Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore selective bias of news media toward organizational crisis responses in a political crisis. Based on the illegal fund raising crisis during the 16th presidential election in South Korea, the current study compared news coverage of one news media (a progressive predisposition) with news releases of two political parties (government party vs. opposition party) in terms of crisis response strategies by using Benoit’s image restoration theory. The findings showed that the opposition party’s crisis response covered by the news media were different from those of news releases provided by its own party. On the other hand, the government party’s crisis response covered by the news media accorded with its news releases. Thus, a political disposition of both two parties and the newspaper contributes to the selective news coverage on party’s crisis responses in a crisis, which is called “selective bias.”