1. Media Bias? A Comparative Study of Time, Newsweek, The National Review, And The Progressive Coverage of Domestic Social Issues, 1975- 2000 Authors: Tawnya J. Adkins Covert and Philo C. Washburn A Book Review by Stephanie Martinez

2. Media Bias – Why does it matter? Our view of the “news” is, for most of us, our political reality. If we become disillusioned, thinking the media is not telling us the “truth”, we may become cynical and disinclined to be a part of the American democratic political process.

3. Fundamental Messages To understand media bias Shed light on advantages as well as disadvantages of media bias To provide “Empirically based understanding of media bias that supports belief in the value of news media, both mainstream and explicitly partisan, and encourages active engagement in civic issues.”

4. Media Bias – Is it…really? It is common for Americans to think media is “politically biased”…it is what they see and hear in letters to editors, radio, television, internet and even in articles and other published works on this subject.

5. Media bias is viewed as negative People with strong political views see what’s published in the media as hostile to their own views (if it doesn’t agree with my view, it must be biased) Conservative argument: Media is biased because it’s based on liberal perspective held by majority of “leading American journalists” who are liberal in their personal lives and not representative of the public. Liberal argument: Media biased because based on corporate ownership, profit orientation and dependence on “elite” sources of information and decontextualized coverage of social issues.

6. Media Bias For purposes of this study, media bias is defined as: a)A “quantifiable phenomenon” that can be measured (and not just credibility based on personal beliefs). b)A media biased publication is one that relies on sources favorable to a liberal or conservative position.

7. Measuring Media Bias

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13. Data 1.Publications: 2 national newsmagazines – Time & News Week - mainstream 2 Journals of political opinion National Review - conservative The Progressive – liberal 2.873 articles 3.Areas of focus: 4 domestic social issues: Crime, Environment, Gender, Poverty 4.Timeframe: 1975 – 2000 Using this criteria the study compiled empirical data under the following categories: Sources Costs Causes Solutions

14. Measuring Media Bias - Application To measure the media bias, the authors assessed the social issue to determine: Source: Where did the information for the issue come from? Cost: Who or what has been wronged and what is the nature and extent of the grievance? Cause: Who or what is responsible for the wrong? Solution: What can be done to solve the problem? This moved this study beyond the limits of other studies which attempted to quantify media bias by focusing on a single element.

15. Measuring Media Bias - Preparation 1. Identify the bias of a news story “The bias or partisanship of a publication can be understood as a consistent tendency to provide more support to one of the contending parties, policies, or points of view in a sustained conflict over a social issue.” 2.Identify Social Issues Social issues identified using 10 social problem textbooks in Perdue University Library representative of the study time frame (1975-2000). Narrowed down to 4 Social issues based on the definition used for a sustained political conflict (one that lasts over 25 years). The 4 social issues: Crime, Poverty, Gender and Environment.

16. Specifying the Measurement Model Source Categories & Criteria of Classification: – Classified the sources as conservative or liberal Criteria for classification: Self-identification and/or Explicit support of partisan position. – Some Sources classified as neutral or non- partisan with some exceptions. – Example: Table 3.2 – Next slide

17. Table 3.2 – Source Categories and Criteria of Partisanship

18. Classifying Positions Operational definitions developed to enable the labeling of Sources as Conservative or Liberal: – Media articles were analyzed and coded for each issue area – Example: Table 3.4 – Next slide

19. Table 3.4 – Conservative and Liberal Positions for the Issue of Environment

20. Sample and Measure For each of the 4 magazines, all articles dealing with the selected social issues met the following criteria: – Published between 1975-2000 – At least one page in length – Must contain at least 3 of the 4 indicators (Source, Cause, Cost, Solution) – 873 articles were coded by the authors Level of Bias: Articles taken from the four periodicals received a score for each of the four indicators (source, cost, cause and solution) on a scale of -1 to +1.  -1 = Highest level of liberal bias  +1 – Highest level of conservative bias Ref: Sample Coding for Progressive article – see next slide.

21. Example: Coding for the Progressive article on “Right to Life Rampage” by Laura L. Sydell (August, 1993)

22. Findings This study moved beyond the limits of other studies by using multiple measurement elements. – Previous studies attempted to quantify media bias by focusing on a single element. – Failure to consider the content of source comments or the context in which citations are located. “This study’s measure equally weights four separate indicators, provides a quantitative model that can be applied to print coverage of a variety of issues areas to reevaluate the media bias question.”

23. Chapter 4 of the book contains the majority of the data analyzed for comparison and consistency. This includes the following: Issue Area Coverage by Publication Comparing Bias across Publications Comparing Bias across Issue Areas Partisan Publications and Bias Consistency Comparing Coverage of Issues Consistency of Coverage of Issues over Time Proposing Solutions Bias Comparisons, Consistency & Proposing Solutions

24. Issue Area Coverage by Publication Compared the issue focus across all four publications Findings indicated there is a moderate association between the publication and issue area coverage – Ex: Time (7.8%) & Newsweek (13.4%) devoted smallest percentage to poverty – Ex: National Review (17.2%) and The Progressive (10.3%) devoted least percentage to crime

25. Comparing Bias across Publications The study compared level of bias by topic area for each publication. – National Review: Adjusted bias score greater than +.20 (defined this media as conservative) <2% received “balanced” bias score of 0.0 (that’s not many) 95.1% considered conservatively biased – The Progressive: Adjusted bias score lower than -2.0 (defined as liberal) Like the National Review, <2% received “balanced” bias score of 0.0 – Time Higher “balanced” percentage of 18% Time determined to be more liberal than Newsweek – Newsweek More diverse than Time Less biased than Time (closer to 0.0)

26. Proposing Solutions One third of the articles studied (39.2%) failed to discuss potential solutions to the issues presented. The Progressive was the least likely of the four publications examined to propose solutions (47.2%). Moderate association found between publication and inclusion of solutions for crime and the environment. Topically, solutions were most likely to be posed within articles dealing with crime or poverty. In general, bias was not related to the inclusion or exclusion of solutions. There were no significant differences in mean bias scores for articles including or not including proposed solution.

27. Findings 1.One of the most important findings: The “centrist” nature of Time and Newsweek’s coverage. This doesn’t support the idea of bias in mainstream media. 2.Impressive consistency in coverage over the 25 year period of study; claims that media adjust their coverage to changes in political climate are not supported by this finding. 3.Research does not definitively conclude there is no or little bias in mainstream newsmagazines. Nor does it imply there is no variation in coverage within a single publication.

28. The use of information Sources in Partisan publications – Ch. 5 Authors critiqued research from Leon Sigal’s book (written in 1973), Reporters and Officials: The Organization of Politics of Newsmaking Findings: – Official sources to not appear to have a consistently conservative influence attributed to them in previous – Understanding the roles of sources requires an examination of how many sources are cited and what these officials are saying – Counting liberal and conservative sources is insufficient to determine the political bias or balance – In analyzing media bias attention should be paid more to the ways in which information is used than to the sources from which it is obtained

29. Assessing the role of historical context in Media Bias (Ch.5-6 Findings) 1.Analysis in this chapter provides a more nuanced examination of the consistency of the four publications. 2.While significant events can alter the bias level of coverage, the impacts seems to be limited to particular issues in particular publications during particular periods of time. 3.Coverage (both bias and emphasis) was not strongly affected by presidential administration or the party affiliation of the president. 4.The amount of attention given to an issue (emphasis) has little effect on the levels of bias for these publications. 5.The final discussion point by the authors, summarizes the effect of both bias levels and coverage on the public: “The stability of news media perspectives over time can provide the public with a sense of order and predictability in the political world. Despite dramatic events and different administrations, social issues will continue to seem potentially responsive to courses of action determined by institutionalized means of democratic political participation”.

30. Chapter 7 and Conclusion What news media does for the public – Serves Democracy – Attracts and informs Public to/about Social Issues Positive Functions of Media Bias – Could lead some to reconsider previously unquestioned understanding of cost, causes and possible solutions – Could promote changes in patterns of political participation – May produce greater clarity and certainty in one’s own beliefs – Biased accounts can represent the views of those generally lacking social resources and ability to define social issues for the public Is Media Biased? Yes, bias coverage has been identified and merits further discussion

31. Did the Authors Accomplish Their Goals? To understand media bias: Yes Shed light on advantages as well as disadvantages of media bias: Yes To provide “Empirically based understanding of media bias that supports belief in the value of news media, both mainstream and explicitly partisan, and encourages active engagement in civic issues.” : Yes

32. Are messages generalizable? As intended by authors, methods used for measurement of media bias can be applied to measure media bias in other news media Process outlined in the book, though sometimes tedious, is easy to follow, well-documented, and a useful resource for data collection and processing methods for public administration students

33. How does book fit with other class readings? Misperceptions, The Media, and The Iraq War, by Steven Kull, Clay Ramsay and Evan Lewis …”when mechanisms for informing the public are in some way compromised, the process of the public gradually catching on is a slow one. In the meantime, the administration, by giving incorrect information, can gain support for policies that might not be consistent with the preferences held by the majority of Americans.”