Party Favors

The media is biased. It’s the one thing people on both sides of the aisle seem to believe. So, it’s probably safe to assume that belief is wrong. Poynter decided to ask a professor who’s been studying the issue by looking for examples of bias in presidential elections going back to 1948. What does he have to say? Basically, that we’re biased in favor of seeing bias: “There’s something called a hostile media effect. Basically whenever people are engaged in an issue — and there’s no one more engaged than a presidential candidate — they see coverage as biased against their position, no matter what is it.” And candidates complaining about media bias is almost as old as American media itself: “You can see complaints about the media in Jefferson’s writing … [he] wanted everyone to have a free press and then when he became president, he wanted to shut down the newspapers.”

+ As the Internet’s Managing Editor, I’ve posted a couple rip-roaringly compelling posts on this topic. I Think Therefore I am Biased: “Every story I pick is bias. Every word I write is bias. In case that’s not clear enough for people, I went so far as to make my head my logo.” And, yes The Media is Biased (in favor of stories that they can easily understand and that you’ll be likely to follow.)