Distortion Theory of Media Bias

Haven't you heard, it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside
--Pink Floyd

Groseclose (2011) builds on previous theoretical concepts to propose a 'distortion theory' of media bias. The gist is that the stories that journalists select and how those stories are presented are shaped by the biases that journalists possess. Because an overwhelming majority of journalists are biased Left, it follows that we should observe general Left-leaning bias in media content.

It is straightforward to view Groseclose's distortion theory as an application of confirmation bias or selective reasoning to journalistic processes. Simply, what journalists decide as worth reporting will colored by their views of the world.

On any given day, there may be dozens of issues that journalists might choose to cover. On a particular issue, there may be hundreds of facts that might be relevant. It is impossible for journalist to capture them all. Instead, journalists can only report a sample.

Because of their own ideological views, however, journalists do not report a representative sample of stories or facts. They give us a biased sample. A sample that is biased Left.

Groseclose states:

"While the job of a journalist is to shine a light on the facts, in the current state of the U.S. media, journalists do not shine their light straight. Instead it is as if they use a prism, bending the light and causing it to make a left turn. The end result is that we, the readers and viewers of the news, are more likely to see facts from the left side of the spectrum." (2011: 68)

Left unchecked, consumption of biased media is likely to cause general political views to take a Left turn as well.

References

Groseclose, T. 2011. Left turn: How liberal media bias distorts the American mind. New York: St Martin's Press.