Journalist Political Affiliation

"A journalist makes himself the hero of the story. A reporter is only a witness."
--Ed Cleary (Deadline U.S.A)

2013 study by two Indiana University journalism profs found (#9) that of 1080 full-time U.S. journalists surveyed, 28% claimed to be Democrats, 7% claimed to be Republicans, and 50% claimed to be independents. In the broad US population, political affiliations estimated to be 30%, 24%, and 40% respectively.

Past studies have produced similar findings on a relative basis, many of them summarized by Groseclose (2011). Generally, journalists who identify as Democrats outnumber those who identify as Republicans by large margins--in this study 4:1.

btw, it is likely that political affiliations are likely to be under-estimated in studies that employ self-reported measures, as many journalists elect the 'independent' box to provide an appearance of neutrality. Indeed, the authors note that journalists self-identifying as independent has been increasing.