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Ideational item The politics of the press
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Ideational Item
The Politics of the Press Fred J. Evans 22 F r e d J . E v a n s is a n A s s o c i a t e D e a n a t t h e S c h o o l o f B u s i n e s s a n d E c o n o m i c s , Calif o r n i a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y in L o s A n g e l e s . H e is also t h e e x e c u t i v e e d i t o r o f Business Forum.
T h e public press has often been criticized for anti-business bias. A recent study surveyed journalists' political views in an attempt to find sources for such a bias.
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ress coverage of business and economic issues has increased greatly in the last two decades. Within the business community, however, this increased coverage has generated considerable controversy. Business executives frequently believe that much business news coverage is both superficial and biased against business. 1 Journalists respond that although business news coverage is not without its flaws, journalists are increasingly well-informed and generally do a responsible job in this category of reporting? In an attempt to assess objectively the adequacy of business and economic news reporting, some analysts have employed the techl. This is particularly true of television news reporting. Newspapers are rated more favorably, b u t negative responses far outn u m b e r positive responses even in this mediu m . See the Business Week/Harris Poll, "Business Thinks T V Distorts Its Image," Business Week, October 12, 1982: 26. The Business Forum study results also confirm this negative image. 2. A recent defense of business news reporting is by Los Angeles Times reporter, A. Kent McDougal, Ninety Seconds to Tell It All (Homewood, I11: Dow J o n e s - l r w i n , 1981).
nique of content analysis to the reporting of specific events, such as the Arab oil embargo and nuclear power? The results are mixed. On some issues the coverage appears to be fair or balanced; on others it appears to be biased in one direction or another. This lack of conclusiveness is in part a function of the technique employed. Content analysis tallies frequencies of key words or phrases, experts cited, editorial slant, and so on, to arrive at a quantitative measure of the "balance" of coverage. Although content analysis can be useful, it says little about why some issues are accorded "balanced" treatment while others are not. To understand why, one must understand something about what motivates the journalist, what his personal views are on business and economic policy issues, what he thinks is newsworthy, what his editors think is newsworthy, and so on. Although imperatives are 3. Recently a n u m b e r of studies utilizing this approach have been conducted under the auspices of the Media Institute, a businessoriented research organization.
The Politics of the Press
associated with the particular medium through which news is disseminated-for example, newspapers can provide more detailed coverage of events while television's need to be brief forces simplification-there is evidence that a reporter's basic beliefs, attitudes, and values (his paradigm) will influence how events are perceived. 4 Differences in perception, it seems reasonable to hypothesize, will influence news content. Therefore, understanding journalists' views on basic business and economic issues is likely to help explain the conclusions reached through content analysis. In the fall of 1982, Business Forum sponsored a survey of business and the media that included a questionnaire sent to journalists at the fifty largest U.S. newspapers and a regionally stratified sample of weekly newspapers. The 168 usable responses allow analysis of the attitudes of journalists as they relate to business and economic issues. Although the sample includes only print journalists, analysis of the data does provide some insight into the adequacy of business and economic news coverage. The Politics of Journalists eviewing the results of surveys of public attitudes toward business, Seymour Martin Lipset and William Schneider note the close correlation between political ideology and political party preference and atti-
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4. The origin of term "paradigm" to explain how individuals perceive reality differently is from a book by Thomas Kuhn, The Structure o f Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). For a recent attempt to explain the paradigm of journalists see Stanley Rothman, "The Mass Media in Post-Industrial Society" in The Third Century: America as a Po st-lndustrial Society,
Seymour Martin Lipset, ed. (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1979): 361-376. For evidence that a journalist's paradigm will influence his perception of reality see Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter, "Media and Business Elites: Two Classes in Conflict?" The Public Interest, Fall 1982: 121-125.
tudes toward business. The more one moves from left to right on the political ideology scale, and from strong Democrat to strong Republican on the party preference scale, the more pro-business one is likely to be. Lipset and Schneider conclude, "Both of these findings
confirm the profoundly political nature of the public's attitude toward business ''s (emphasis in original.) What is true of the general public is also true of the journalists in our sample. Of the nineteen items in our questionnaire which related to domestic business and economic issues, all but five were significantly correlated with political self-identification or ideology. Party identification (strong Democrat to strong Republican) was significantly correlated with all but nine of the nineteen items. In other words, the more liberal and Democratic the journalist, the more likely he was to be critical of business. What is the general political orientation of these journalists? Compared to the general public, the answer is overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic. Our survey included the question: "Would you describe your overall political inclination as: far left, very liberal, somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat conservative, very conservative, far right." Table 1 displays the responses and compares them to those of the general public. As can be seen, in terms of political self-identification or ideology, the journalists place themselves considerably to the left of the general population. Fifty percent of the journalists position themselves to the left of center compared to just 24 percent of the public who describe their political inclinations as to the "liberal side." Twentyone percent of the journalists describe' themselves as conservative 5. Seymour Martin Lipset and William Schneider, "How's Business? What the Public Thinks," Public Opinion, July-August, 1978: 47.
Table 1 Political Ideology of Journalists and General Public (percent) Journalist I 50 liberal 29 m o d e r a t e 21 conservative
Public 2 22 left 42 center 36 right
1. Response to the .question, "Would you describe y o u r overall political inclination as: far left, very liberal, s o m e w h a t liberal, moderate, s o m e w h a t conservative, very conservative, far right, none of t h e s e ? " The far left, very liberal, and s o m e w h a t liberal responses were collapsed as were the somewhat conservative, very conservative, and far right categories. The n o n e of these and no response answers were o m i t t e d from the calculations. Source: 1982 B u s i n e s s F o r u m survey. 2. Response to the question, "People who are conservative in their views are referred to as being right of center and people who are liberal in their political views are referred to as being left of center. Which one of these categories (far left, moderately left, slightly left, midd le-of-the-road [volunteered], slightly right, moderately right, far right, d o n ' t know) best d e s c r i e s y o u r own political position?" The far left, substantially left, and moderately left, and far right, substantially right, and moderately right were collapsed into " l e f t " and " r i g h t " respectively. The remaining categories were collapsed into " c e n t e r . " The d o n ' t know responses were o m i t t e d . Source: Gallup Survey, September 17 to 20, 1982. N (Number of respondents) supplied by Gallup o r g a n i z a t i o n . Percentages calculated by author.
compared to 38 percent of the public who place themselves on the "conservative side." Twenty-nine percent of the journalists described themselves as moderate compared to 38 percent of the public who said they were "in between." Another indicator of political orientation is party preference. We included a question in our survey of journalists which asked: "Do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or w h a t ? " and listed seven alterna-. tives ranging from strong Democrat to strong Republican. Table 2 lists the complete breakdown for the
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"It is quite clear that compared to the general public the politics of the journalists in our sample is disproportionately liberal and Democratic."
24 journalists and c o m p a r e s t h e m to a Gallup Poll o f the general public which included o n l y three alternatives, D e m o c r a t , . Republican, or I n d e p e n d e n t . The c o m p a r i s o n indicates that the journalists are considerably m o r e likely than the general public to think of themselves as D e m o c r a t s , considerably less likely to think o f themselves as I n d e p e n d e n t s , and a b o u t equally likely to think of themselves as Republicans. A l t h o u g h the Gallup and B u s i n e s s F o r u m questions were phrased d i f f e r e n t l y , it does appear that the journalists' p a r t y p r e f e r e n c e is m o r e heavily Democratic than the public's preference. Table 2 Expressed Party Preference, Journalists
and the Public (percent)
Democrat Independent Republican
Journalist I
Public2
61 19 20
45 29 26
1. Question: Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or what? (Strong Democrat; Democrat; Independent, closer to Democrat; Independent; Independent, closer to Republican; Republican; Strong Republican; other party). Democrat and Republican identifiers collapsed; other party calculated out. Source: 1982 Business Forum survey. 2. Question: In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent? Other and No opinion calculated out. Source: Survey by the Gallup Organization, Fourth Quarter, 1982.
T h e d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e preference of journalists for the Democratic p a r t y is reflected in their vote in presidential elections, as Table 3 indicates. And the difTable 3 Presidential Vote 1972, 1976, 1980 Journalists and Public (percent)
Journalist I
PubliJ
1972 Nixon McGovern
21 77
62 38
1976 Ford Carter
27 73
49 51
1980 Re agan Carter Anderson
25 51 24
52 42 7
1. Source: 1982 Business Forum survey. 2. Source: Statistical Abstract o f the United States, 1980. ferences are indeed remarkable. In 1972, o n l y 21 p e r c e n t o f the journalists v o t e d for N i x o n c o m p a r e d to 62 percent of the public. (The d i f f e r e n c e o f m o r e than 40 p e r c e n t is the greatest o f the three elections. Does this c o n f i r m the special a n i m o s i t y that is said to exist b e t w e e n N i x o n and the press?) In 1976, 27 p e r c e n t of the journalists r e p o r t e d voting for F o r d c o m p a r e d to 49 p e r c e n t of the public. In 1980, 25 p e r c e n t of the journalists v o t e d for Reagan c o m p a r e d to 52 percent o f the public. But not only did the journalists m o r e o f t e n vote
D e m o c r a t i c and less o f t e n v o t e Republican than the general public, t h e y also were m o r e than three and one-half times as likely to have v o t e d for J o h n A n d e r s o n . If, as s o m e have c o n t e n d e d , Anderson was the c a n d i d a t e of the new class, it appears that journalists m a y be a part of t h a t class. A t t i t u d e s T o w a r d Business t is quite clear that c o m p a r e d to the general public, the politics of the journalists in o u r sample is d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y liberal and D e m o c r a t i c , a finding t h a t is consistent with the few o t h e r existing studies. 6 T h e n e x t q u e s t i o n is h o w the politics of journalists relate to their a t t i t u d e s t o w a r d business. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , the items on business and e c o n o m i c policy included in the B u s i n e s s F o r u m survey have n o t been a d m i n i s t e r e d in any public opinion polls o f which we are aware. T h e result is t h a t we c a n n o t directly c o m p a r e the attitudes of journalists and the public on these items. If a direct c o m parison were possible, we w o u l d e x p e c t that the c o m p a r a t i v e l y liberal and D e m o c r a t i c journalists w o u l d also be c o m p a r a t i v e l y critical o f business. We can test this
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6. John W.C. Johnstone et. al., The News People (Chicago: University of lllinois Press, 1976): 92-9B; Stephen Hess, The Washhigton Reporters (Washington, D.C.: The Brooldngs Instutition, 1981): 115; and S. Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman, "Media and Business Elites," Public Opinion, October-November 1961: 42-46, 59-60.
The Politics of the Press
Table 4 Political Self-Identification and A t t i t u d e on Business and E c o n o m i c Policy A Political I.D. 1. For all its faults, capitalism works best. 2. Regulation is a major cause of productivity decline. 3. To avoid public harm, industry must be regulated. 4. Reagan's policies will b e n e f i t the wealthy and not hurt the poor. 5. Take big corporations out of private ownership. 6. Social responsibility requires public scrutiny and oversight. 7. To compete, U.S. e c o n o m y needs e c o n o m i c planning. 8. Wage and price controls are best remedy for chronic inflation. 9. Political democracy is impossible in absence of free enterprise. 10. Profits frequently made at e x p e n s e o f average worker. 11. Political self-identification, liberal to conservative. 12. Social interests and profit interests increasingly divergent. hypothesis indirectly, however, by comparing journalists of different political orientations. What we should find is that the more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to be critical of business. Table 4 lists the correlations b e t w e e n political self-identification or ideology and a t t i t u d e on several issues relating to business and economic policy. As m e n t i o n e d above, of the nineteen items relating to domestic business and economic policy included in the survey, all but five were significantly related to political ideology. The first nine listed in Table 4 are those with a g a m m a of plus or minus .4 or greater. As can be inferred from the gammas for items one and nine in c o l u m n A, political ideology appears to be related to d o u b t s about the efficacy of capitalism. There is a high correlation ( r = - . 7 3 6 ) b e t w e e n political liberalism and disagreement with the statement, " F o r all its faults, capitalism or the private m a r k e t econo-
B Business
Influence
(r)
(r)
--.736
N.S.
--.629
--.367
.610
.500
.584
.668
.531
.530
.517
.326
.485
.344
.470
.444
--.406
N.S.
.337
.611
--
.569
.385
.434
m y works better than any economic system yet devised." Item nine reports a negative correlation ( r = -.406) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, "Political d e m o c r a c y would be impossible in the absence of free enterprise." Thus it appears that political ideology is related to estimates about the performance of capitalism as well as its relation to political d e m o c r a c y . The more liberal the respondent, the more likely he is to have d o u b t s on b o t h counts. Political ideology is related n o t only to beliefs about the efficacy of capitalism b u t also to beliefs a b o u t the need for regulation. There is a strong correlation ( r = .610) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " T o avoid ~arm to the public, industry must be closely regulated by gove r n m e n t . " There is also a strong correlation ( r = .517) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " T h e only way to as-
sure that businesses act in a socially responsible fashion is to have vastly increased public scrutiny and oversight of corporate decision m a k i n g . " Political liberalism is thus related to belief in the necessity for increased g o v e r n m e n t intervention into the e c o n o m y . A third pattern relates to the consequences of government intervention in the econ'omy. The more liberal the respondent, the more likely he is to believe that governm e n t intervention in the e c o n o m y will have beneficial consequences. There is, for example, a very strong negative relationship ( r = - - . 6 2 9 ) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " A major cause of the decline of U.S. productivity is excessive government regulation." There is also a strong relationship between liberalism and agreement with the statement, "Big corporations should be taken o u t of private ownership and run in the public interest" ( r = .531) Item 7 shows the strong correlation b e t w e e n liberalism and agreem e n t with the statement, " I f the U.S. e c o n o m y is ever to c o m p e t e effectively with such economic powers as J a p a n and West Germany, some form of national economic planning must be developed" ( r = .485). There is also a strong relationship b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " T h e best way to halt chronic inflation in the U.S. is b y instituting comprehensive wage and price c o n t r o l s " ( r = . 4 7 0 ) . Finally, there is a strong relation b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, "President Reagan's economic policies will disproportionately benefit wealthy individuals and large corporations and do little to help the p o o r " ( r = .584). Estimates
of Business
Influence
Next note c o l u m n B in Table 4. This c o l u m n correlates estimates o f , business influence with the statements listed in the left hand column. To determine the respon-
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"It appears that journalists' political liberalism has two components" one, the belief in the relatively beneficient effects of government intervention and the other the great actual influence of business which, if unchecked, results in harm to the public." 26 dent's estimate of business influence, we included the following item: "Listed below are several important groups and institutions in American sociefy. On a scale of 1 (a great deal of influence) to 5 (very little influence), rate each according to how much influence they actually have." Note that the gammas for the influence item parallel, but are not identical to, those for political ideology. That is, there is a high correlation between political liberalism and the belief that business has a great deal of influence. Item 11, which correlates the two, yields a gamma of .569. Thus the more liberal the respondent, the more likely he is to have a high estimate of business's actual influence. Although, as will be shown below, estimates of business influence and political ideology are not identical factors, it does a p p e a r that a significant component of the political ideology dimension for journalists is their estimate of the amount of influence or power business has. Comparing the correlations in columns A and B in Table 4, it appears that journalists' political liberalism has two components: one, the belief in the relatively beneficient effects of government intervention and the other the great actual influence of business which, if unchecked, results in harm to the public. This conjunction gives an ideological basis for an expanded government role in. the economy.
Note, however, that political ideology and estimate of business influence are not identical factors. When we correlate the same nineteen variables with influence, while controlling for political ideology, most of the correlations disappear. The two that remain are highly significant, however. There is a partial correlation of .301 between business influence and agreement with the statement, "It is frequently tile case in this country that the profits of business are made at the expense of the average worker," and a partial correlation of .305 between influence and Table 5 Presidential Vote by Ideology and Business Influence
Vote 1972 1976 1980
Controlling Ideology Influence for Ideology
(r)
(r)
(R)
.902 .779 .615
.781 .729 .486
.268 .290 N.S.
agreement with the statement, "President Reagan's economic policies will disproportionately benefit wealthy individuals and large corporations and do little to help the p o o r . " In both instances we may infer that, independent of political ideology, those individuals who estimate business influence as highest are most likely to believe that that influence is exerted to the detriment of less powerful groups in society.
Note, finally, that there not only is a strong correlation between political ideology and presidential vote but also between vote and estimate of business influence. Table 5 summarizes the relationships to presidential vote in the 1972, 1976, and 1980 elections. In each of the elections the relationship is quite strong, although somewhat weaker for business influence than for ideology. More importantly, however, the relationship between business influence and vote obtains when we control for political ideology, with a partial correlation of .280 in the 1972 election, and .271 in the 1976 election. The 1980 vote, in which a substantial number of journalists reported voting for Anderson, is not significant, however. Factor Analysis Another way of examining the attitudes of journalists toward business is through factor analysis. Table 6 lists the loadings on the two principal factors. The first is what may be called a "political" factor. The variables that load most highly on this factor are presidential vote, attitude toward Reaganomics, political ideology, business influence, and attitude toward regulation. One would expect vote, political ideology, and Reaganomics to load on the same factor. What is surprising is that business i n f u e n c e and regulation as a cause of productivity decline
The Politics of the Press
Table 6 Factor Analysis I "Political" Factor (55.7% of variance)
"Economic" Factor (14.9% of variance)
1972 Presidential vote
.741
.657
1976 Presidential vote
.721
Increasingly, real interests of society and profit interests of business divergent
Reagan's polities will wealthy and large corporations, not poor
.702
Frequently profits made at of average worker
.648
Modern marketing techniques
.609
benefit
expense
1980 Presidential vote
.675
Political ideology
.584
Business influence
.478
Excessive regulation a major cause of productivity declines
--.401
p r o m o t e excessive
commercialism To avoid public harm, industry must be closely regulated
.425
Profit and loss only concern of most business execu fives
.418
Corporate social responsibility requires vastly increased public scrutiny
.408
1. The SPSS factor analysis program with the PA2 factoring method was employed. The number of factors was not limited.
also load on t h a t factor. This association m a y be explained by r e m e m b e r i n g that the Democratic party and liberalism are associated with defense of the disadvantaged and o p p o s i t i o n to the advantaged. The more powerful business is perceived to be, the more likely it is to be viewed as advantaged. Similarly, the more powerful business is perceived to be, the less likely regulation will be viewed as hampering its efficiency and causing productivity decline. The second factor relates more specifically to business and economic policy and m a y be called an " e c o n o m i c " factor. Items 1, 2, 3, and 5 relate to the n o t i o n that profit does not equal the public interest, items 4 and 6 to the n o t i o n t h a t the disjunction between profit and the public interest must be resolved t h r o u g h increased government regulation and public scrutiny.
Conclusions of the Survey he sample of journalists in the Business Forum survey are much more liberal and Democratic in their politics than the general public. This liberalism is closely related to attitudes toward business: like the public, the more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to be critical of business. Since journalists are more liberal t h a n the public, we may infer that t h e y are also more critical o f business. Factor analysis suggests that this criticism has two dimensions. The first is distinctly political. Political liberalism and Democratic partisanship traditionally are associated with advocacy of those groups and individuals perceived to be s o m e h o w disadvantaged. Advocates of the disadvantaged o f t e n believ~ that progress can be m a d e only at the expense of the advantaged, usually perceived as part of
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the established order. Business, particularly big business, epitomizes the advantaged establishment. Thus it is not surprising that attitudes toward business are highly politicized. Neither is it surprising that liberalism is associated with high estimates of business influence. A n d the more powerful one believes business to be, the less likely one is to believe that government regulation is "excessive" and leads to productivity decline. " R e a g a n o m i c s , " which emphasizes economic growth over redistribution by means of income tax reductions, decreased spending on domestic programs, and reduced business regulation, is a conservative and Republican agenda and engenders more opposition the more liberal the journalist. The other factor, which was called the " e c o n o m i c " factor, related more specifically to business and economic policy. The items on this factor seemed to relate to the perceived disjunction between the interests of business and the public and the necessity of government regulation to make these interests more consistent. It is obvious that the political and economic factors are closely related. Both assume that business is a significant and advantaged part of the establishment, and b o t h assume t h a t if the interests of the disadvantaged and the public are to be furthered, business power or influence must be curtailed. Hence the criticism of business. An explanation of the attitudes of journalists toward business does not, of course, prove a n y t h i n g about the c o n t e n t of business news coverage. Journalists m a y be more critical of business t h a n the general public, and the more liberal the journalist, the more critical he m a y be, but if, and to what degree, these attitudes are reflected in news copy c a n n o t be tested directly in this study. The study contains one item that i n d i r e c t l y , addresses this issue, however. Table
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"The more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to think business news reporting is not critical enough."
28 7 displays responses to the statement, " I n general, business news r e p o r t i n g is not critical enough o f business." T h e m o r e liberal the r e s p o n d e n t the m o r e likely he is to agree with the s t a t e m e n t . F o r t y seven p e r c e n t of the m o s t liberal respondents expressed strong agreement c o m p a r e d to just 7 percent o f the m o r e conservative respondents. Only in the strongly disagree c o l u m n are the responses not significantly different. We can m a k e some inference a b o u t news c o n t e n t from Table 7. Although reporters are c o m m i t t e d to objective news reporting, h o w one perceives reality will be determined in part b y one's beliefs, attitudes, and values. Any given story a b o u t business may be perceived d i f f e r e n t l y d e p e n d i n g on one's a t t i t u d e t o w a r d business. If there is a differing p e r c e p t i o n of stories a b o u t business, there are also likely to be differing perceptions a b o u t the reality that forms the basis of the stories. The ideal of objectivity will assure that h o w facts are perceived is how t h e y will be r e p o r t e d . We w o u l d argue that response to Table 7 indicates that a process as described above actually does take place. T h e m o r e liberal the journalist, the m o r e likely he is to t h i n k business news r e p o r t i n g is not critical enough. The ideal o f objectivity encourages m o r e critical stories as one moves along the
ideology scale f r o m conservative to liberal. And since journalists as a w h o l e are m o r e liberal than tile general public, it is likely that business news in general is p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y m o r e critical. Business news r e p o r t i n g is bec o m i n g an increasingly specialized f u n c t i o n , with more and m o r e reporters assigned full t i m e to a business " b e a t . " A p p a r e n t l y on the t h e o r y that familiarity breeds respect, this has led to the belief b o t h within the business comm u n i t y and a m o n g journalists that business news reporters are more conservative and less critical of business than general assignment reporters. In our sample, for instance, 59 percent o f the journalists agreed either strongly or with reservations that, " I n general, business reporters t e n d to be m o r e conservative and favorably dis-
posed t o w a r d business t h a n tile general assignment reporters." A m o n g business reporters 67 percent expressed a g r e e m e n t compared to 54 p e r c e n t o f the general assigqament reporters. Yet w h e n we c o m p a r e tile responses of the two groups on the political and econ o m i c items included in the survey we find few statistically significant differences. The differences do, however, vary in the same direction, indicating that business reporters are indeed slightly m o r e conservative and favorably disposed t o w a r d business t h a n general assignment reporters. We m a y tentatively c o n c l u d e that as business news coverage has e x p a n d e d it has improved, at least f r o m the point of view o f business. H o w e v e r , business r e p o r t e r s remain considerably more liberal and critical o f business than the general public, not to
Table 7 Ideology by Business News Not Critical Enough of Business (row percent)
Strongly agree
Agree with reservations
Disagree with reservations
Strongly disagree
N
Far left/ very lib.
47
26
21
5
19
Some lib. Moderate Some/very
19 9 7
50 52 45
27 34 42
2 5 7
54 44 31
conserv.
x2 = .023 r = .309
The Politics of the Press
mention business executives, and we would expect their stories to reflect this orientation. titudes on business and ecoomic issues are highly politicized among both the public and journ,'dists. The more politically liberal the individual, the more likely he is to be critical of business and favor policies that would reduce its a u t o n o m y . Journalists, including business reporters, are not a political microcosm of the public but are considerably more liberal and critic,'d of business. To what degxee this criticism is reflected in their stories cannot be directly deter-
mined by the present study. The indirect evidence strongly suggests a link between ideology and news content: The more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to believe that present news coverage is not critical enough of business. The inference is that the reporter who values o b j e c t i v i t y - w h o wishes to provide the public with the unvarnished truth-will write stories more critical of business if he believes they presently are not critical enough. The disproportionate liberalism of journalists, including business reporters, supports the contention of many business executives that the press has an antibusiness bias. To paraphrase
the title of a recent essay, the evidence indicates that journalists are prodrama and antibusiness. 7 The findings presented here should give some coherence to the conclusion derived from content analysis by helping to explain why events are reported the way they are. But to understand precisely how a reporter's paradigm influences his perception of reality and how that is translated into news content, further research is necessary. V--I 29 7. J. Herbert AltschuU, "Journalists Aren't Anti-Business-They're Just Pro-Drama," Business H o f f z o n s , September-October 1982: 2-6.
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Ideational Item
The Politics of the Press Fred J. Evans 22 F r e d J . E v a n s is a n A s s o c i a t e D e a n a t t h e S c h o o l o f B u s i n e s s a n d E c o n o m i c s , Calif o r n i a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y in L o s A n g e l e s . H e is also t h e e x e c u t i v e e d i t o r o f Business Forum.
T h e public press has often been criticized for anti-business bias. A recent study surveyed journalists' political views in an attempt to find sources for such a bias.
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ress coverage of business and economic issues has increased greatly in the last two decades. Within the business community, however, this increased coverage has generated considerable controversy. Business executives frequently believe that much business news coverage is both superficial and biased against business. 1 Journalists respond that although business news coverage is not without its flaws, journalists are increasingly well-informed and generally do a responsible job in this category of reporting? In an attempt to assess objectively the adequacy of business and economic news reporting, some analysts have employed the techl. This is particularly true of television news reporting. Newspapers are rated more favorably, b u t negative responses far outn u m b e r positive responses even in this mediu m . See the Business Week/Harris Poll, "Business Thinks T V Distorts Its Image," Business Week, October 12, 1982: 26. The Business Forum study results also confirm this negative image. 2. A recent defense of business news reporting is by Los Angeles Times reporter, A. Kent McDougal, Ninety Seconds to Tell It All (Homewood, I11: Dow J o n e s - l r w i n , 1981).
nique of content analysis to the reporting of specific events, such as the Arab oil embargo and nuclear power? The results are mixed. On some issues the coverage appears to be fair or balanced; on others it appears to be biased in one direction or another. This lack of conclusiveness is in part a function of the technique employed. Content analysis tallies frequencies of key words or phrases, experts cited, editorial slant, and so on, to arrive at a quantitative measure of the "balance" of coverage. Although content analysis can be useful, it says little about why some issues are accorded "balanced" treatment while others are not. To understand why, one must understand something about what motivates the journalist, what his personal views are on business and economic policy issues, what he thinks is newsworthy, what his editors think is newsworthy, and so on. Although imperatives are 3. Recently a n u m b e r of studies utilizing this approach have been conducted under the auspices of the Media Institute, a businessoriented research organization.
The Politics of the Press
associated with the particular medium through which news is disseminated-for example, newspapers can provide more detailed coverage of events while television's need to be brief forces simplification-there is evidence that a reporter's basic beliefs, attitudes, and values (his paradigm) will influence how events are perceived. 4 Differences in perception, it seems reasonable to hypothesize, will influence news content. Therefore, understanding journalists' views on basic business and economic issues is likely to help explain the conclusions reached through content analysis. In the fall of 1982, Business Forum sponsored a survey of business and the media that included a questionnaire sent to journalists at the fifty largest U.S. newspapers and a regionally stratified sample of weekly newspapers. The 168 usable responses allow analysis of the attitudes of journalists as they relate to business and economic issues. Although the sample includes only print journalists, analysis of the data does provide some insight into the adequacy of business and economic news coverage. The Politics of Journalists eviewing the results of surveys of public attitudes toward business, Seymour Martin Lipset and William Schneider note the close correlation between political ideology and political party preference and atti-
R
4. The origin of term "paradigm" to explain how individuals perceive reality differently is from a book by Thomas Kuhn, The Structure o f Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). For a recent attempt to explain the paradigm of journalists see Stanley Rothman, "The Mass Media in Post-Industrial Society" in The Third Century: America as a Po st-lndustrial Society,
Seymour Martin Lipset, ed. (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1979): 361-376. For evidence that a journalist's paradigm will influence his perception of reality see Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter, "Media and Business Elites: Two Classes in Conflict?" The Public Interest, Fall 1982: 121-125.
tudes toward business. The more one moves from left to right on the political ideology scale, and from strong Democrat to strong Republican on the party preference scale, the more pro-business one is likely to be. Lipset and Schneider conclude, "Both of these findings
confirm the profoundly political nature of the public's attitude toward business ''s (emphasis in original.) What is true of the general public is also true of the journalists in our sample. Of the nineteen items in our questionnaire which related to domestic business and economic issues, all but five were significantly correlated with political self-identification or ideology. Party identification (strong Democrat to strong Republican) was significantly correlated with all but nine of the nineteen items. In other words, the more liberal and Democratic the journalist, the more likely he was to be critical of business. What is the general political orientation of these journalists? Compared to the general public, the answer is overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic. Our survey included the question: "Would you describe your overall political inclination as: far left, very liberal, somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat conservative, very conservative, far right." Table 1 displays the responses and compares them to those of the general public. As can be seen, in terms of political self-identification or ideology, the journalists place themselves considerably to the left of the general population. Fifty percent of the journalists position themselves to the left of center compared to just 24 percent of the public who describe their political inclinations as to the "liberal side." Twentyone percent of the journalists describe' themselves as conservative 5. Seymour Martin Lipset and William Schneider, "How's Business? What the Public Thinks," Public Opinion, July-August, 1978: 47.
Table 1 Political Ideology of Journalists and General Public (percent) Journalist I 50 liberal 29 m o d e r a t e 21 conservative
Public 2 22 left 42 center 36 right
1. Response to the .question, "Would you describe y o u r overall political inclination as: far left, very liberal, s o m e w h a t liberal, moderate, s o m e w h a t conservative, very conservative, far right, none of t h e s e ? " The far left, very liberal, and s o m e w h a t liberal responses were collapsed as were the somewhat conservative, very conservative, and far right categories. The n o n e of these and no response answers were o m i t t e d from the calculations. Source: 1982 B u s i n e s s F o r u m survey. 2. Response to the question, "People who are conservative in their views are referred to as being right of center and people who are liberal in their political views are referred to as being left of center. Which one of these categories (far left, moderately left, slightly left, midd le-of-the-road [volunteered], slightly right, moderately right, far right, d o n ' t know) best d e s c r i e s y o u r own political position?" The far left, substantially left, and moderately left, and far right, substantially right, and moderately right were collapsed into " l e f t " and " r i g h t " respectively. The remaining categories were collapsed into " c e n t e r . " The d o n ' t know responses were o m i t t e d . Source: Gallup Survey, September 17 to 20, 1982. N (Number of respondents) supplied by Gallup o r g a n i z a t i o n . Percentages calculated by author.
compared to 38 percent of the public who place themselves on the "conservative side." Twenty-nine percent of the journalists described themselves as moderate compared to 38 percent of the public who said they were "in between." Another indicator of political orientation is party preference. We included a question in our survey of journalists which asked: "Do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or w h a t ? " and listed seven alterna-. tives ranging from strong Democrat to strong Republican. Table 2 lists the complete breakdown for the
23
"It is quite clear that compared to the general public the politics of the journalists in our sample is disproportionately liberal and Democratic."
24 journalists and c o m p a r e s t h e m to a Gallup Poll o f the general public which included o n l y three alternatives, D e m o c r a t , . Republican, or I n d e p e n d e n t . The c o m p a r i s o n indicates that the journalists are considerably m o r e likely than the general public to think of themselves as D e m o c r a t s , considerably less likely to think o f themselves as I n d e p e n d e n t s , and a b o u t equally likely to think of themselves as Republicans. A l t h o u g h the Gallup and B u s i n e s s F o r u m questions were phrased d i f f e r e n t l y , it does appear that the journalists' p a r t y p r e f e r e n c e is m o r e heavily Democratic than the public's preference. Table 2 Expressed Party Preference, Journalists
and the Public (percent)
Democrat Independent Republican
Journalist I
Public2
61 19 20
45 29 26
1. Question: Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or what? (Strong Democrat; Democrat; Independent, closer to Democrat; Independent; Independent, closer to Republican; Republican; Strong Republican; other party). Democrat and Republican identifiers collapsed; other party calculated out. Source: 1982 Business Forum survey. 2. Question: In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent? Other and No opinion calculated out. Source: Survey by the Gallup Organization, Fourth Quarter, 1982.
T h e d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e preference of journalists for the Democratic p a r t y is reflected in their vote in presidential elections, as Table 3 indicates. And the difTable 3 Presidential Vote 1972, 1976, 1980 Journalists and Public (percent)
Journalist I
PubliJ
1972 Nixon McGovern
21 77
62 38
1976 Ford Carter
27 73
49 51
1980 Re agan Carter Anderson
25 51 24
52 42 7
1. Source: 1982 Business Forum survey. 2. Source: Statistical Abstract o f the United States, 1980. ferences are indeed remarkable. In 1972, o n l y 21 p e r c e n t o f the journalists v o t e d for N i x o n c o m p a r e d to 62 percent of the public. (The d i f f e r e n c e o f m o r e than 40 p e r c e n t is the greatest o f the three elections. Does this c o n f i r m the special a n i m o s i t y that is said to exist b e t w e e n N i x o n and the press?) In 1976, 27 p e r c e n t of the journalists r e p o r t e d voting for F o r d c o m p a r e d to 49 p e r c e n t of the public. In 1980, 25 p e r c e n t of the journalists v o t e d for Reagan c o m p a r e d to 52 percent o f the public. But not only did the journalists m o r e o f t e n vote
D e m o c r a t i c and less o f t e n v o t e Republican than the general public, t h e y also were m o r e than three and one-half times as likely to have v o t e d for J o h n A n d e r s o n . If, as s o m e have c o n t e n d e d , Anderson was the c a n d i d a t e of the new class, it appears that journalists m a y be a part of t h a t class. A t t i t u d e s T o w a r d Business t is quite clear that c o m p a r e d to the general public, the politics of the journalists in o u r sample is d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y liberal and D e m o c r a t i c , a finding t h a t is consistent with the few o t h e r existing studies. 6 T h e n e x t q u e s t i o n is h o w the politics of journalists relate to their a t t i t u d e s t o w a r d business. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , the items on business and e c o n o m i c policy included in the B u s i n e s s F o r u m survey have n o t been a d m i n i s t e r e d in any public opinion polls o f which we are aware. T h e result is t h a t we c a n n o t directly c o m p a r e the attitudes of journalists and the public on these items. If a direct c o m parison were possible, we w o u l d e x p e c t that the c o m p a r a t i v e l y liberal and D e m o c r a t i c journalists w o u l d also be c o m p a r a t i v e l y critical o f business. We can test this
I
6. John W.C. Johnstone et. al., The News People (Chicago: University of lllinois Press, 1976): 92-9B; Stephen Hess, The Washhigton Reporters (Washington, D.C.: The Brooldngs Instutition, 1981): 115; and S. Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman, "Media and Business Elites," Public Opinion, October-November 1961: 42-46, 59-60.
The Politics of the Press
Table 4 Political Self-Identification and A t t i t u d e on Business and E c o n o m i c Policy A Political I.D. 1. For all its faults, capitalism works best. 2. Regulation is a major cause of productivity decline. 3. To avoid public harm, industry must be regulated. 4. Reagan's policies will b e n e f i t the wealthy and not hurt the poor. 5. Take big corporations out of private ownership. 6. Social responsibility requires public scrutiny and oversight. 7. To compete, U.S. e c o n o m y needs e c o n o m i c planning. 8. Wage and price controls are best remedy for chronic inflation. 9. Political democracy is impossible in absence of free enterprise. 10. Profits frequently made at e x p e n s e o f average worker. 11. Political self-identification, liberal to conservative. 12. Social interests and profit interests increasingly divergent. hypothesis indirectly, however, by comparing journalists of different political orientations. What we should find is that the more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to be critical of business. Table 4 lists the correlations b e t w e e n political self-identification or ideology and a t t i t u d e on several issues relating to business and economic policy. As m e n t i o n e d above, of the nineteen items relating to domestic business and economic policy included in the survey, all but five were significantly related to political ideology. The first nine listed in Table 4 are those with a g a m m a of plus or minus .4 or greater. As can be inferred from the gammas for items one and nine in c o l u m n A, political ideology appears to be related to d o u b t s about the efficacy of capitalism. There is a high correlation ( r = - . 7 3 6 ) b e t w e e n political liberalism and disagreement with the statement, " F o r all its faults, capitalism or the private m a r k e t econo-
B Business
Influence
(r)
(r)
--.736
N.S.
--.629
--.367
.610
.500
.584
.668
.531
.530
.517
.326
.485
.344
.470
.444
--.406
N.S.
.337
.611
--
.569
.385
.434
m y works better than any economic system yet devised." Item nine reports a negative correlation ( r = -.406) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, "Political d e m o c r a c y would be impossible in the absence of free enterprise." Thus it appears that political ideology is related to estimates about the performance of capitalism as well as its relation to political d e m o c r a c y . The more liberal the respondent, the more likely he is to have d o u b t s on b o t h counts. Political ideology is related n o t only to beliefs about the efficacy of capitalism b u t also to beliefs a b o u t the need for regulation. There is a strong correlation ( r = .610) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " T o avoid ~arm to the public, industry must be closely regulated by gove r n m e n t . " There is also a strong correlation ( r = .517) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " T h e only way to as-
sure that businesses act in a socially responsible fashion is to have vastly increased public scrutiny and oversight of corporate decision m a k i n g . " Political liberalism is thus related to belief in the necessity for increased g o v e r n m e n t intervention into the e c o n o m y . A third pattern relates to the consequences of government intervention in the econ'omy. The more liberal the respondent, the more likely he is to believe that governm e n t intervention in the e c o n o m y will have beneficial consequences. There is, for example, a very strong negative relationship ( r = - - . 6 2 9 ) b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " A major cause of the decline of U.S. productivity is excessive government regulation." There is also a strong relationship between liberalism and agreement with the statement, "Big corporations should be taken o u t of private ownership and run in the public interest" ( r = .531) Item 7 shows the strong correlation b e t w e e n liberalism and agreem e n t with the statement, " I f the U.S. e c o n o m y is ever to c o m p e t e effectively with such economic powers as J a p a n and West Germany, some form of national economic planning must be developed" ( r = .485). There is also a strong relationship b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, " T h e best way to halt chronic inflation in the U.S. is b y instituting comprehensive wage and price c o n t r o l s " ( r = . 4 7 0 ) . Finally, there is a strong relation b e t w e e n liberalism and agreement with the statement, "President Reagan's economic policies will disproportionately benefit wealthy individuals and large corporations and do little to help the p o o r " ( r = .584). Estimates
of Business
Influence
Next note c o l u m n B in Table 4. This c o l u m n correlates estimates o f , business influence with the statements listed in the left hand column. To determine the respon-
25
"It appears that journalists' political liberalism has two components" one, the belief in the relatively beneficient effects of government intervention and the other the great actual influence of business which, if unchecked, results in harm to the public." 26 dent's estimate of business influence, we included the following item: "Listed below are several important groups and institutions in American sociefy. On a scale of 1 (a great deal of influence) to 5 (very little influence), rate each according to how much influence they actually have." Note that the gammas for the influence item parallel, but are not identical to, those for political ideology. That is, there is a high correlation between political liberalism and the belief that business has a great deal of influence. Item 11, which correlates the two, yields a gamma of .569. Thus the more liberal the respondent, the more likely he is to have a high estimate of business's actual influence. Although, as will be shown below, estimates of business influence and political ideology are not identical factors, it does a p p e a r that a significant component of the political ideology dimension for journalists is their estimate of the amount of influence or power business has. Comparing the correlations in columns A and B in Table 4, it appears that journalists' political liberalism has two components: one, the belief in the relatively beneficient effects of government intervention and the other the great actual influence of business which, if unchecked, results in harm to the public. This conjunction gives an ideological basis for an expanded government role in. the economy.
Note, however, that political ideology and estimate of business influence are not identical factors. When we correlate the same nineteen variables with influence, while controlling for political ideology, most of the correlations disappear. The two that remain are highly significant, however. There is a partial correlation of .301 between business influence and agreement with the statement, "It is frequently tile case in this country that the profits of business are made at the expense of the average worker," and a partial correlation of .305 between influence and Table 5 Presidential Vote by Ideology and Business Influence
Vote 1972 1976 1980
Controlling Ideology Influence for Ideology
(r)
(r)
(R)
.902 .779 .615
.781 .729 .486
.268 .290 N.S.
agreement with the statement, "President Reagan's economic policies will disproportionately benefit wealthy individuals and large corporations and do little to help the p o o r . " In both instances we may infer that, independent of political ideology, those individuals who estimate business influence as highest are most likely to believe that that influence is exerted to the detriment of less powerful groups in society.
Note, finally, that there not only is a strong correlation between political ideology and presidential vote but also between vote and estimate of business influence. Table 5 summarizes the relationships to presidential vote in the 1972, 1976, and 1980 elections. In each of the elections the relationship is quite strong, although somewhat weaker for business influence than for ideology. More importantly, however, the relationship between business influence and vote obtains when we control for political ideology, with a partial correlation of .280 in the 1972 election, and .271 in the 1976 election. The 1980 vote, in which a substantial number of journalists reported voting for Anderson, is not significant, however. Factor Analysis Another way of examining the attitudes of journalists toward business is through factor analysis. Table 6 lists the loadings on the two principal factors. The first is what may be called a "political" factor. The variables that load most highly on this factor are presidential vote, attitude toward Reaganomics, political ideology, business influence, and attitude toward regulation. One would expect vote, political ideology, and Reaganomics to load on the same factor. What is surprising is that business i n f u e n c e and regulation as a cause of productivity decline
The Politics of the Press
Table 6 Factor Analysis I "Political" Factor (55.7% of variance)
"Economic" Factor (14.9% of variance)
1972 Presidential vote
.741
.657
1976 Presidential vote
.721
Increasingly, real interests of society and profit interests of business divergent
Reagan's polities will wealthy and large corporations, not poor
.702
Frequently profits made at of average worker
.648
Modern marketing techniques
.609
benefit
expense
1980 Presidential vote
.675
Political ideology
.584
Business influence
.478
Excessive regulation a major cause of productivity declines
--.401
p r o m o t e excessive
commercialism To avoid public harm, industry must be closely regulated
.425
Profit and loss only concern of most business execu fives
.418
Corporate social responsibility requires vastly increased public scrutiny
.408
1. The SPSS factor analysis program with the PA2 factoring method was employed. The number of factors was not limited.
also load on t h a t factor. This association m a y be explained by r e m e m b e r i n g that the Democratic party and liberalism are associated with defense of the disadvantaged and o p p o s i t i o n to the advantaged. The more powerful business is perceived to be, the more likely it is to be viewed as advantaged. Similarly, the more powerful business is perceived to be, the less likely regulation will be viewed as hampering its efficiency and causing productivity decline. The second factor relates more specifically to business and economic policy and m a y be called an " e c o n o m i c " factor. Items 1, 2, 3, and 5 relate to the n o t i o n that profit does not equal the public interest, items 4 and 6 to the n o t i o n t h a t the disjunction between profit and the public interest must be resolved t h r o u g h increased government regulation and public scrutiny.
Conclusions of the Survey he sample of journalists in the Business Forum survey are much more liberal and Democratic in their politics than the general public. This liberalism is closely related to attitudes toward business: like the public, the more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to be critical of business. Since journalists are more liberal t h a n the public, we may infer that t h e y are also more critical o f business. Factor analysis suggests that this criticism has two dimensions. The first is distinctly political. Political liberalism and Democratic partisanship traditionally are associated with advocacy of those groups and individuals perceived to be s o m e h o w disadvantaged. Advocates of the disadvantaged o f t e n believ~ that progress can be m a d e only at the expense of the advantaged, usually perceived as part of
T
the established order. Business, particularly big business, epitomizes the advantaged establishment. Thus it is not surprising that attitudes toward business are highly politicized. Neither is it surprising that liberalism is associated with high estimates of business influence. A n d the more powerful one believes business to be, the less likely one is to believe that government regulation is "excessive" and leads to productivity decline. " R e a g a n o m i c s , " which emphasizes economic growth over redistribution by means of income tax reductions, decreased spending on domestic programs, and reduced business regulation, is a conservative and Republican agenda and engenders more opposition the more liberal the journalist. The other factor, which was called the " e c o n o m i c " factor, related more specifically to business and economic policy. The items on this factor seemed to relate to the perceived disjunction between the interests of business and the public and the necessity of government regulation to make these interests more consistent. It is obvious that the political and economic factors are closely related. Both assume that business is a significant and advantaged part of the establishment, and b o t h assume t h a t if the interests of the disadvantaged and the public are to be furthered, business power or influence must be curtailed. Hence the criticism of business. An explanation of the attitudes of journalists toward business does not, of course, prove a n y t h i n g about the c o n t e n t of business news coverage. Journalists m a y be more critical of business t h a n the general public, and the more liberal the journalist, the more critical he m a y be, but if, and to what degree, these attitudes are reflected in news copy c a n n o t be tested directly in this study. The study contains one item that i n d i r e c t l y , addresses this issue, however. Table
27
"The more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to think business news reporting is not critical enough."
28 7 displays responses to the statement, " I n general, business news r e p o r t i n g is not critical enough o f business." T h e m o r e liberal the r e s p o n d e n t the m o r e likely he is to agree with the s t a t e m e n t . F o r t y seven p e r c e n t of the m o s t liberal respondents expressed strong agreement c o m p a r e d to just 7 percent o f the m o r e conservative respondents. Only in the strongly disagree c o l u m n are the responses not significantly different. We can m a k e some inference a b o u t news c o n t e n t from Table 7. Although reporters are c o m m i t t e d to objective news reporting, h o w one perceives reality will be determined in part b y one's beliefs, attitudes, and values. Any given story a b o u t business may be perceived d i f f e r e n t l y d e p e n d i n g on one's a t t i t u d e t o w a r d business. If there is a differing p e r c e p t i o n of stories a b o u t business, there are also likely to be differing perceptions a b o u t the reality that forms the basis of the stories. The ideal of objectivity will assure that h o w facts are perceived is how t h e y will be r e p o r t e d . We w o u l d argue that response to Table 7 indicates that a process as described above actually does take place. T h e m o r e liberal the journalist, the m o r e likely he is to t h i n k business news r e p o r t i n g is not critical enough. The ideal o f objectivity encourages m o r e critical stories as one moves along the
ideology scale f r o m conservative to liberal. And since journalists as a w h o l e are m o r e liberal than tile general public, it is likely that business news in general is p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y m o r e critical. Business news r e p o r t i n g is bec o m i n g an increasingly specialized f u n c t i o n , with more and m o r e reporters assigned full t i m e to a business " b e a t . " A p p a r e n t l y on the t h e o r y that familiarity breeds respect, this has led to the belief b o t h within the business comm u n i t y and a m o n g journalists that business news reporters are more conservative and less critical of business than general assignment reporters. In our sample, for instance, 59 percent o f the journalists agreed either strongly or with reservations that, " I n general, business reporters t e n d to be m o r e conservative and favorably dis-
posed t o w a r d business t h a n tile general assignment reporters." A m o n g business reporters 67 percent expressed a g r e e m e n t compared to 54 p e r c e n t o f the general assigqament reporters. Yet w h e n we c o m p a r e tile responses of the two groups on the political and econ o m i c items included in the survey we find few statistically significant differences. The differences do, however, vary in the same direction, indicating that business reporters are indeed slightly m o r e conservative and favorably disposed t o w a r d business t h a n general assignment reporters. We m a y tentatively c o n c l u d e that as business news coverage has e x p a n d e d it has improved, at least f r o m the point of view o f business. H o w e v e r , business r e p o r t e r s remain considerably more liberal and critical o f business than the general public, not to
Table 7 Ideology by Business News Not Critical Enough of Business (row percent)
Strongly agree
Agree with reservations
Disagree with reservations
Strongly disagree
N
Far left/ very lib.
47
26
21
5
19
Some lib. Moderate Some/very
19 9 7
50 52 45
27 34 42
2 5 7
54 44 31
conserv.
x2 = .023 r = .309
The Politics of the Press
mention business executives, and we would expect their stories to reflect this orientation. titudes on business and ecoomic issues are highly politicized among both the public and journ,'dists. The more politically liberal the individual, the more likely he is to be critical of business and favor policies that would reduce its a u t o n o m y . Journalists, including business reporters, are not a political microcosm of the public but are considerably more liberal and critic,'d of business. To what degxee this criticism is reflected in their stories cannot be directly deter-
mined by the present study. The indirect evidence strongly suggests a link between ideology and news content: The more liberal the journalist, the more likely he is to believe that present news coverage is not critical enough of business. The inference is that the reporter who values o b j e c t i v i t y - w h o wishes to provide the public with the unvarnished truth-will write stories more critical of business if he believes they presently are not critical enough. The disproportionate liberalism of journalists, including business reporters, supports the contention of many business executives that the press has an antibusiness bias. To paraphrase
the title of a recent essay, the evidence indicates that journalists are prodrama and antibusiness. 7 The findings presented here should give some coherence to the conclusion derived from content analysis by helping to explain why events are reported the way they are. But to understand precisely how a reporter's paradigm influences his perception of reality and how that is translated into news content, further research is necessary. V--I 29 7. J. Herbert AltschuU, "Journalists Aren't Anti-Business-They're Just Pro-Drama," Business H o f f z o n s , September-October 1982: 2-6.