Assessing Americans' Opinions About the News Media's Fairness in 1996 and 1998

This article reports an analysis of Americans' opinions about the news media's fairness in covering public affairs. The data come from the 1996 and 1998 National Election Studies, which contained variables tapping exposure to and opinions about the news media, as well as key political disp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political communication 2001-04, Vol.18 (2), p.163-182
Main Author: Earl Bennett, Staci L. Rhine, Richard S. Flickinger, Stephen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, William Jefferson (Bill)
Congress
Government and politics
Journalistic ethics
Lewinsky, Monica
Lewinsky, Monica S
Media
Misanthropy Monica Lewinsky Affair News Media Public Opinion Social Capital
News media
Political behavior
Political news
Press
Press coverage
Public opinion
Scandals
United States
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Summary:This article reports an analysis of Americans' opinions about the news media's fairness in covering public affairs. The data come from the 1996 and 1998 National Election Studies, which contained variables tapping exposure to and opinions about the news media, as well as key political dispositions−partisanship, ideology, and opinion about presidential and congressional job performance−and a plethora of demographic variables. The data show that people who adhere to traditional moral codes and are misanthropic tend not to trust the news media to cover politics fairly. In a presidential election year, opinion about the president's job performance affects perceptions of the press's fairness. In an off-year election, however, opinion about the president's job performance is replaced by opinion about how the Congress has been doing its job. In addition, perception of how the media covered the Lewinsky scandal also influenced opinion about the press's fairness in general.
ISSN:1058-4609
1091-7675
DOI:10.1080/105846001750322961