Media bias? : a comparative analysis of possible gender and ideological bias in America's most widely-circulated newspapers

Abstract

Media coverage is of central importance in determining how public figures are perceived by the public. This coverage, however, often betrays a bias in presentation of that public figure. This bias can come in one of two ways: first, in editorial content the decisions and policies of the person being covered can be critiqued on the editorial pages and in variations of event, personality, and policy analysis. There is a second and more insidious version of bias found in the very words that are used to describe the person in question or the themes referred to while covering the candidate. In media coverage of events elections, speeches, public appearances adjectives and phrases used to describe those involved often carry a meaning deeper than the dictionary definition of a word. For public figures on the national political stage, the words, phrases, and content area chosen in covering them in media often come to define them in the minds of those relying upon the media for information. This project seeks to explore the coverage given to political figures in an objective manner to determine the type and nature of any bias present in the coverage.