Public Opinion & Faction

Module 5.4: Media Bias

What is Bias?• Expression of preference for or opposition to

– Ideas– Places– Populations– Communities– Policies – Modes of communication

• Selective observation and reporting• May be conscious or unconscious

– “objective reporting”: • a Myth of 20th Century American media• Consciously abandoned in 1984 with the end of the ‘equal time rule’

What kinds of bias?• Partisan

– Favors a particular party or a partisan agenda– The “Partisan Press”: more overt outside US– Example

• Sydney Herald=Australian Conservative Party “mouthpiece”• Ideological

– Favors a particular ideological preference– Often confused with partisan bias– Examples

• Reason magazine=libertarian press• Mother Jones=‘liberal’ press• The Weekly Standard= neo-conservative press

What kinds of bias?

• Demographic– Favors a particular demographic audience

• geography• profession or trade• gender• parental status• age• ethnic group

Not So Obvious Biases• Sensational

– Shock value– Salacious gossip– scandal

• Negativity– “Bad News”– “If it bleeds, it leads”

• Narrative– Every news item a “story”– Elements of a story

• Setting• Timing• Conflict

– Protagonists– Antagonists

• Rising action• Climax• Denouement

And Finally…

• Profit– Most media organizations in the US are

private, for profit interests– Or else are owned by private, for-profit

corporations• Who owns your favorite news source?