ABSTRACT
If someone asked you to describe news, you would say it’s biased, wouldn’t you? You like to think of yourself as objective, but on this one, it’s pretty clear, right? Wouldn’t you say that bias is a part of today’s news? If you said this, you would have lots of compatriots. When pollsters ask Americans what they think of news, they are of one mind: It’s biased! Two-thirds of the public believe that news stories are frequently inaccurate. More than three-fourths of Americans perceive that news media tend to favor one side, and 8 of 10 Americans believe the press is often influenced by powerful interests (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2011b; see also Ladd, 2012). What exactly does it mean to perceive news as biased? Does it signify a belief that news is inaccurate, negative, or tilts toward a particular political position? Or does bias mean something entirely different?
