crowd size and media bias

In analyzing media portrayals, one of the traditional measures of bias is estimates of crowd size.  Inflating the number of participants suggests a bias in favor of the social movement involved.  Visual inflation took place recently in a Fox program’s portrayal of the rally called at the Capitol by Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachman, with images of two separate rallies combined in the story to suggest a far greater number of attendees. These distortions are now much more difficult to get away with under the scrutiny of the blogosphere and programs like the Daily Show. Be your own judge whether the juxtaposition of crowd video was purposive manipulation or an “error” as host Sean Hannity has now acknowledged.

image control

In war and conflict, the military has control over a story in hot demand and can determine matters of access for the media.  Security concerns play a role of course in dictating who is provided what information, but often image sensitivity and putting a positive spin on operations take precedence. Hollywood works the same.  Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have a story the public wants, and to the extent they control the access they, particularly Jolie, can dictate (with great strategic skill) the terms of coverage, with the goal of promoting their own causes and burnishing the celebrity image.

“liberal talk”? not on Sunday morning

A study by Media Matters shows that conservatives have predominated on the Sunday political newsmaker shows.

achieving “framing” parity with the right

The McCain case study will provide an example of the importance of framing the issues, a process that the Republicans have always been more adept at than the Democrats (“the death tax,” “war on terror,” “flip-flopper”).  According to today’s Times, new psychological research is being used to craft more effective political appeals, based on the book “The Political Brain,” whose author (Emory psychology professor Drew Westen) advocates more emotional appeals to move the center of the political spectrum.  The qualms over framing center around whether the candidates are being asked to become something they’re not, or simply package their core beliefs more effectively.

the changing newspaper habit

Daily newspaper circulation continues a decline that accelerated in 2007.  Only USA Today and Wall St. Journal bucked the trend and held steady, but the others are losing their readers at a quick rate (3 to 5 percent since same time last year).  Of course, many are moving to the online platform, but the newspapers have only aggravated the problem by making the daily paper smaller with fewer articles, not the way to attract and keep readers.  For readers of my generation, the newspaper is an appointment–something to read at meals, in the plane, or you know where, and the printed paper is an appointment product.  For younger people, news is a utility–download it and track it throughout the day.  Online fits that model.

media narratives vs. the facts

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting has reviewed the various narratives the mainstream press has used to characterize the candidates and the extent to which they conform to the evidence.  The media need frames to help organize understandings of candidates (as we’ll see in the McCain case study) but when they become self-fulfilling prophesies they work to distort the real picture.  FAIR is one of the many watchdog groups that monitor the press, and which I will discuss in class.

objectivity and an online bias tool

Here’s the latest attempt to apply the “wisdom of crowds” idea to measuring and identifying news bias.  Spinspotter.com thinks it can improve transparency by having readers flag problems in news texts.  Others aren’t so sure.

A proprietary algorithm locates words and phrases that violate six tenets culled from the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics code: personal voice, lack of balance, passive voice, biased source, disregarded content and selective disclosure. ( ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, AP)

The challenge of course is how can one truly know if a story is objective without having access to the underlying reality a report purports to represent?

Iraq and 9/11: a cultural structure deeper than fact

Although the factual basis for the war in Iraq has been repudiated by countless analyses, the manufactured link to 9/11 continues to serve political interests and, therefore, becomes deeply embedded in administration discourse.  As indicated in the comments to deploying troops by VP candidate Palin, the war on terror frame lives on.

“You’ll be there to defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans,” she told the soldiers. “America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001.”

media coverage of dissent

We’ll discuss media coverage of social dissent, and the range of permissible expression.  Here are two timely video examples of reporting at the scene of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  Take a look at the two and see how they differ in the framing of protest.  The second gives a kind of base-line for evaluating the first.

know the news online tool

I’ve posted a link at right to “knowtheNews.tv,” which is an initiative of LinkTV, a tv channel providing a global perspective on news and events.  This is a cool learning tool that i saw demonstrated at the Salzburg Academy in August where I was a faculty member.  They’ve encouraged journalism students to give it a try.