The Impact of Biases on the Reportorial and Editorial Processes in American Newsrooms

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Swift, Megan
Area of Honors:
Journalism
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Maggie Messitt, Thesis Supervisor
John R Affleck, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Journalism
Bias
New York Times
The Daily Collegian
Editor-in-Chief
Student Journalist
American Newsrooms
Media Bias
Case Studies
The Tribune-Review
Casper Star-Tribune
Houston Chronicle
Chicago Sun-Times
Illinois Answers Project
Partisan Bias
Politics
Source New Mexico
Nevada Current
Sports Illustrated
Penn State
Abstract:
In “The Impact of Biases on the Reportorial and Editorial Processes in American Newsrooms,” Swift explores the idea of media bias and its implications on eight editors and reporters from newsrooms across the United States. Based on extensive interviews, Swift investigates six forms of media bias and their impact by using Table 1, “Automated identification of media bias in news articles: an interdisciplinary literature review,” as a framework for assessment. She argues for an established set of guidelines for reporters and editors to address the following types of bias — event selection, source selection, commission and omission, labeling and word choice, story placement and size allocation, and overall spin. As the 2022-23 editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian, she provides guidelines to identify the ways in which Penn State’s longstanding independent newspaper, as well as other newsrooms, can integrate possible solutions into their journalistic procedures moving forward to mitigate and/or eliminate media bias in their reportorial and editorial processes.