Objectives: Learning After this lecture, you will be able to: 1. Describe the process by which Groseclose and Milyo measured media bias. 2. Identify three important findings in Groseclose and Milyo's study: A Measure of Media Bias 3. Describe the Hostile Media Phenomenon. 4. Identify three factors that trigger the Hostile Media Phenomenon 5. Identify three important findings in Gussin and Baum study: In the Eye of the Beholder Lecture 13 1. Bias in the media: A. Evidence of partisan bias 1) Perceptions of partisan bias based on those involved in the news production process a) Washington-based journalists (1998)
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(1) Social policy (2) Economic policy b) Most media outlets owned by large corporations (1) Social policy? (2) Economic policy: 2) Perceptions of bias based on content of news coverage a) Method of Inquiry: Content analysis (1) Non-academic analyses: (a) http://www.mediaresearch.org/ i. Evidence of liberal bias (b) http://mediamatters.org/about_us/ i. Evidence of conservative bias 2
(2) Academic analyses (a) Inconclusive (3) Other forms of systematic bias (a) Frontrunners: (b) Increased negativity i. Candidate-initiated vs. media-initiated (c) Increased emphasis on game schema i. Horserace ii. Strategy over policy (d) Fewer and shorter "sound bites" B. Measure of Media Bias (Groseclose and Milyo) 1) Perceptions 2007 ADA 0 5 10 15 20 30 55 60 70 75 80 85 90 90 95 100 MC CANTOR, ERIC BOEHNER, JOHN MCCONNELL, MITCH PAUL, RON GRAHAM, LINDSEY GRASSLEY, CHUCK COLLINS, SUSAN SNOWE, OLYMPIA LIEBERMAN, JOE OBAMA, BARACK BOXER, BARBARA REID, HARRY FEINSTEIN, DIANNE SCHUMER, CHUCK FRANK, BARNEY STABENOW, DEBBIE PID R R R R R R R D R D D D D D D D
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a) FOX News = ___________ b) NYT = ________________ 2) G&M measure media bias in novel way a) Step One: ADA scores for Member of Congress (MC) b) Step Two: Transfer ADA score from MC to Think Tank (TT) (1) Rationale: Con rely on Con TT, Lib rely on Lib TT c) Step Three: Transfer ADA score from TT to media outlet (1) Rationale: Con media outlets rely on Con TT, Lib media outlets rely on Lib TT 3) Findings a) Most media outlets are _______________ than the average American voter. b) Every media out is: (1) More liberal than: (2) More conservative than: (a) One exception: 4) Perception vs. Reality a) FOX News = ___________ b) NYT = ________________ 2. Perceptions of bias A. Hostile Media Phenomenon (1985): people tend to view coverage as hostile to their own point of view. 1) Effect greatest among individuals with strong views a) Experiment (1) Subjects: Pro-Israeli and Pro-Palestinian students.
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(a) Viewed balanced coverage of the Beirut Massacre b) Findings: (1) Different evaluations of "fair" coverage (2) Negative references more accessible than positive references. (3) Different perceptions of persuasiveness c) Source of bias: 2) Eye of the Beholder (Baum and Gussin) a) Experiment: (1) Subjects completed extensive pre-test survey (2) Randomly assigned to treatment (i.e., transcript of 2004 presidential election) (a) CNN, FOX, or KNWZ b) Findings (1) If subject thought media outlet was liberal (pre-test): (2) If subject thought media outlet was conservative (pre-test): (3) Subjects who saw KNWZ: c) Prior beliefs shaped perceptions of bias (1) Citizens may create bias, even when it isn't present.
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