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, 1985-2002Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, ’’News Media’s Improved Image Proves Short-Lived,’’ August 4, 2002Survey 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 gradeSource: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, ’’America’s Place in the World III,’’ Aug. 21 - Sept. 5, 2001Survey 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 newsGeneral 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 organizationsare liberal

News organizationsare conservative

Neither phraseapplies

Don't know

Source: Gallup poll of 1,025 Americans, September 2003

Public beliefs about the press

Media too liberal

Media tooconservative

It's about right

No opinion

Source: Gallup poll of 1,025 Americans, September 2003

Journalists’ self-designation

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

National Local

Source: Pew Center poll of print journalists

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 orleaning

Conservative/Republican 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 rounded-vs.-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 policiesJournalists appear to be left of public

Journalists appear to be right of public

Protecting medicare and Social Security XX

The expansion of NAFTA XRequiring employers to provide health insurance for workers X

Stricter environmental laws XConcern over corporate power XTaxing the wealthy XImpact of NAFTA X‘Fast track’ trade authority XGovernment guaranteed medical care X

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“% saying "often“

• Government officials 51% 34%• Business representatives 31% 35%• Think-tank analysts 17% 47%• University-based academics 10% 38%• Wall Street analysts 9% 22%• Labor representatives 5% 30%• Consumer advocates 5% 20%

Source: journalist survey

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, strong-arm 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