A study of newspaper opinion pages says syndicated columnist George Will's commentaries run in more newspapers than any other columnist. Will appears in 368 newspapers with a combined circulation of 26 million, according to Media Matters for America. The organization surveyed 96% of the 1,430 English-language newspapers in the U.S.
So much for liberal domination of newspaper opinion pages.
The other columnists in order of their popularity are:
2: Kathleen Parker, also a conservative.
3. Ellen Goodman, a liberal.
4. Leonard Pitts Jr., a liberal.
5. David Broder, who is third, isn't assigned an ideology.
The next five are Cal Thomas, Charles Krauthammer, Thomas L. Friedman, Maureen Dowd and David Brooks.
Media Matters says conservative columnists have a wider reach than
liberal columnists.
Of the top 10, The Fresno Bee regularly runs all but Charles Krauthammer and David Brooks.
Here's an AP story on the study:
Study finds conservatives, led by George Will, dominate editorial
pages
By DAVID BAUDER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- George Will's column runs in more newspapers
than any writer in the nation, according to a new study by a
liberal media watchdog group that concludes conservative voices
such as his dominate editorial pages.
Will's syndicated column runs at least once a month in 368
newspapers with more than 26 million in total circulation, said the
Media Matters for America. The organization surveyed 96 percent of
the nation's 1,430 English-language daily newspapers.
"He reaches half of the newspaper readers in America," said
Paul Waldman, the study's author. "He has a huge megaphone,
probably bigger than anybody else in America."
His group found that 60 percent of the daily newspapers print
more conservative syndicated columnists each week than liberals.
Twenty percent of the papers are dominated by liberals and 20
percent are balanced. Media Matters had no information on local
columnists.
It's similar to how conservative talk radio voices dominate,
although to a much more limited extent.
Waldman called it "one more nail in the coffin of the myth of
liberal media bias." Better balance should be the goal, he said.
Will, 66, distributes two columns each week to newspapers
through the Washington Post Writers Group and writes every other
week for Newsweek. He's been a columnist since 1974, when
newspapers began searching for conservative voices after the Nixon
administration complained about a liberal bias.
"It's pleasing news, because one never knows," Will told The
Associated Press. "You send these things out and you can't
possibly keep track of how the newspapers are using them."
Alan Shearer, editorial director and general manager of the
group that syndicates Will, said he thinks the column is popular
because it contains original reporting and is not just opinion.
Will can also be unpredictable, and predictability is the death of
columnists, he said.
Some well-known TV personalities can't approach Will for reach
in their written work. Bill O'Reilly, for example, reaches 4
million readers and Ann Coulter 1.1 million, the survey said.
The five most popular columnists include another conservative,
Kathleen Parker, and two liberals, Ellen Goodman and Leonard Pitts
Jr. David Broder of the Washington Post, who is third, isn't
assigned an ideology by Media Matters.
The top 10 is rounded out by Cal Thomas, Charles Krauthammer and
three from The New York Times: Thomas L. Friedman, Maureen Dowd and
David Brooks.
Both Will and Shearer said they believe that Media Matters is
right, that conservative columnists have a wider reach than
liberals. It may partly be because publishers lean conservative,
and editorial page editors often report to them, Shearer said.
Will said he hoped to write "'til I drop," pointing to his
50th anniversary as a columnist as a goal. That's in 2024.
"I love to write," he said. "I think that's unusual among
journalists. A lot of journalists like the reporting and hanging
around the journalistic subculture and seeing their names in the
paper, it's the middle part they don't like. I like the middle
part."
I am a hippy liberal yet I still read and enjoy George Wills' column.
I dont care what label is affixed to you. If you write well and have something of interest to write about I will generally read it and form my own opinion.