Press bias
What is the evidence?
What is the role of journalism?
• Inform the public
– Therefore, the news is supposed to cover important events and public
policy
– It should be understandable and give context
• Act as a watchdog on government
– Therefore, journalists should critique the performance of officials
• Provide a forum for groups critiquing government
– Some argue the same should be true for heads of powerful private
organizations as well
• Many argue that to carry out its mission, the press should be
‘objective’
– This, too, is somewhat controversial
– The press is often criticized as being biased, especially liberal bias
Believability of news media
Percent of public rating medium highly believable, 1985-2002
Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, ’’News Media’s Improved
Image Proves Short-Lived,’’ August 4, 2002
Survey question: "How would you rate the believability of (item) on [a] scale of 4 to 1?"
Grading news coverage, 2001
Percentage giving each medium an A or B grade
Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, ’’America’s Place in the
World III,’’ Aug. 21 - Sept. 5, 2001
Survey question: What grade, A, B, C, D or F, would you give [media name] for its/their
overall news coverage these days?
Characteristics of news coverage
• Total amount
– Number of outlets
– Total available time, space
– News v. non-news content
• Topics
–
–
–
–
What is defined as news?
Lifestyle/features v. accidents/crime v. political news
Foreign affairs v. domestic policy
Issues discussed/ignored
• Treatment
– Sources included/excluded
– Bias
– Framing/ideology
Factors often influencing local TV news
General public opinion v. news director opinion
Source: Radio-Television News Directors Foundation, "2003 Local Television News
Study of News Directors and the American Public"
Sources of influence on news coverage
•
•
•
•
•
•
Journalists’ personal attitudes
News routines, organizational requirements
Owners’ attitudes
Audience interests
Advertiser interests
Relations between journalists and
government
• Professional values and knowledge
• National culture
Journalists’ personal attitudes
• Evidence shows that journalists are more
liberal than the average American
Agnew’s assault on the press
Public perception of leanings
News organizations
are liberal
News organizations
are conservative
Neither phrase
applies
Don't know
Source: Gallup poll of 1,025 Americans, September 2003
Public beliefs about the press
Media too liberal
Media too
conservative
It's about right
No opinion
Source: Gallup poll of 1,025 Americans, September 2003
Journalists’ self-designation
60
50
40
30
20
10
Ve
ry
C
C
National
Local
Source: Pew Center poll of print journalists
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Source: National Survey of the Role of Polls in Policymaking [report in PDF], The Kaiser Family
Foundation in collaboration with Public Perspective, page 27 question D4, June 2001.
Print journalists’ views on bias
National
Local
It is a valid criticism that journalists
are letting their ideological views
show in their reporting too frequently
43%
43%
It is a valid criticism of the press that
the distinction between reporting and
commentary has seriously eroded
58%
57%
Source: Pew Research Center poll of print journalists
Political stance of editors
Independent/other
Liberal/Democrat or
leaning
Conservative/Republi
can or leaning
Libertarian
Source: ASNE’s “Perspectives of People and the Press” report, 1999
How does this affect the news?
Lichter, of the Center for Media and Public Affairs,
says, "The backgrounds and attitudes of
journalists affect the way they see the world and
present the world. But that does not mean they
are getting up in the morning, looking into the
mirror, and saying, 'How can I screw the
Republicans today?'"
• "I have worked at five major newspapers and
sat next to people who held political views that
ranged from fascist to communist, and I would
be hard pressed to find any sign of that in their
work as reporters or editors. A better test than
the liberal-vs.-conservative paradigm would be
ideological-vs.-non-ideological, and roundedvs.-not rounded.
– David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winner who
covered tax issues for The New York Times
Some say the press is actually
conservative:
• A smaller, but growing, number of critics argues that
the media lean right rather than left
• Robert Parry: “The notion of a ‘liberal’ national
news media is one of the most enduring and
influential political myths of modern U.S. history.
Shaping the behavior of both conservatives and
liberals over the past quarter century, the myth could
be said to have altered the course of American
democracy and led the nation into the dangerous
corner it now finds itself.”
Journalists and public on specific policies
Journalists appear
to be left of public
Protecting medicare and Social
Security
Journalists appear
to be right of public
XX
The expansion of NAFTA
X
Requiring employers to provide
health insurance for workers
X
Stricter environmental laws
X
‘Fast track’ trade authority
X
X
X
X
Government guaranteed
medical care
X
Concern over corporate power
Taxing the wealthy
Impact of NAFTA
Ultimately:
• Journalists are personally liberal
– Elite media more so than the rest
– They are not so clearly or unambiguously liberal as they
are portrayed
• Majority are centrist
• Actually centrist or conservative on economic matters, liberal on
social equality issues, government social action
– Editors and management are more conservative
– The historical trend has been toward a more conservative or
libertarian position for journalists
• Definition of ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ have both drifted to the
right
• ‘New news’ and non-fiction formats have been on the conservative
side
– Influence of elite media has declined
Socialization of journalists
• New journalists learn ‘editorial policy’ subtly through
the working of the news system
– The stories they hand in are edited and returned for rewrite
• What shows up in the paper/newscast is edited—they learn to turn
in what is preferred
– Success of journalists who follow the rules
• Placement of stories
• Star reporters with perks
–
–
–
–
Occasional ‘talking to’ by editors
Coffee klatches
Evaluation of elite press coverage
They read their own paper each day
Owners’ and managers’ attitudes
• Rights of ownership
– Can fire dissident employees
• Relatively rare
– They can hire according to political tendencies
• Uncommon
• However, may be becoming more common
– “Fox phenomenon”
– Advancement according to acceptance of editorial
policy
Consolidation
• Fewer and fewer large corporations own more
and more of the media companies controlling
the media markets
• http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html
Audience preferences
• Sensationalism
– People watch news in large numbers
– Small audiences for “serious journalism”, e.g. Newshour,
opinion journals, editorial pages
– Screaming matches rather than debate
• Common focus on bizarre, conflictual, seamy, violent
– Look at popular culture
• Movies
• Television shows
• Success of more sensational news formats
– 60 Minutes
Audience preferences
• Right-wing populism
– “Patriotism”
• Fox
• Limbaugh, etc.
– “Militarism of local news” (Gitlin and Hallin)
• Local news, especially, dropped all pretension of
neutrality during Gulf War I
• Same appears true today
Advertiser interests
• Newspaper, newsmagazine and, especially, television
get economic support from advertising
• Ad agencies buy time mainly according to audience
size
– However, perceived ‘quality’ of audience matters, as well
• Ms. magazine
• Fear of consumer response in case of airing content
deemed unacceptable by consuming public
– Conservatives have been particularly active in consumer
boycotts, etc.
• Dixie Chicks, etc.
• Advertisers may act according to
owner/management ideology
– Probably not a major source of bias
• When profit is available, other companies
appear to often foot the bill, as it gives a
competitive advantage
– However, a large number of companies have
directed their advertising agencies not to
place advertising with Air America (liberal talk
radio)
Politicians and the press
•“Reporters are puppets.”
• Lyndon Johnson
Officials dominate news sources
• Q#6. How often do you talk to the following
sources in your work on economic policy
issues?
% saying "nearly always“
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Government officials
Business representatives
Think-tank analysts
University-based academics
Wall Street analysts
Labor representatives
Consumer advocates
Source: journalist survey
51%
31%
17%
10%
9%
5%
5%
% saying "often“
34%
35%
47%
38%
22%
30%
20%
Relations between journalists and
government
• Mutual interests
– Source of news for media
– Source of publicity/influence over public opinion
for officials
• “Power balance” determines relative ability to
control relationship
• President, top officials can command media
attention
• Powerful media (NY Times, NBC) can ignore
relatively minor players or demand certain
information in trade for publicity
Relations between journalists and
government
• Officials use media as a means to disseminate
information in support of their own agendas
– Backgrounders
– Leaks (‘unnamed sources’)
– Quotes
• Officials can offer scoops, leading individual
journalists to play along in order to advance
their own careers
• Structural control over media
–Press room
–Press conference
–Spokespersons
–Campaign bus, etc.
–Photo ops
Think tanks (Golden rolodex)
• “In short, there is no evidence whatsoever of a
monolithic liberal bias in the newspaper industry, at
least as manifest in presidential campaign coverage.
The same can be said of a conservative bias: There is
no significant evidence of it.” (D’Alessio et al., 2000)
• A small difference in favor of Democrats in terms of
coverage in network TV news was found—53% to
47% of airtime. Even less difference in slant was
identified.
Is political bias the most important
concern?
• Are there other tendencies in coverage that are
important?
–
–
–
–
Topic choice
Status quo v. change
Framing
Ideology
Topic choice
Topic choice
• Crime
– What kind of crime?
• Violent street crime
– What kind of people?
• Poor, often African American (or Hispanic), young,
male
– Focus on corporate crimes, tax or insurance fraud,
environmental crime, etc. would lead to a very
different understanding of lawlessness in America
• Terrorism
– Seems obvious that it should be a major news story
– Constant attention
• Doesn’t warrant the attention based on loss of life,
injury, etc.
Framing
• “Master narratives”
– Cinderella story
• Structure that underlies the surface details of
news stories
– May be implicit
• Language choice is especially important here
– Metaphor
• Sports metaphors
• War metaphors
• Sex metaphors/gender role metaphors
• “Frames, then, define problems—determine
what causal agent is doing with what costs and
benefits, usually measured in terms of
common cultural values; diagnose causes—
identify the forces creating the problem; make
moral judgments—evaluate causal agents and
their effects; and suggest remedies—offer and
justify treatments for the problems and predict
their likely effects.”
– Entman, 1993
Framing
• Rather than looking at the details of every
story, those who are interested in story framing
look for the shared substructure of large
groups of stories on a given issue
–
–
–
–
“War on Drugs”
“War on Crime”
“War on Terror”
“Pro-Life” v. “Pro Choice”
Controlling the framing
• It is possible to lose every debate but “win the war” by
controlling the framing of a particular policy area
• “War on drugs”
– Treating drug taking as a crime rather than as a form of
disease
– Massive amounts of money targeted to the criminal justice
system
– Military conflict and intervention in drug-exporting
countries
– Portrayal of drug ‘pushers ‘ as demons
– Massive lockup of drug users, sellers, etc.
• Public health problem
– Users as ‘sick’
– Infusion of money into public health system to
help users quit, get clean
– Reduction in incarceration
– Public information campaigns
Framing in U.S. media
• Strikes as disruption, caused by workers
• Terrorism as heinous crime committed by
religious zealots
– “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom
fighter”
• Feminism as nit-picky whining by unattractive,
desexualized, unChristian and unhappy (and
probably lesbian) man-hating women
– “Feminazis”
Ideology
• Framing
• Naturalization
– Take the current U.S. situation, belief system
[white, middle-class] as ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ and
compare and contrast everything to it
• Different world views are ‘bizarre’ or inferior
• Interpellation
– Encourages the audience member to adopt a
particular viewpoint and to accept the
presumptions that go along with it
Ideology
• Looking at the world from the standpoint of a
middle-class, white, probably male, American
– A large set of unexamined presuppositions
• America has the right to invade other countries, strongarm its allies, etc. in the name of its own interests (or at
least for the good of the world)
• American actions are based on honorable intentions
National culture
• Graber notes that journalists are
supportive of the U.S. political
system, criticizing what are seen as
deviations from proper governance
by individuals while supporting the
structure
– Individual officeholder v. the office
• Criticize Bush but praise the presidency
as an institution
• A great number of beliefs about what is
good, right and appropriate for America
are shared by the majority of people.
Journalists tend to reflect and reinforce
those beliefs
– Values in the news (Gans):
• Ethnocentrism
• Altruistic Democracy
• Responsible Capitalism
• Small-Town Pastoralism
• Individualism
• Moderatism
Basic underpinnings of American
ideology
• Capitalism
• Representative democracy
• Genderism
• Consumption/accumulation
• Christianity
• Scientism
• Nationalism