JVW answered fully, but I would like to add that working in publishing does not require getting in to work early. A huge attraction to leftists, imo.

1. It is a relatively lowly-paid industry (at least compared to doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other white-color professions).
2. It attracts humanities majors with no discernable skills to offer, other than an interest in the written and spoken word.
3. It allows for a veneer of pseudo-intellectualism as you discuss “important matters.”

And regarding the question about whether certain newspapers’ political bias is contributing to their declining numbers, while I agree with Patterico that it probably does not account for all the hemmoraging, I know that I cancelled the LA Times and the Sunday NY Times because I could no longer feel good about spending my time or money on such a demented worldview.

The best evidence for that is the NY Post — clearly the most conservative paper of the top 20, and whose circulation has grown dramatically in the last 10 years — from under 500,000 to over 720,000, including a 7.6% gain in the last 6 months.

Soon, the bias factor will fade, as the other papers will soon lose pretty much the last of their Republican/right-leaning readers and will be left with only their leftist hardcore. But we are not there yet.

However I have considered subscribing to the NY Post which is a more right leaning paper and I see that numbers have been on the rise significantly. I think that points out the left bias is losing subscribers.

I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper for years, I can get all the liberal slanted take on news I need from the network talking heads and visiting cnn.com and usatoday.com daily (which I do). A newspaper costs me actual money to just get more of the same point of view - so what’s the point?

If I had access to a paper that actually had a news division who saw their role to inform comprehensively rather than evangelize, I’d subscribe in a heartbeat. I don’t need to read just what I agree with, but it’d be a change of pace to read something that even gave a fair representation of anything resembling my views without tut-tutting. It grates on me that most newspapers and tv anchors present one side of the issue in sympathetic tones and imply that being object means agreeing with them. As Inigo Montoya said, “I don’t think that word means what you think it means”. Sorry - couldn’t resist a Pricess Bride quote.

And I’d rather serious newspapers stayed away from gossip columns… I want serious news, I don’t care who is seeing who or who was wearing what.

As a slightly off the subject note, I necessarily subscribe to several technical publications directed at engineers (who are generally conservative). Despite this, the editors and writers are clearly quite left of center, and are often called to task for it.

I could cite other examples. So, the question is, what is it about publishing that attracts primarily the left?

I hope there are other ways that newspapers can improve their circulation!