Politicians and the News Media: How Elite Attacks Influence Perceptions of Media Bias

Abstract

When political elites receive unfavorable news coverage, a common strategy is to attack the source. Past research suggests that attacks on the news media increase perceptions of media bias, but it remains unclear how this occurs. Using two experiments, the author examines how attacks on the news media increase perceptions of bias. For the experiments, all participants read news articles about elected officials, but some read an attack on the source. The author also manipulated the direction of the attack (liberal or conservative bias) and its placement before or after the article. The results suggest that elite attacks increase perceptions of bias in the news source, and this occurs even when the attack is read following the article. In addition, attacks were effective when they came from politicians in both parties, suggesting that Republicans and Democrats are able to influence perceptions of bias. In conclusion, the author argues that elite attacks are likely to benefit the attackers but weaken democratic accountability.

Seeing Media as Group Members: An Evaluation of Partisan Bias Perceptions

“…If criticism of media seen as conservative, such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, was pervasive during the time of the study, those with more media knowledge may receive and internalize these critiques. Several studies show that elite criticism of the media affects perceptions of the media (Ladd, ; Smith, ). By internalizing critiques of conservative media, those with more media knowledge may then perceive less variability among sources seen as conservative.…”

Fake news as a two-dimensional phenomenon: a framework and research agenda

“…Ladd, 2012). Research shows that political attacks can increase perceptions of media bias (Smith, 2010) and decrease levels of media trust (Ladd, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, political criticism is often expressed without argumentation on what grounds the critique is built on. Politicians particularly use media criticism as a strategy when confronted with negative coverage of their persona or actions (Brants, de Vreese, Möller, & van Praag, 2010;Smith, 2010). In the same vein, political actors currently attack critical news media with the terms 'fake news' and 'lying press', without substantiating why a medium is 'fake' or 'lying'.…”

Influence of User Comments on Perceptions of Media Bias and Third-Person Effect in Online News

“…For example, research about the hostile media effect has found that greater levels of partisanship results in more perceived media bias (Gunther & Schmitt, 2004;Vallone, Ross, & Lepper, 1985). Attributes of media content have also been examined in an effort to understand how these qualities influence perceptions of media bias (Lowry & Shidler, 1995;Smith, 2010). Additionally, Eveland and Shah (2003) proposed that interpersonal factors might affect perceptions of media bias, finding that more conversation with like-minded others was related to greater individual perceptions of media bias.…”