Seeing the Bias in Journalism

The New York Times recently had an article showing how the US Supreme Court Justices were located in regards to how they voted on cases.


The picture is too small to see the details, but the first impression this photo gives is that the SCOTUS appears to lean conservative.  That’s exactly what the Times wants you to believe.  The true is far different. What failed to come through, which you can see on the article, is the percentage each Justice voted liberal.

The far three on the left, Kagan (70.4%), Sotomayor (69.9%), and Ginsburg (68.9%) are all far left, and far less conservative than the most conservative judge is liberal, Alito at 39.7%.

What’s really deceptive is the reader is given a false impression that the middle of the picture marks the 50% point.  Wrong, that’s Kennedy, who is about 50%, the fourth from the left or right, and is located on the right side of the picture, not the middle.

To round out the Justices, Breyer 58.9%, Roberts 44.6%, Scalia 44.6%, and Thomas 40.5%.  In fact if you took the average of the group it becomes 54.2% showing its slightly more liberal than conservative.  The opposite of the picture shown.

When you can understand how the media manipulates you, its easy to spot.