Does the 4th estate deliver?
Towards a more direct measure of political media bias
Publication date
2016
Document type
Working paper
Author
Other contributor
Organisational unit
Publisher
Universitätsbibliothek der HSU / UniBwH
Periodical volume
175
Periodical issue
116 (November 2016)
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Language
English
Abstract
This contribution introduces a new direct measure of political media bias by analyzing articles and newscasts with respect to the tonality on political parties and politicians. On this basis we develop an index sorting the media in the political left to right spectrum. We apply the index to opinion-leading media in Germany, analysing 7,203,351 reports on political parties and politicians in 35 media outlets from 1988 to 2012. With this approach, in contrast to other indexes, we are able to achieve a more direct and reliable measure of media bias. In addition, we apply the index to study whether the media fulfil their role as the fourth estate, i.e. provide another level of control for government, or whether there is evidence of government capture.
Version
Not applicable (or unknown)
Access right on openHSU
Metadata only access