Topics:

Does political bias truly exist? If so, how pronounced is it?

What are the consequences of political bias?

Is it OK for a reporter to editorialize and give their own opinions/draw conclusions?

What should be done to combat political bias (if anything)?

Types of Bias: Skewing news: purposefully altering a news story (e.g.

taking quotes out of context, failure to report events inconsistent with one’s ideology)

Playing favorites: giving harsher coverage to one political ideology, or granting an inordinate amount of coverage to one political ideology

Illusion of fairness: claiming that news is objective, or that guests have no biases, when in fact they are advocating (e.g. a Democratic strategist is only billed as a “CNN Political Correspondent”, with no mention of their political ties, or when Fox News claims it is “fair and balanced”)

Fabrication/false reporting: spreading false information, either by lax fact-checking or plain lying

Bipartisanship: only focusing on Democratic and Republican points of view while ignoring other political ideologies (Libertarian, Socialist, Green, etc.)

Does Bias Truly Exist? Yes, according to a 2005 UCLA study. Most national news organizations lean to

the left (liberal), very few lean to the right (conservative).

Most liberal news outlets:

Most conservative news outlets:

Most centrist news outlets:

Does Bias Truly Exist? There are very few reporters that identify themselves as

conservatives. However, all news outlets are much, much closer to the

center than either extreme. Watchdog groups like Media Matters and Free Press tend to fan the flames.

Reporters’ political preferences (Pew State of the Media 2008):

Percent who support “nuclear development” (from a 1980

study in the book “The Media Elite”)

Examples of Political Bias: 2008 Presidential CampaignPost-Debate Focus Groups:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqcyz3UDvGwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gblYu9HKy8&feature=related

In February, the New York Times ran a front-page, above the fold story about an alleged affair between John

McCain and a lobbyist. Also, in 2007, the Times gave a hefty discount to MoveOn.org for them to place a full-page

ad against Gen. David Petraeus

During the Democratic primaries, some media analysts thought that MSNBC was

biased against Hillary Clinton. Their evidence included Chris Matthews saying he got a “tingle up his leg” when Obama spoke,

and David Shuster saying that Chelsea Clinton had been “pimped out” by the

Clinton campiagn.

2008 Presidential Campaign

Anchors, analysts, and pundits all in one Fox calls Michelle Obama “baby mama”

“Terrorist jab”?Barack Obama received 38% more

coverage than McCain in 2008 campaign

Consequences of Political Bias Can affect voters’ preferences. The Quarterly

Journal of Economics says the introduction of Fox News in several towns across the nation increased Republican votes between 3% and 28%.

“News” is increasingly packed with opinion and analysis rather than hard, substantive news.

Reporters have become the subjects of reporting (i.e. Bill O’Reilly, Keith Olbermann).

The line between reporting and editorializing is dwindling.

How can the public make a fair, informed decision?

The Many Lives of Andrea Mitchell

Anchoring on MSNBC Giving opinion on “Morning Joe” Providing analysis on “Meet the Press”

Reporting for “NBC Nightly News”

Arguing with Chris Matthews on “Hardball”

Conflict of interest?

Cable News Believability by Political Preference

Do We Always Need Objectivity?

“As journalists…we’ve gotten overly obsessed with parity…to the point that it got ridiculous in a way. So when you have Candidate A saying the sky is blue, and Candidate B saying it’s a cloudy day, I look outside and I see, well, it’s a cloudy day. I should be able to tell my viewers, ‘Candidate A is wrong, Candidate B is right.’ And not have to say, ‘Well, you decide.’ Then it would be like I’m an idiot. And I’d be treating the audience like idiots.”

“All too often, a story free of any taint of personal opinion is a story with all the juice sucked out. A big piece of why so much news copy today is boring as hell is this objectivity god. Keeping opinion out of the story too often means being a fancy stenographer.”

-- Campbell Brown, host of CNN’s Election Center, in a NY Times Interview

--Geneva Overholser, chair of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, from Groping For Ethics in Journalism.

Wait… Edward R. Murrow Wasn’t Objective?

Walter Cronkite speaks outagainst the Vietnam War

Bill O’Reilly approves the “surge” of troops in Iraq

Edward R. Murrow denounces Sen. Joe McCarthy

Keith Olbermann denounces President Bush

Colonial-era newspaper publishers made no secret of

their political preferences

Solutions?

Re-institute the “fairness doctrine”– requiring broadcast stations to give equal time to opposing viewpoints?

Force news organizations to disclose their political preferences?

Require that opinion and commentary be specially-labeled?

Stress media literacy education in schools?

Conclusion SPJ says journalists should, “Examine their own cultural values

and avoid imposing those values on others,” and, “Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.”

If biased news is so horrible, then why do Americans keep consuming it?