Decline of a paradigm? Bias and objectivity in news media studies

Abstract

This essay outlines emerging empirical, methodological, and epistemolog‐ical challenges to several key assumptions associated with conventional research on news bias. These assumptions are: (1) the news can and ought to be objective, balanced and a reflection of social reality; (2) the political attitudes of journalists or editorial decision‐makers are a major determinant of news bias; (3) bias in news content can be detected with existing reading methods; (4) the most important form of bias is partisanship. It is concluded that the concepts of structured orientation and ideological effectiv‐ity are more fruitful than that of partisan bias, and that the concepts of bias and objectivity ought themselves to be objects of research rather than evaluative standards.