Is Gerard Henderson a leftie?

A new study seems to suggest so.

The authors, Joshua Gans and Andrew Leigh, got some solid media coverage with their finding that the ABC is slanted rightwards. In fact, the study claims that ABC TV is more favourable to the coalition then talk radio stations 2UE and 2GB. Do you believe it?

Others have already pointed out how dumb the methodology is in this study. Basically, the authors locate public intellectuals on a left-right scale based on whether they get more positive or neutral mentions from Labor or Coalition federal politicians. Media outlets are then ranked as slanted depending on whether they mention right and left wing intellectuals. It sounds dubious and it is.

Gerard Henderson’s rating is only one of many anomalies. Gerard got many more favourable mentions by Coalition than ALP MPs. Consequently, when he is cited by a media outlet it is counted as a plus for the ALP when the slant ranking is being worked out.

Sounds silly and it is. You don’t have to know too much about parliamentary, or political, debate to know why the ALP might mention Gerard so positively so often.

The reason is that being able to quote someone generally felt to be supportive of your opponents is a much more powerful debating point than quoting people who might be described as the usual suspects.

Postscript: Phil Gomes points out to me that he made this point last week in the comment stream on Larvatus Prodeo.