP article on the Pew Media Survey
Other television audiences more closely reflect the general public. For CNN, 36 percent of regular viewers say they are conservative and 20 percent liberal. (In party terms, though, CNN's audience is 44 percent Democratic, up from 35 percent four years ago.) For MSNBC, it's 33 percent conservative and 22 percent liberal. Among viewers of the CBS, NBC and ABC nightly newscasts, 33 percent are self-identified conservatives and 18 percent liberals.
Interesting to me that so few willingly accept the liberal label. Some liberals are hidden in the moderate category as are some conservatives but the avoidance of appearing liberal seems obvious.
In light of a recent thread here this seemed interesting:
National Public Radio, despite its left-leaning image, manages an almost equal split: 31 percent conservative, 33 percent moderate and 30 percent liberal.
If only 18% of the general population considers themself liberal, I suppose you could say NPR is a liberal favorite but does a good enough job to attract a substantial conservative and moderate audience. I am not sure how they do the ratings. When I hear NPR news it is usually because I have been listening to the music.