A new study has revealed that a mere 3.4% of American journalists identify as Republicans. I mean, did we really need a study for this? It’s like conducting research to confirm water is wet. But hey, who am I to argue with the scientific method? The study, conducted by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, surveyed 1,600 U.S. journalists in early 2022. And the findings? Hardly surprising, yet mildly entertaining.

This revelation paints a clear picture of why political debates often sound like journalists are debating the Republican candidate. Because guess what, folks? They are! They view Republicans as opponents rather than simply candidates representing a different viewpoint. And let’s not even get started on the widespread epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome among them.

Now, if we hop in our time machine and travel back to 1971, when the first iteration of this study was conducted, we find that 35.5% of journalists identified as Democrats, 25.7% as Republicans, and 32.5% as Independents. Fast forward to today, and it’s clear there’s been a seismic shift in the media landscape.

In fact, the last iteration of the study before this recent one showed that in 2013, 7.1% of journalists in America identified as Republicans, 28.1% as Democrats, and a whopping 50.2% as Independents. So, the number of Republican journalists has halved in less than a decade. Talk about a disappearing act!

And the reaction online? Well, let’s just say people were more shocked that the number was as high as it was. Comments ranged from “Impossible to believe it’s that many” to “So much for Diversity and Inclusion.” And my personal favorite, “The study also found that water is wet.”

So, there you have it, folks. The media, the supposed watchdog of democracy, does not reflect the country it reports on. But then again, who’s really surprised? After all, diversity and inclusion apparently only matter when it fits a certain narrative.