[MLUG - DISCUSSION] Hostile media or fair and balanced reporting?

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

This article is by the guy from UW-Madison that I told you about a while 
ago:

http://news.cals.wisc.edu/newsDisplay.asp?id=1022

You can see a different twist in this research.  He showed the same 
article to people on two sides of an issue and he either told them that 
the article was from a national newspaper or that it was from a college 
student essay.  When people were told that the article was written by a 
college student, they generally had no complaints.  When they were told 
that the article was from a newspaper, they felt that the article was 
unbiased only if they had no stake in the issue.  People who were partisan 
on the issue saw the article was biased against them, not against their 
opponents, but they did so only when told it was a newspaper article.

Read the URL above to get the whole story.

I think the meaning is pretty clear.  People react defensively against 
unbiased news reports that they think are harming them or their cause. 
Therefore, unsubstantiated claims of bias in the mainstream news media 
should be taken with a large grain of salt.

Mike
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