News Bias, Polarization, Misinformation
Readings
Two chapter of our textbook, Mass Media and American Politics (by Johanna Dunaway and Doris. A. Graber), are mandatory reading to complete this learning unit:
- Chapter 12: Incivility, Negativity, and Bias in the Media
- Chapter 14: Current Trends and Future Directions
Plus, the journal article by Padgett et al: As seen on TV?
I also recommend checking following studies by the Pew research center:
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/
Introduction
Walter Lippmann, in his prophetic book “Public Opinion”(1922), cooled down the enthusiasm of democracy theorists who regarded mass media as the panacea, the magic solution, for securing the integrity of the democratic process. Many intellectuals at his time thought that the press was going to play a key role in democracy, since it could provide the necessary information any conscious citizen need to participate in the management of political affairs. Analyzing the economic structure of journalism, Lippman came to the conclusion that this ideal is not only not workable, but actually is not even “thinkable”.
News is a product, the product most media sell. And as any other product, the companies should make sure that the news they sell have the highest market value. No other author has more convincingly studied the difference between news and truth than Walter Lippmann.
The very nature of the news business makes biases unavoidable. Media outlets publish those types of events they know will sell better. This is why negative news – bad news – are overrepresented in the media. This clear trend is determining to understand the topic of biases in the media.
In this learning unit, we will analyze the three types of media bias:
- affective bias,
- information Bias,
- and political Bias.
We also discuss which are the main effects of those bias on the general public.
In the second section of the learning unit, we study the phenomenon of political polarization – closely related to the phenomenon of populism – and how this dynamic may influence the reinforcement of news biases,
and the increasing spread of misinformation, which will be the subject of our last video.
Affective Bias
In this video, we discuss the first typology of news bias.
Affective bias explains the increasing negativity in the media coverage. Humans have a natural tendency to pay attention to bad news. Media outlets use this natural inclination and feed their audience with scandals to quench their thirst.
Political actors also jump into the band wagon of negativity with vicious attack campaigns they know will get media coverage. This dynamic may contribute, according to some authors, to the spiral of polarization we are experience in several Western countries.
Information Bias
Information bias goes one step beyond selection power of gate keepers.
We have already learned that Journalists and editors might decide what is going to be published, which events will become news – and thus what will be in the public agenda. In this video we study how gate keepers use their power remove information, frame the context and choose particular perspectives may influence the way the information is presented to the audience.
Our study focuses on the classic study by Lance Bennet, who distinguishes four types of information biases:
- Personalization
- Dramatization
- Fragmentation
- Authority -Disorder
Political Bias
Normally, we think of political bias when we talk about media or news biases.
In the audiovisual lecture, we study how the technological development of media has contributed to their political instrumentalization.
Broadcast journalism, cable news, Internet … every time a new technology appears, the political bias of media content seems to deepen.
Finally, the lecture distinguishes the two main categories of political biases:
- Editorial Bias
- Selection Bias
Effects of News Bias
In the audiovisual lecture, we explore the potential effect of news biases in the audiences.
We analyze how spiral of biases in media contents may contribute to the crescent polarization in politics and media.
Furthermore, we discuss how news bias correlates with the rapid decline of trust in media, political actors and political organizations.
Political Polarization
We have frequently used the word “polarization” when discussing the issue of news bias. We also refer to the phenomenon of polarization when we studied the rise of populism in our society.
In this section, we delve into this concept. In the video, you can find a working definition of what political polarization is, as well as a discussion on the possible causes of its origins and progress.
We also explain why polarization may turn out to be good business for media and politicians.
Misinformation
The term mis– or disinformation has become quite common in the political discourse in recent years.
Frequently, journalists and politicians talk about campaigns of disinformation, suggesting that there is a deliberate attempt to use misinformation with political goals in mind. And both media and political actors label as disinformation what appears to be detrimental for their own agenda.
In the last audiovisual lecture of this learning unit, we try to define the concept of “misinformation” and to establish a typology of the phenomenon. We also discuss the difficulties of keeping journalistic standards in the age of social media.
We end the lecture – and this learning unit – highlighting the most relevant areas future research in misinformation should focus on.