Bias in News

Bias in Political News Coverage: A Case Study ( Border Wall )

Instructions: The length of your case study is flexible but I would expect no less than six (6) to 7 pages double-spaced pages. 

Directions Part I: Select a news story. Your options are: Begin by discussing how you believe your story should be covered from a Professional Model. How would your news story be covered in an “objective”, “fair” or “balanced’ way? What are the two (or more) sides to your story?

Discuss what would be examples of politically liberal biased news coverage of your story based on a Personality Model.

Discuss what would be examples of politically conservative biased news coverage of your story based on a Propaganda Model.

Part II: Introduce your 2/3 news sources. Your sources can be:

MSNBC, CNN and Fox News.

Washington Post (WP), New York Times (NYT), and Wall Street Journal (WSJ)

Boston Globe and Boston Herald

Your book identifies each as conservative bias outlets (Fox, Herald & WSJ) liberaloutlets (MSNBC, WP, Globe) and neutral outlets (CNN, NYT).

Part III: Collect ten (10) news stories from each of the three news outlets (fifteen (15) if you chose the Globe and Herald. Try, as best you can, to make sure the story is not an editorial or opinion article/presentation. Discuss what would be an unbiased or neutral presentation of your topic, what would be a conservative bias presentation of your topicand what would be a liberal bias presentation of your topic.

Part IV: Read your news stories and identify them as one of the three categories (liberal/neutral or conservative) discussed above. Present your findings. 

Part V: More Analysis. How often are the news stories presented in a “game/strategic” frame verses a “policy” frame, irrespective of the (un)bias identified

Part VI: Even More Analysis. To what extent do your news stories reflect the six(6) biases in media. 

Bibliography: List each media outlet (alphabetically) and each story; Title, Date and Page(s).