Was Coverage of the 1988 Presidential Race by Washington's Two Major Dailies Biased?

Abstract

A content analysis of stories and photographs about 30 events in the 1988 presidential campaign found that the Washington Post's coverage was balanced and neutral, but the Washington Times' coverage favored the Republicans. More than one-third of the Times' headlines and stories were biased, and each time, they were biased in favor of the Republicans. These findings are important because they support Shoemaker and Reese's theory of news content, which states that ownership and financing determine news content.