When left-leaning journalists produce right-leaning stories

"Members of the public consistently name bias as one of their top concerns about the media. The accusation that journalists tend to be left-leaning goes back half a century at least. And in many countries, including the U.S., that perception about political orientation is grounded in fact. But to think that that confirms the bias allegations is to jump to conclusions."

"After all, the model of objective journalism includes norms, values, and practices designed to keep bias in check. This model dominated in many countries during the 20th century still guides many legacy news organizations and start-ups today. So do liberal journalists actually produce left-leaning stories, or are some of these checks working to keep output balanced?"

"Riedl and colleagues examine these questions in the Austrian context using a huge dataset of 3,539 political and policy-related news stories from 12 news outlets, representing a variety of media and profit models. They analyzed the stories to quantify the presence of bias along three dimensions: subjectivity, party composition, and value frame composition."

Public concern about media bias, particularly accusations of left-leaning journalism, has persisted for decades and reflects measurable patterns in many countries including the U.S. However, researchers examining this phenomenon in Austria found that the presence of liberal journalists does not automatically confirm bias allegations. The objective journalism model, with its established norms, values, and practices, continues to guide legacy news organizations and new outlets, potentially counteracting individual political orientations. A comprehensive study analyzing 3,539 political and policy news stories from 12 Austrian outlets across different media types and profit models measured bias across three dimensions: subjectivity of journalist expression, balance in party representation, and fairness in value framing of political issues.

Read at Nieman Lab