Yeah, East Coast Bias Exists - But It's Justified

I was surfing the web, just the usual, and came across this article. It got me thinking about East Coast Bias. Does it exist?

Yeah, admit it. There's an East Coast Bias.

Normally people take two sides: either that East Coast Bias doesn't exist, or that it does exist and is a horrible injustice.

I see it from a third point of view: East Coast Bias surely exists, but what do you expect?

Look at the population breakdown (2006 numbers, slightly rounded): a total of 292 million people. 141 million in the Eastern time zone, 85 million in the Central, 18 million in the Mountain, and 48 million in the Pacific. 

About 50% of the country lives in the Eastern time zone. About 80% of the population lives in either the Eastern or Central time zone.

So basically, 80% of the country lives East of the Rocky Mountains.

Now you see why you can't blame TV networks for saying, "Tonight at 8/7 Central". They're just catering to the majority. As you learn in elementary school: majority rules.

Most of the people live in the East, so the East gets preferential treatment.

In addition, ESPN gets the highest ratings for Red Sox-Yankees games, even beating West Coast ratings when West Coast teams are playing.

So when you complain about Red Sox-Yankees gets shoved down your throat, just shut up. You, even you people on the West Coast (including me), watched it.  Red Sox-Yankees got the 3 highest rating games all season.

Meanwhile games with West Coast teams like Angels-White Sox, Dodgers-Cubs, and Angels-Tigers got the LOWEST ratings, even on the West Coast.

Blaming ESPN is like blaming NBC for showing the Olympics, and specifically Michael Phelps, to get higher ratings. Any network will do anything it can TO GET HIGHER RATINGS. Bias is irrelevant and doesn't not enter the discussion.

Furthermore, don't blame ESPN, they just cover what's around them. You can't blame ESPN for paying attention to what's closest to where they are.

It's human nature to see what's directly around you. If ESPN was based in Seattle, and gave a lot of Seahawks coverage, viewers in New York would complain. If ESPN was based in Detroit, they would give too much Pistons and Tigers coverage. It's natural, and to be expected.

So all in all, don't blame anyone.

Its not anyone's fault that a major of people live in the East, that East Coast games get the highest ratings, and that media outlets are based in the East.