Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Controversial Issues / Edition 1

by Jim A. Kuypers

Overview

Kuypers charts the potential effects the printed presses and broadcast media have upon the messages of political and social leaders when they discuss controversial issues. Examining over 800 press reports on race and homosexuality from 116 different newspapers, Kuypers meticulously documents a liberal political bias in mainstream news. This book asserts that such a bias hurts the democratic process by ignoring non-mainstream left positions and vilifying many moderate and most right-leaning positions, leaving only a narrow brand of liberal thought supported by the mainstream press.

This book argues that the mainstream press in America is an anti-democratic institution. By comparatively analyzing press reports, as well as the events that occasioned the coverage, Kuypers paints a detailed picture of the politics of the American press. He advances four distinct reportorial practices that inject bias into reporting, offering perspectives of particular interest to scholars, students, and others involved with mass communication, jourbanalism, and politics in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275977597
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/30/2002
Series:	Praeger Series in Political Communication
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

JIM A. KUYPERS is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Office of Speech at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Presidential Crisis Rhetoric and the Press in a Post-Cold War World (Praeger, 1997) and co-editor, with Andrew King, of Twentieth-Century Roots of Rhetorical Studies (Praeger, 2001). He is a former editor for the American Communication Jourbanal.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by Robert E. Denton, Jr.
Understanding Media Manipulation of Controversial Issues
Charles Davidson, "The Confederate Battle Flag: A Symbol of Racism?"
William J. Clinton, "Initiative on Race"
Loius Farrakhan, "Remarks at the Million Man March"
Reggie White: "Wisconsin State Assembly Speech"
Trent Lott: "Armstrong Williams Show Comments'
William J. Clinton, "Remarks by the President at Human Rights Campaign Dinner"
Conclusion: Press Bias, Politics, and the Media Manipulate Controversial Issues
Bibliography
Index