The Messenger Overwhelming the Message: Ideological Source Cues and
Perceptions of Bias in Television News
Joel F. Turner, Jr.
Public opinion surveys have consistently demonstrated that a large number of
citizens perceive an ideological bias within television news media (Pew 1997; 2000;
ASNE 1998; Gallup 2003). For many Americans the two television news outlets that are
the epitome of this bias are CNN and Fox News Channel, who according to Nielsen
1
overnight and quarterly ratings are consistently the two most popular twenty-four hour
news networks. While surprisingly little work has been done on this issue, preliminary
evidence demonstrates that at least one-third of the American public perceive CNN and
Fox News Channel as being ideologically biased, with most respondents perceiving CNN
as representing a liberal viewpoint and Fox News Channel as being overtly conservative
(American Newspaper Editors Society, 2003). Given the well-established role of the
news media as political informant to the American public, it is important to evaluate what
problems this perceived ideological bias possibly presents regarding how people process
television news.
Because people appear to perceive CNN and Fox News Channel as biased, there
is a real risk that the widespread view that these (and perhaps other) media outlets are
biased could be a substantial obstacle to informing the American public. It may be the
case that attaching the “CNN” and “Fox News Channel” labels to news stories is virtually
the equivalent of sending ideological signals to the viewer. Knowing a story is from one
of those networks may send signals or cues to the viewer regarding the ideological nature
of the news content, which could lead to perceptions of bias and create roadblocks to
1
Depending on when and in what manner one examines the ratings, either network could be in first and
second place. However, both consistently outpace their competitors.
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