Bias, Trust, and the

Political News Media

The politically varied website, Real Clear Politics, provided links to both of these articles on May 19, 2015: “The Republican Field is a Clown Car” and “The Republican Party is the Strongest its Been in Decades.” How do readers decide what read? You guessed it — largely according to their political persuasion. That is, a liberal viewer is more likely to read the former article to confirm his or her already established ideas about the ineptness of Republicans. A conservative, on other hand, would be interested in reading about the rising strengths of the Republican Party rather than considering its weaknesses.

In the high-tech 21st century, Americans have a myriad of options for getting and interpreting political news. On the positive side, increased options for receiving news, including the Internet, social media sites, and 24-hour cable news channels, allow Americans to choose and even be personally involved their own news sources. Although increased access to the news can lead to a more informed public, many news sources are perceived as being biased politically, providing less factual information for the audience to develop informed opinions. Typically, biases tilt toward political parties (i.e., Republican versus Democratic) or persuasions (i.e., conservative versus liberal). At the same time, consumers of news increasingly select sources that reflect their own political leanings or biases, which, in turn, creates an audience for biased or opinionated news. This circular problem has the effect of reducing trust in the media more generally and creates more polarization by one’s political point of view.

The American public perceives political news coverage to be biased, although this has not always been the case. A statistic reported by the Pew Research Center shows that a record number of Americans (80 percent) believe that political news is often influenced by powerful people or organizations. Seventy-seven percent think that the press favors one political side over the other. One survey shows that people today believe the news today is more biased than people did 25 years ago. But is this impression of bias correct?

In the 2012 article, “How Biased Are the Media, Really?”, Fahri observes, “ In fact, there’s little to suggest over the past few decades news reporting has become more favorable to one party. That’s not to say researchers haven’t found bias in reporting. They have, but they don’t agree that one side is consistently favored or that this favoritism is growing like a pernicious weed.” The media-playing field, however, does seem to have shifted in recent years. Many politically right and left wing media outlets have popped up, including websites whose sole mission is to find and expose bias in the mainstream media. It is likely that people hear continually about news media bias and frequently come across politically slanted articles, programs, or comments.

Political bias presented in the news goes in two directions; it can develop bias in the audience or it can reflect or confirm the audience’s existing bias. Although many people view the media as being biased, they also seek out news sources that fit with their own political leanings. They even build strong bonds with news agencies that report the news they want to hear. This psychological phenomenon reflects a confirmation bias, which is defined by the Oxford Dictionaries as “the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.” Americans seek news they can relate to, thus raising the potential of ignoring or rejecting other credible news.

How does news access impact bias? In a 2014 survey conducted by the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, it was found that Americans access their news daily through multiple devices. Television is still the main way Americans receive their news with computers coming in second, followed radio newspapers, cell phones, and tablets. The social media world is growing exponentially, however, with many Americans now getting their news from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

Social media has potential to expose users to varied outlooks, showing them options that they may not have looked at otherwise.

Social media’s influence on the general public is bigger now than ever before, and it may feed into a person’s tendency to seek out news that fits with their existing biases. A 2013 Pew Center study found that the vast majority of social media users depend on Facebook as a primary source of information. Sixty-four percent of surveyed adults reported having active Facebook account and nearly half of these users receive at least some of their news from Facebook. Moreover, about 10% of the adult population gets its news from YouTube and 16% from Twitter. Many of these users share news stories with “friends.” Fifty percent of respondents claimed that they actively share or repost images or videos of news stories on social media sites. Social media has potential to expose users to varied outlooks, showing them options that they may not have looked at otherwise. However, social media also helps Americans ignore conventional news sources that do not suit them.

Active participation on social media sites allows people to voice their political opinions from a site of their choosing. In another Pew survey, of a fifth of respondents stated that they thought that the use of social media made it easier to for them access news. About 18% of respondents reported liking the variety of views not covered by the mainstream media. However, 72% of those surveyed stated that they view the same news through social media that they also get elsewhere. Although social media provide diverse sources in news feeds through friends sharing, etc. that allow people to seek out different angles of political news, users do not seem to stray far from what they already view in other places. Social media can fuel already strong opinions; on the other hand, it also has potential to deflate other ones if a user reads alternate viewpoints that can be accessed with the click of a button.

If one considers in more depth how Americans get their political news, it becomes evident that 24-hour cable news networks are one of the most highly influential sources for political news. In recent years, the emphasis on television news has shifted from local and network news to cable news, specifically CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Survey respondents state that the news that they are most passionate about is American politics and government. The 24-hour cable news networks statistically show that they exert a larger influence over political and international issues and economics, compared to other news topics. But, when it comes to the reliability of and trust in cable news a different story emerges.

A 2013 report by the Pew Research Center shows how cable news networks stack up against each other in terms of opinionated versus factual reporting. The report indicates that opinionated reporting is a powerful presence in cable news. This, in turn, influences how the cable networks reach out to select groups of people. Biases are created but also confirmed when much of the news is opinionated. When opinionated news enters the forefront, clear political sides are distinguished — liberal or conservative. Modern networks as well as cable news have more and more opinionated pieces where the television channel brings in “opinionated hosts to ask opinionated guests to sling opinions about the day’s news” reports Fahri. A study published in Journalism.org examined the preferences of people who view the three main cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. It shows that the two cable news networks, MSNBC (85% opinion) and FOX News (55% opinion), are used by Americans who lean more towards a specific political party; MSNBC caters to liberals, FOX News caters to conservatives, and CNN serves a more mixed audience. An additional study shows that during primetime hours opinionated news continues to grow, even on CNN.

Liberals and conservatives vary in their trust of the news. Overall, conservative Americans are more mistrustful of different news sources than are liberal Americans. The Journalism.org report found that nearly half of the surveyed conservatives report Fox News to be their main source of news, while liberals trust a variety of sources, such as CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and the New York Times. Conservatives distrust 24 of 36 news sources that were surveyed, while liberals trust 28 of 36 news sources. In other words, conservatives distrust nearly as many news sources as liberals trust. Strikingly, 88% of conservatives trust Fox News. A 2011 Gallup survey reported that about 40 percent of the American population leans conservative, 21 percent leans liberal, and 35 percent is moderate or essentially, independent. Taking these reports together, it can be concluded that a considerable portion of the American population has trust issues with much American political media.

But is the conservative distrust of so many news sites understandable? According to a Pew study, there are only seven large name conservative leaning news sources out for the public to view, while there are 24 documented liberal leaning news sources. With conservative sources out-matched by liberal sources, it makes some sense why conservatives mainly trust only one news source, and why liberals have no one particular source that they only use.

Moreover, in cities that carry “progressive” or liberal talk radio, only 254 hours of liberal broadcasting occurs each day by radio stations versus 2,570 hours per day of conservative talk.

Conservatives mistrust of much of the mainstream media, along with the relatively fewer conservative mainstream news sources, may account for the popularity and influence of talk radio, which is largely opinionated. Talk radio is a powerful medium for Americans to confirm or develop political biases and to fuel media mistrust. When it comes to the radio, conservative talk programs outnumber liberal ones. According to one study published in the Amercianprogress.org, a number of major cities do not even carry liberal talk radio (e.g., Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston). Moreover, in cities that carry “progressive” or liberal talk radio, only 254 hours of liberal broadcasting occurs each day by radio stations versus 2,570 hours per day of conservative talk. This means that conservative talk hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others produce about 91 percent of all the hours of political talk radio each day. In every major city, conservative talk radio dwarfs progressive talk radio. Even more impressive may be the number of listeners who tune into news/talk radio — 50 million Americans.

However, an interesting finding by Pew Research is that liberals and conservatives both trust their local news sources. This finding suggests that local politics, which is the focus of local stations, may be less polarized by political parties than national politics. The local news seems to be the one place where liberals and conservatives can find some common ground. Unfortunately, local news viewership in general is decreasing.

The problem of media bias, real or perceived, is not easy to solve in our politically polarized culture. Americans can choose to get their news from multiple sources and tend pick the ones they trust, which are the ones that fit with their political orientation. In turn, news outlets, which need audiences, respond by expressing more opinions, whether it is on cable news, talk radio, or social media. As a result, political positions solidify. But, it is important to encourage the public to keep an open mind, to listen to all sides of the political spectrum, and to differentiate between fact and opinion. People shouldn’t de-friend their conservative colleague or dismiss a seemingly silly liberal political idea. At the very least, people who consider multiple points of view are better educated and construct more persuasive political arguments. At the same time, news sources should give the viewer or listener more room to make their own decisions, although this may be an uphill battle.