Media and News Coverage

Warm-Up Activity

• Comparing News Sites
• Groups: Complete the table - discuss what you see?
• What do you know about the differences in these news sites?
• What do you know about news bias in the U.S.?

Results?

Partisan Media

Types of Partisanship

• Conservative/Liberal Bias
• Coverage Bias
• Elite Bias?
• Other types?

"The press’s extensive focus on the horse race also leaves less time for substantive coverage, the report said. It found that mainstream media primary coverage was almost entirely about the competition or the campaign process.

By comparison, only 11 percent of the primary coverage focused on the candidates’ policy positions, leadership abilities or personal and professional histories. “Substantive concerns got the least amount of attention,” the report found — on both sides of the aisle."
PBS "Study: Election Coverage Skewed By 'Journalistic Bias'”

61% of Likely U.S. Voters now do not trust the political news they are getting.

(21%) still have confidence in the political coverage they get


When it comes to the 2016 presidential campaign, only 23% believe most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) think that coverage will be slanted instead, with 36% who say most reporters will try to help Hillary Clinton during the campaign and 23% who say they will try to hurt her bid for the White House instead.

- Rasmussen Reports "Most Voters Expect Biased News Coverage of 2016 Presidential Race"

Example

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