Journalistic Bias, Negative Reporting, and Public Perceptions

Do you feel like a certain businessman-turned-politician is always in the news? Well, you’re right to feel that way Links to an external site.. Coverage of the 2016 primaries was noticeably skewed in favor of particular candidates and, more often than not, totally ignored the issues in favor of competition between candidates. 

Negative media attention and public perceptions

The media has a powerful influence on how we view specific news stories. You might be familiar with the famous McDonald’s coffee lawsuit, in which the 2.8 million dollar settlement garnered headlines and the plaintiff, Ms. Stella Liebeck became the butt of jokes and insults across the country. The true facts of the case and the severity of Ms. Liebeck’s burns were left out of news reports across the country, entirely changing the narrative of the story for decades to come.

Warning: the following video contains some graphic images. 

(Alternatively: Please read the write-up by the NYT Links to an external site..)

In 2014, cable news outlets came under fire for their non-stop, panic-inducing coverage of the Ebola crisis in western Africa. From Harvard Politics Links to an external site.: 

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus made a similar argument in an October column Links to an external site., writing, “There are no viewers for the plane that doesn’t fall from the sky. The adage, ‘If it bleeds, it leads,’ is terrifyingly apt when it comes to hemorrhagic fever. So we swarm to Dallas, interview neighbors, tweet breaking-news bulletins.” In an interview with the HPR, Karen Dill-Shackleford, director of the media psychology program at Fielding Graduate University, argued that cable news outlets have been particularly bad about spreading misinformation about Ebola. “They know that these things are not true in the way that they present them, but they’re just trying to drum up interest, and unfortunately they just usually push the simple button which is fear.”

Some compared media coverage of the 2014 outbreak Links to an external site. to AIDS coverage in the early 1980s – panicked, hysterical, and often wrong. How do you think such media coverage of the outbreak could affect your views on Ebola? Others found good in the heavy media coverage Links to an external site., estimating that increased media exposure in the west would hasten a search for a cure or vaccine. How is the example of news coverage of Ebola similar to our responses to COVID-19?

Compare the impact of Ebola worldwide (CDC Ebola 2014-16 Links to an external site.)* versus COVID in the United States (CDC Links to an external site.). How do you think the worldwide response to Ebola would change after the pandemic? 

Did excessive early media coverage of the COVID-19 make you more fearful? Do you feel different about the more recent coverage of the COVID-19 virus? You will have a chance to respond to these questions in this week's discussion.

 

*By 2019, two vaccines were available Links to an external site. against Ebola.