Newspaper opinion pages usually hire male academics who agree with the editorial page, Rutgers University research reported. The results point to the possibility that opinion pages don't necessarily advocate "diverse views", The New York Times (NYT) reported.  

Bob Summer, a public policy communications teacher and president of Observer Media, and John R. Maycroft, a graduate public policy student, did the study by looking through 366 opinion articles written by academics, published in The NYT, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and The Star-Ledger.

According to the study, most of the academics writing the opinion pieces were from "prestige" establishments like Harvard and Stanford, according to the NYT.

Between 90 to 95 % of the opinion articles agreed with the editorial opinion on a given topic and in case an opinion piece did disagree, it was in a "point/counterpoint" format where authors are required to have an opposing view, the NYT wrote.   

The study authors said the "most astonishing" find was that men wrote 78 % of The Star-Ledger, 82 % of the NYT and 97 % of the WSJ opinion pieces.

The NYT and WSJ editors refused to comment but John McMahon from the Star-Ledger said that he was "surprised" and that the results didn't "reflect conscious biases".

Source: The New York Times through World News Network