Media Bias in the U.S. Politics

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Executive Summary

Media refers to lopsided reporting rather than inaccuracy of presenting information. Media bias in favor of corporate groups is as a result of ownership. Media bias requires that both sides who claim bias be considered because most of the time if favored sides consider the media biased against them at some level. In the U.S. politics, it is considered that liberal journalists reduce their aggressiveness when handling conservative groups to avoid being labeled as biased.

However, the bias streams because they set double standards when a Democrat is being interviewed. The main cause of media bias apart from the influence of power is the profit-maximizing objective. Matters that are weird are considered unexpected, and exciting. A touchy visual impression is also considered as newsworthy. This makes the selection of topical issues, and photos to be biased towards cuteness.

Introduction

The media refer to whole groups of materials that used to pass information to the masses. They include printed material such as newspapers, and magazines. They also include electronic materials such as TV, film, radio, video, videogames and the Internet (Sanson et al. 7).

Media bias does not mean that the reporting is inaccurate or dishonest but preference to cover one side of a story. The main reason given by Groseclose & Milyo for not labelling media bias as dishonesty or inaccuracy is the fact that rarely do reporters make dishonest statements.

A better name would be ‘slanted’ in case of one-sided reports. Groseclose & Milyo point out a case where “a journalist chose facts or stories that only one side of the political spectrum is likely to mention” (para. 40). Mackay and Sloan discuss the case where media groups would not cover business stories unless they are about events such as “national strikes, layoffs, shortages, or rising prices” (218). All these events are bad news for businesses, and the consumer.

Background

Groseclose & Milyo emphasize the use of information from one side of a story, and reporting it as the only fact available. They give the statement issued by an editor in Los Angeles who said that a story did not need to happen all that was needed was “to get other people to make the same points and draw the same conclusions and then write the article in their words” (para. 3).

In this case the conclusions are made without real contest between opposing sides. Reporters may behave like the common people who seek proof that justifies their claim or information that supports their theories (35).

Media bias may be caused by the preference of a segment of the public. It is noted that the consumer may prefer a media outlet when it highlights information that conforms to their prior beliefs and practices. In this case, media bias is pushed by a profit motive to suit their customers. Chiang and Bright state that “readers believe that outlets have a credible news if the reports conform to their beliefs” (3). This form of bias is also found when handling religious issues.

Christian leaders themselves are fond of talking about a title known as ‘Christian failure narrative’ (Wright and Zozula 3). In this case, pastors seek attention through stories of failure. Wright and Zozula consider such stories to include “Christians acting immorally, not evangelizing, not loving their neighbors … or simply not living to their beliefs” (3).

The selection of parts to be covered in newsrooms depends on editors. Stocking and Gross agree with the finding that “news editors’ values and attitudes shape the selection of news” (13). When values and attitudes are used to select news coverage, objectivity is reduced to bias.

Mackay and Sloan review a statement by Perkins in which the media hardly reported a massive “24,000 documented acts of corporate law breaking in 1998 alone” (214). The main reason for the censure of this information by the media is because it had a connection with the working masses, and Unionists.

It is recognized that a big portion of media personalities mainly hold liberal ideologies. When people with the same ideologies discuss issues they seem to have an easy time in what Eveland and Shah call “safe discussion” (113).

The perception of media bias may come out when a journalist interviews a Republican candidate. They themselves are mostly considered to be liberal. In this case, the perceived media bias comes from the state of the mind of the viewer. Eveland and Shah point out that to “to assess news bias, one must have a standard of what unbiased should be” (106).

Individuals with concerns of media bias are most likely to categorize a news coverage as biased than those who never had prior thoughts on media bias. The environment where one stays may also have an impact on the perceived media bias. It is considered that views are not only obtained from news content but also “from the frequency of opinions heard in public discussion” (105). Eveland and Shah analyze that perceived media bias may be a result of interpersonal factors rather than the news itself.

Process of media bias

Categorization is a type of bias found on reporters that tends to instantly label events as the ones that are stored in their memory. It is easier for a reporter to quickly categorize a group outburst as a riot because picture matches the one stored in the memory (Stocking and Gross 20).

This kind of categorization is found in practice in cases such as the labeling of American military involvement outside its territories as “another Vietnam”. When this happens, the following analysis will try to find similar characteristics between such events such as costs incurred, and marine casualties.

Theory generation is another bias that is derived from categorization. Reporters select theories that support their categorization. When a theory has been developed, subsequent questions will be testing the accuracy of the generated theory.

The reporters are tempted to “select incoming information that is consistent with their theories” (Stocking and Gross 21). Part of the bias is generated by the reporters integrating and interpreting pieces of information. Journalists must also give semblances from their memory, compare and reconstruct past events.

Salience is a process in which a reporter can lay more emphasis on particular characteristics while ignoring others that have an impact on the debate at hand. Sometimes the important aspects are ignored for the sake of popular features (Stockings and Gross 48).

With reporters using more of less reliable sources, the public mostly remembers information obtained from unreliable sources. Stockings and Gross suggest that the reporters preference of unreliable sources may be a “function of people’s failure to see the relevance of base-rate data” (50). The preference comes from the fact that less reliable case sources have vivid descriptions compared to base-rate information.

Media bias in political alignment is cyclical. It is noted that the media bias was liberal in the early 1990s but shifted to favor conservatives after 2000. The entry of new media companies such as Fox News is considered to have provided the market with a shift in objectives towards profit-maximization (Gasper 11). Gasper mentions that the media favors different sides in different periods.

It is argued that journalists would seek to find bits of information that support their beliefs. Vallone, Ross and Lepper propose that a contested issue on the media would be inconclusive and increase polarization (577). This is because people would immediately endorse facts that support their side and dismiss those that are against their side.

Politics

Media bias in politics is practiced when a reporter treats one side of competing parties less aggressively as he/she would have treated another party. In the U.S., reporters are considered to belong a party themselves. Most of them are either moderate or liberal Democrats.

This makes most Republican presidential candidates to be treated less aggressively because the reporters avoid being branded the “enemy”. The case is different when a Democratic candidate is being interviewed or analyzed. The bias takes a different shape in that “the more he likes and agrees with the candidate personally, the harder he judges him professionally” (Groseclose & Milyo para. 14).

All news outlets had a strong liberal bias “except for Fox News’ Special Report and the Washington Times” (Groseclose & Milyo para. 5). New York Times and CBS Evening News showed a slight deviation from the average Democrat citing of think tanks. Fox News was considered full of conservatives while the New York Times was full of liberals. Both sides perceive the other as the one with the bias.

Economics

Media bias in economics takes a different perspective given by economic reports from government sources. An example mentioned by Groseclose & Milyo is the case where a report given by authorities indicates growth of GDP by a large margin. A newspaper instead chooses a headline that reads “GDP Growth Less than Expected” (para. 19). This contradicts the positive reception of the previous report from the public.

In another case that occurred in March 1, 2002, the New York Times reported the changes in the IRS that would increase the rates of taxes collected from salaried groups while reducing rates from those who earned above $100,000. It also reduced audits on those who earned above $100,000 and increased audits for those who relied on salaries.

They criticize the need to increase the frequency of audits for the working poor instead of those who earned above $100,000. Their reasoning was those who earned above $100,000 did not rely on payrolls and could easily shortchange the taxation authorities. Groseclose & Milyo discuss that the facts were accurate and true but major news outlets such as “ABC’s Good Morning America and CNN’s Newsnight failed to mention any of these facts” (para. 43).

Matters of justice

Media bias in reporting major cases that are undergoing in the courts may seem to portray one side as winning or losing long before the judgement is made. Stocking and Gross consider Ginny Foat’s case who once was the president of the California chapter of the National Organization for Women.

She accused reporters of selecting views that made her seem guilty (Stockings and Gross 43). Another case of media bias is noted about Birmingham News in 2004. The government had withdrawn 31 counts of malpractices that portrayed Richard M. Scrushy, former CEO of Healthsouth, as fraudulent, and added four counts. The media reported the additional 4 counts of fraud without mentioning the 31 counts that had been withdrawn (Mackay and Sloan 218).

Media bias against labor

The media is considered to report preferably the views of the corporate groups to laborers’ sentiments. Mackay and Sloan review the situation in which the General Motors is considered more influential in the media than the United Auto workers. The media would give a coverage that suits the interest of General Motors rather than the laborers in case of a workers’ strike. Mackay and Sloan distinguish the bias against labor into three categories.

These are “unfair media coverage, connection to corporate owned media, and lack of a labor beat” (219). Lack of a labor beat means there is barely a distinct section in the media that adequately covers labor issues. The pro-management bias is derived from the fact that most media outlets belong to the corporate class, and the editors do their best to reflect some of the values of the media owners.

Durante and Knight discuss the influence that Berlusconi has in the media in Italy. They are two categories of media ownership in the country. Some are privately owned, and others publicly owned. It is argued that media bias exists due to “Berlusconi’s influence over private television and the strong influence of the ruling coalition on public” (Durante and Knight 5). His influence on the public media side as Prime Minister, and on privately owned media because of ownership.

Media bias against environmental concerns

The media chooses topical issues according to the degree that they can capture viewers’ and listeners’ attention. For this reason, environmental matters are sidelined in news coverage. Mackay and Sloan mention that “environmental stories lack the human interest angle” (137).

They discuss the situation where a seal plague had resulted in a large number of seal deaths. British media invented the slogan “Save Our Seals” running for about a year. This is because seals give a preferred visual impression. Were the extinction of a species such as beetles then it could not receive much publicity. As Mackay and Sloan point out, the reason is that beetles lack the cuteness of seals (137). Visual impressions are used to market media products such as newspapers and programs.

The media personalities are considered to overlook the benefits of capitalism. Situations which involve “poisonous waste dumping by companies or nuclear plant accidents” fail to meet the broadcast requirements (Mackay and Sloan 138). Without enough coverage of environmental matters then environmental degradation will continue.

Chiang and Bright note that “newspaper slant is similar to the position that would be chosen by a profit-maximizing firm” (4). It is the responsibility of reporters to ensure that the public is well-informed about the choices they make that have an impact on the environment.

Media bias on military issues

The double standards are set in reporting cases that involve the American citizens suffering in instances such as hurricanes or terrorism. People suffering under America’s military operations a receive slanted coverage. A case of such coverage is seen in Iraq where the media coverage is mostly about soldiers dying while ignoring the necessary humanitarian services carried out by the American Marines.

This kind of reporting makes people to pressure on withdrawal of troops instead of supporting the operations carried out by the Americans in Iraq (Mackay and Sloan 161). According to Mackay and Sloan, the “media’s overall sense is that the war is a disaster” (166). Media bias in military operations is noted in the selection of photos that are used as to make news headlines. In the case for the U.S military operations in Somalia the photos lead to massive emotional outbursts leading to the withdrawal of American troops.

Religion

It is believed that the media portrays the Christian Community as either in crisis or failing to live according to the set standards. Wright and Zozula discuss that the media treat religion negatively because it considers “conservative religions as a threat to its liberal agenda” (2). According to a statistical research carried out by Pew Forum and Public Life in 2009, it found out that 35% of Americans concur that the media does not portray religion positively.

The media is seen as treating favorably mainstream religious groups while undermining upcoming religious groups. Journalists are biased against the media because of two reasons. Being less religious than the population makes journalists lack empathy or a clear understanding to interpret religious contexts. Another reason is that journalists “create news rather than objectively or neutrally reporting it” (Wright and Zozula 3).

They report issues that are unusual because of the excitement and attention that is raised by such topics. Wright and Zozula point out that by Christians condemning themselves, the media uses this as proof to portray them negatively (6). The motive is what creates a difference, Christians view self-incriminating as a confession while the journalists consider it as evidence.

Media Responsibility

Voters rely on the media to be informed about the contesting candidates in elections. Most voters do not have adequate information on all candidates. The challenge arising from relying on the media is that “such information may not be sufficiently objective” (Chiang and Bright 1).

People expect voters to be rational and filter out the biases that may be broadcast by the media. People may filter media bias when there is a low level of media credibility. The influence of the media bias is functional in swaying voters to a particular side if the bias is supported by many media outlets. According to Chiang and Bright, the influence increases depending on “the credibility of the endorsement and that endorsement from extremely biased newspapers have little or no influence” (2).

The function of the media is to keep the society informed on all matters that affect humanity. Wells discusses that the responsibility of the media “is to tell citizens what they need to know to function in their society” (385). Among this comes categories such as advertising with the intention to make society understand the benefits of a product or entertainment to keep the public merry. Media bias denies the public a chance to make rational choices.

Digital media and credibility

Flanagin and Metzger discuss that credibility measures how a piece of information is likely to be believed. This relies on two main properties of the source which are “trustworthiness and expertise” (8).

However, they note that physical attractiveness and charisma of the reporter may increase the likelihood to be believed. Credibility may increase if the source is a well known figure or media outlet. For example, if the Guardian Newspaper posts a piece of information on the website it may be easily believed than a source that is not on the mainstream media.

With the widespread use of information technology, it is perceived that the youth expects information instantly when needed. The sources are many such that it is difficult to know who posted the information on the internet. Flanagin and Megtzer argue that “information posted on the web may not be subject to filtering through professional gatekeepers” (13).

Recommendations

The preference of eye witnesses should be used in cases where the witness gives a vivid description of the events. Stocking and Gross discuss that people may “give weight to eye witness accounts when such accounts contain a lot of detail” (51). Psychologists compare the use of eye witnesses in courts to verify the truth as a practice to emulate.

Mackay and Sloan recommend the need to separate labor news from the general business news for it to receive a fair news coverage. Journalists should be objective when handling reports that involve laborers versus management (225).

There are cases where both sides agree on the presence of media bias but on different directions. A similar case is that of Israeli and Arabs about the Beirut massacre of 1982. Both sides believed there is media bias but each side thought it favored the other side. It is considered there are “sharp disagreement about the direction of the alleged bias” (Vallone, Ross and Lepper 578). This makes it necessary to weigh the complaints of both sides. In most cases, those who think they are favored by a coverage never report media bias.

Flanagin and Metzger recommend that the youth, being the main users of digital media, should be taught to test the credibility of digital media. This includes websites. This may be conducted by giving them a comparison of cases of bias. This is necessary because the youth are “increasingly self-directed, interactive with a network of peers, and reliant on group outreach and knowledge” (Flanagin and Metzger 20).

Sanson et al. recommend that ethnic and cultural groups be represented in mainstream media to avoid stereotyping and ridicule of certain groups (7). They recommend a shift from the current emphasis of exciting news to those that cover all aspects of socioeconomic factors. They also recommend that the public should complain about media bias especially in instances that affect psychology. To skip certain programs in protest for change.

Parents are supposed to control what their children view. They can review scenes portraying violence, and unhealthy advertising. Sanson et al. recommend that children should be trained in handling the media interactively as part of their school curriculum (6).

Conclusion

Most people have learnt to verify sources of information. They use their experiences and understanding to make decisions. Metgzer notes that “people’s evaluative strategies evolve with experience (19). Studies indicate that the youth do not put much weight on the credibility of information.

This makes it necessary to introduce media education in schools to make the youth develop skills to assess credibility of information. There is still a problem of separating media outlets from the influence of their owners. This is because mainstream media involve a lot of capital which can only come from the influential few. In spite of these factors, mainstream media is more credible than other small-sized media outlets.

Works Cited

Chiang, Chun F. and Brian Knight. Media Bias and Influence: Evidence from Newspaper Endorsements. Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University. 2008. Web.

Durante, Ruben and Brian Knight. Partisan Control, Media Bias, and Viewer Responses: Evidence from Berlusconi’s Italy. Massachusetts: NBER, 2009. Web.

Eveland, William P., and Dhavan Shah. “The Impact of Individual and Interpersonal Factors on Perceived News Media Bias.” Political Psychology. (2003) Vol. 24, No. 1. Web.

Flanagin, Andrew J. and Miriam J. Metzger. Digital Media and Youth: Unparalleled Opportunity and Unprecedented Responsibility. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. Web.

Gasper, John T. Shifting Ideologies? Re-examining Media Bias. Carnegie Mellon University. Web.

Groseclose, T., and Jeff M. A Measure of Media Bias, UCLA and University of Missouri, 2004. Web.

Mackay, Jenn B. and William D. Sloan. Media Bias: Finding It, Fixing It. North Carolina: McFarland & Company Publishers, 2007. Print.

Sanson, A., Julie D., Glen C., Judy U., Carl Scuderi, and Jeanna Sutton. Media Representations and Responsibilities: Psychological Perspectives. The Austarlian Psychological Society, 2000. Web.

Stocking, Holly S. and Paget H. Gross. How Do Journalist Think? A proposal for the Study of Cognitive Bias in Newsmaking, Bloomington: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, 1989. Web.

Vallone, Robert P., Ross Lee, and Mark R. Lepper. “The Hostile Media Phenomenon: Biased Perception and Perceptions of Media Bias in Coverage of the Beirut Massacre.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (1985): Vol. 49, No. 3, 577-585.

Wells, Allan. Mass media & Society. Greenwich: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1997. Print.

Wright, Bradley R. E and Zozula Christina. “Bad News about the Good News. The construction of the Christian Failure Narrative.” University of Connecticut and University of Virginia: The Kripke Center, Journal of Religion & Society Vol 14, 2012.

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