Bias in the Media?

"...biased reporting is not without impact." PA

"The job of a journalist is to chronicle events, not to stand up and cheer for one side or another." KS

"It is inevitable that a certain amount of bias is filtered through the media. I once heard it said that everything that is said is biased, because each individual delivers information from their point of view." OH

"When asking 20 adults of my community the question: 'Do you think that reporters should have an unbiased opinion when covering presidential elections?' Nearly all of the people answered 'yes.' When asked if they felt that our media today was unbiased, the answer was almost unanimously 'no.'" KS

"Television was found to be the most influential, but also television was the most biased." MD

EXAMPLES:

"Our economics class collected articles over the month prior to the Presidential race and we also did an analysis of the political cartoons which portrayed negative characteristics of the various candidates. In our city's paper, The Austin American Statesman, you could tell which person was favored by the journalists to be President...In the number of (political) cartoons collected, most of (them) showed Clinton in a more favorable light than either of his opponents. He had the least amount of negatives in the cartoons. . . President Bush and Perot tied in number." TX

"I found a line graph summation of the presidential election entitled the Bumpy Trip to the Top Newsweek. Included with this graph were several pictures. At first glance I noticed the obvious fact that there were two pictures of Clinton and just one of Bush. After looking closer I noticed that in the picture of Bush, he had clenched fists and a very stern look on his face. This contrasted greatly to the pictures of Clinton. In one he was playing the saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show, and in the other he had his arm caringly wrapped around the shoulder of his running mate, Al Gore. Mark Davidson, a television documentary producer once said that 'pictures always have exercised power that is unique: power to influence illiterates, seduce sophisticates, and manipulate the minds of everyone inbetween.' Pictures are more looked at than anything else in newspapers and magazines and are a powerful bias. Another example is the October 19, 1992 issue of Time. The cover pictured Bush and Perot looking on during one of the debates as Clinton spoke. Ones eyes are drawn towards Clinton (since both men are looking at him) to such a degree that the picture might just as well have been of just Clinton." NY

"If a candidate's picture taken at an upward angle is compared with a picture taken from a downward angle, then in the upward-angled picture the candidate will be perceived as an honest and noble person, someone that people look up to. However, in the downward-angled picture, the candidate will be perceived as just the opposite. In the October 23, 1992 New York Times, for example, there (were) on opposing pages, two pictures of Bush and Clinton. On one page there (was) a picture of a few Bush supporters at a rally in New Jersey who (were) posing with a cardboard cut-out of Bush. Directly under this picture was a smaller picture of Bush eating lunch with some of the local Republican officials. The headline at the top of the page next to the pictures read, Vulnerable, Bush Makes A Last Effort to Connect. When all three of these things are viewed together, the impression that they leave on the viewers is one likely to cause dislike for Bush. Many viewers will assume that Bush would rather eat lunch with politicians than go to a rally with supporters and that, contrary to his supposedly wanting to 'connect' with voters, the cardboard cut-out suggests that he's superficial. On the opposing page Clinton is pictured speaking to a large crowd of supporters and the headline above the picture reads Clinton, His Western Tour, Reaches for G.O.P and Independent Votes. In this picture the New York Times is actually showing Clinton connecting with many people as he's reaching for votes. In contrast, these two pictures generally cause viewers to feel a favorable opinion for Clinton and an unfavorable one for Bush. For an example of the affect of camera angle on viewers' impressions of candidates, in the October 13 (1992) New York Times, there was a picture of kids at a Bush rally and on the opposing page there was a picture of Clinton speaking at a rally. In the picture of the Bush rally, some kids were photographed at a downward angle as they were standing on the many Bush/Quayle signs that littered the ground and playfully wasting the Bush/Quayle stickers by sticking them all over themselves. On the other hand, in the picture of the Clinton rally, he was photographed at an upward angle while he was standing on stage before a crowd of people. In comparison, these two pictures show how the newspaper was giving viewers the impression that Bush was insignificant and not really taken seriously, but Clinton is someone to listen to and look up to.

Secondly, television news programs can use editing to show viewers the version of the story that the editor wants them to see and hear, giving the editor the power to greatly influence viewers' perceptions of a story. For example, Bush staged a great photo opportunity when he arranged to meet with the leaders of Canada and Mexico in Texas and declare his support for the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA). Bush's intention was to get a message to viewers that he wanted to create more jobs for U.S. workers and he thought NAFTA could accomplish that. However, when the story was broadcast on NBC News, the sound of Bush's voice was edited out and replaced by John Cochran's commentary, which accused Bush of making an unnecessary trip to Texas just to create a photo opportunity because he wanted to carry Texas in the election. This example shows the power of the editor to cause most viewers to have the opposite reaction that Bush intended. Recently, Bush has been attacking the media with the slogan 'Annoy the media. Re-elect Bush.' Bush began this attack because he argued that the media weren't letting his messages reach the viewers, or were manipulating them. At a rally in Alabama, Bush asked the people, 'Have you heard this on television tonight? That unemployment claims have gone down to the lowest in two years? Have you heard that inflation is down, that interest rates are down, that total employment is 93%, inflation 2.5% to 3%, home mortgages are 8%?' Even though all of these points were true and Bush was speaking about them at rallies, the media (chose) to report mostly . . . Bush's bad points. . ." NH

"Camera angles and the style in which the commentator reports the convention can have a major effect on the viewer's opinion of the convention. If an important speech is being given and the camera shows someone not paying attention or the commentator uses negative words, the viewer may get a bad impression of the speech." WV

"Bias can also be seen through the time, order and space of election material. For newspapers, the length and location of the articles are important. Material found on the front page is especially crucial because that is the information that catches the public's attention. The article size and layout can benefit one candidate over another. One may be featured on the top column of a page while another is in a lower corner. Photographs show skepticism and partiality, whether it be Perot smirking, Bush speaking in front of chickens at a rally, or Clinton waiving to supporters in Baltimore's Morning Sun . . . Bias has become habitual for the media .. . People absorb biased information without being aware of its affect . . . Anything other than unbiased, objective news is detracting the media from its effectiveness." MD

"I noticed that during the campaigning, when the evening news would come on, Clinton's achievements for the day would always come first before any of the other two candidates. This was the same pattern followed in the newspapers." OR

"After reading a few past issues of my local newspaper, I began to notice a trend forming. The incumbent got all the negative attention, and the challenger was thought to be the superman capable of solving all those problems. Big headlines would read, Economy Going Downhill While Bush Watches. Below it would be an article entitled, Clinton Promises Radical and Swift Change. These articles showed Bush's policies failing, as Clinton promised new radical policies guaranteed to work. However, in reality, many economists warned that plan would actually make the economy worse. This, however, was nowhere to be found in these two articles." OH