| Abstract [eng] |
Questions concerning the bias of media content and the role it plays in political process are important when discussing aspects of informa-quality and quantity. Bias by definition means that media content is deliberately - as opposed to accidentally - skewed. Media bias is intentional. There is little reason to describe one article per se as biased as a single report may be unbalanced or inaccurate. By its nature, bias is persistent over a period of time. The term, persistent, is intended to applied to longer periods of time (i.e. weeks, month, years, etc.) A bias can change because bias is in principle ideological (i.e. if the goals of a given media entity change, so may its bias). This article analyzes bias in national daily newspapers as they covered the Lithuanian presidential campaign in 2004. It assumes that unbiased reporting constitutes balanced reporting. The article presents research data where the amount of text and visual information are both measured. This information was published in every national daily newspaper during the election campaign and is specifically concerned with candidates. The information is evaluated in the article as whether its content was favourable, neutral or unfavourable to the campaign of a given candidate. The quantity of each candidate's advertising in newspapers during the campaign period is also measured. Results in the research show the level of bias in national daily newspapers during the presidential campaign and correlations between the amount of any given candidate s advertising and the degree of favourable, neutral and unfavourable information concerning that given candidate. In some cases of national daily newspapers Pearson correlations are statistically significant. |
