The Inferential Structure of Political Communications: A Study in Unwitting Bias

Abstract

Telecasters often assume an automatic reportorial accuracy when significant content is given full coverage. To test this hypothesis, the authors monitored the TV coverage of the 1952 Democratic Convention and found unwitting bias not “neutral” documentation characterized the reporting.

At the time this study was written, Gladys Engel Lang was Lecturer and Kurt Lang was Assistant Proffessor in the Sociology at the University of Miami in Florida. Proffessor Lang is now on the staff of the Bureau of Audience Research of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.