Definition

During George W. Bush's first presidency, conservative writers Ann Coulter and Bernard Goldberg published books accusing the U.S. mainstream media of liberal bias. Liberal writer Al Franken replied with a book that denied liberal media bias and claimed that the same news outlets had right-wing economic and editorial leanings. Contradictory media critiques are also found in international political conflicts from the Middle East to Bosnia. The hostile media bias phenomenon happens when opposed groups of political partisans judge the same nonpartisan news coverage as biased against themselves.

History and Modern Usage

In a typical lab study of hostile media bias, people recruited from opposing groups in an issue (e.g., the Arab–Israeli conflict) watch news coverage of that issue, then make judgments of its bias. Survey research ...

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