Political Bias

Political bias is the bias or manipulation of information to favor a particular political position, party or candidate, a concept closely tied to media bias and most visibly studied in how journalists, broadcasters and news organizations choose to present political figures and policy issues. The bias can emerge from a difficulty in genuinely understanding or representing an opposing viewpoint, and while its roots are sometimes traced to personality traits and cognitive styles, research finds no single part of the political spectrum is inherently more prone to it than any other. Political bias is not confined to formal news coverage; it also runs through the ordinary interactions and reading choices people make day to day, and because it shapes how individuals process political information, it carries real influence over voter behavior and political outcomes. The concept also carries a built-in paradox: naming a piece of political coverage as biased already presumes a standard of political neutrality the coverage was expected to meet, so labeling bias is itself a value-laden act, capable of introducing further bias into the very discussion of bias.