Bias, the Media, and Research on
Drug Use
(See: Drugs in American Society,
5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9theditions, Erich Goode, McGraw-Hill, 1999/2005/2008/2012/2014.
Chapter 5/6)
Is
there bias in the news media?
- Factual
bias:
- Does the media source
have the facts right?
- Information
sources
- Professional
standards (verification)
- Generalizability
- Selection
bias:
- Which
and what sort of facts are being presented?
- Objective
data
- Interpretive
data
- Analysis
Theories
of media bias
- Ruling
elitist theory: Depicts the media as a tool of
the dominant group
- Institutional
dominance
- Hegemony--the
media as a structural mechanism, operates, as all superstructural
elements, in the interests of the "status quo."
- Corporate
conspiracy
- Elite
control, and conscious operation, of media outlets-- in the interests
of the existing power structure.
- Money
machine
- The
bottom-line is profit:
- Profit may be tied
to ideological orientation (elite dominance), but typically not.
- Populist
theory
- The media caters to
the interests of the masses.
- Whatever draws mass
appeal is covered.
- Sensationalism
- Professional
Subculture theory
- Norms
and values of professional journalism
- verification
of sources
- accuracy
- human
interest
- target
audience
- Sort
of a conflict between objectivity and "selling the news."
Sensationalism
and drugs: relevant to all four theories.
- Diverts
attention away from structural issues (control people rather than change
social structures).
- Blood,
guts, sex, and drugs sell
- The
masses seem to love a "hot" story
- Dramatize
a story to "drive it home."
New
Drugs in the media
Reporter
wins Pulitzer prize for article on "Jimmy" the 8-year old heroin addict
(Washington Post, September 28, 1980). Turns out to be a fabrication.
- Do
8-year old addicts exist. Probably. How many--few.
- How
likely is it for addicts to encourage their children to shoot-up?
- Would
addicts give away heroin?
Crack related homicides
- Starts
in 1985 (media coverage)
- "Startling"
rise in crack-related murders by 1989
- Reported
as "random violence."
- Link
to "ruling elite theories" [issue of a government conspiracy to
a) distribute crack, and b) to use it as a way of deflecting attention away
from other issues]
- Link
to "money machine" issues and "populist" theories, too.
Research Issues
- Lying in social science
research
- People are surprisingly
honest
- Certainly, under-reporting
is a reality
- Relative accuracy,
and long-term trends.
- Sampling
- Representative samples
- Missing cases
- Statistics
- Descriptive (how
many, who, where, which)
- Inferential (correlations
and causality)
- Temporal element
- Logic and spurious
correlations
- Constants (control
variables)
- Examples
Sources:
Rates and Patterns
- Overall
Prevalence Rates (see MTF 2014)
- Lifetime
- Past year
- Past month
- Daily (20 out of 30
days)
- Continuance Rates
- User loyalty
- Drugs likely to be given
up
- Consumption Levels
- Amount and frequency
of use
- Cigarettes: 425 billion
consumed in 2001 (versus 85 billion drinks)
- Life-cycle rates
- Use linked to age
categories
- Aging out phenomenon
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Patterns
and Trends in Drug Use
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URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/180/mediabias_research.htm
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and
Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated:
Thursday, October 5, 2017 12:05