What Media Bias?

A national debate currently wages concerning the ideological content of the media in America. Many conservatives claim that the media have a liberal bent when reporting the news, while many liberals contend that the media are inherently conservative. Yet these passionate assertions of ideological bias in news reporting primarily consist of anecdotes and allegations, without any systematic analysis of data upon which a conclusions can be made (Niven 2003, p. 321). The issue of ideologically biased media need not be relegated to philosophical musings and talk show rants; ideological bias can and should be empirically tested. The purpose of this paper is to test theories of ideological bias in national U.S. newspapers. We do so first by producing a quantitative analysis of ostensible bias. We then analyze newspaper articles qualitatively, seeking to comprehend and understand the context in which some biases may be located. Third and finally, we conclude with by commenting on the implications of our findings, and by suggesting avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]