By Michael Swanger, Bethany Kohoutek, Brenda Fullick

“I think what’s misunderstood about objectivity as a standard is that it does not require the journalist to be a blank slate. But it does require you to manage your biases.”

Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar, Poynter institute

It’s election season, again, which means allegations of media bias are as commonplace as attack ads, yard signs and bumper stickers. But are they founded or merely perceived?

With the Nov. 7 elections less than a week away, political candidates are stumping at a hurried pace, rallying constituents to “get out the vote” and pressing the flesh of undecided voters in hopes of winning their races. Part of that final push includes getting as much “ink,” “face time” and “air time” as possible with the local media.

For some candidates and their supporters — including those who wake up Nov. 8 on the losing side — anything less than “full cooperation” from the press is perceived as media bias, while others point to the one story in an election cycle that didn’t portray their candidates in a favorable light as slanted reporting.

And though there are plenty of unscientific surveys and polls of journalists and their bosses to satisfy pundits on both sides of the political aisle, few can dispute that there is a rising tide of public distrust over the media’s ability to report political news fairly. But why is that?

Professional canons of journalistic ethics were created with the assumption that it’s impossible for a journalist to be totally objective, says Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at the Poynter Institute.

“I think what’s misunderstood about objectivity as a standard is that it does not require the journalist to be a blank slate,” Clark says. “But it does require you to manage your biases.”

Clark argues that the biggest problem isn’t in the way individual stories are handled, but in the way stories are chosen in the first place.

For instance, a reporter who’s generally in favor of gay marriage may be more inclined to focus on stories showing gays in a positive light, such as gay partners adopting hard-to-adopt children, he says. A gay-friendly reporter is less likely to talk about the divorce rate among gay couples.

One solution to this puzzle has always been to resort to a partisan press, openly declaring your biases, Clark says. But he contends that a higher virtue is found among the journalists who are able to report so fairly that readers can’t tell where their biases are.

Political leaders from the Republican and Democrat parties of Iowa say the local media do a fair job of covering of politics.

“We’re pretty fortunate in this state because I can’t point... in a partisan way to any media bias,” says Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer and Democrat activist. “You can talk to Democrats who complain about certain outlets and the same is true for Republicans, but there’s no statewide trend of bias that plays against either side.”

And, even when there is a perceived bias, Crawford says, it isn’t enough to keep a candidate from talking to a particular news outlet.

“I don’t recall a campaign decision that was made based on perception of bias anywhere,” he says. “It speaks volumes considering the number of media outlets here with unique personalities.”

Sarah Sauber, communications director for the Republican Party of Iowa, concurs. “Some stories tilt against us, but overall the media is pretty fair,” she says.

Sauber says the Republican Party encourages its candidates to talk to print, radio and television reporters — even participate in Internet chat rooms — and not favor one over the other, though she adds that radio is the optimum outlet for expressing their views because of its direct nature.

“Sometimes candidates like to talk to radio people because they’re unedited,” she says. “If you talk to a reporter, your comments can be edited.”

Still, the public wants to know: Do reporters’ personal political affiliations have an impact on a media outlet’s perceived bias? Certainly, an “R” or a “D” parked behind one’s name does not automatically signal an inability to report fairly. Nonetheless (and just because we were curious), Cityview submitted the names of nearly 100 local media personalities in television, radio and print to the Polk County election office to ascertain their individual party affiliations (which is public record). Those names that the county election office did not turn up, we submitted to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, which keeps a wider database of voter information. We were able to find information for almost 80 people.

The Secretary of State’s office warned that without a driver’s license or a date of birth, it “cannot guarantee that the information is correct due to the fact that there may be more than one person with the same name. …” That’s why some familiar names don’t appear below. There are nine John Carlsons (one of whom is a Register columnist) and 20 Mike Wilsons (one of whom is KDSM FOX-TV’s general manager) in Polk County alone. In other cases, TV personalities might assume on-air pseudonyms, or vote using married names.

We also interviewed station managers, radio hosts, and print journalists and editors to ascertain their thoughts on this perceived media bias. Is it a problem? If so, who is responsible for it? Perhaps most importantly, how does a news organization safeguard against it?

Newspapers

When David Yepsen — who is perhaps the most widely read political commentator in the state — began his career as a journalist, he vowed not to vote in elections. He believed, at the time, that the act would compromise his ability to report as objectively as possible on political news.

Some time in the early ’80s, Yepsen, The Des Moines Registers’ political columnist, changed his mind. He can’t recall exactly the issue that instigated his change of heart and prompted him to the polls, but he’s cast a ballot in nearly every election since then (except in primaries, as he’s unaffiliated with any political party). And while he maintains respect for other writers who choose not to vote, he believes that good journalists can exercise a fundamental civic duty without compromising their professional integrity.

“I changed because I think that I can decide on Election Day who I’m for without prejudicing my report,” he says. “I don’t give up my rights as a citizen because of my job.”

Still, the issue of media bias is “a sticky thing,” Yepsen says. While the Register, like most mainstream newspapers, has a code of ethics that asks employees to refrain from posting political yard signs on their property or donating money to campaigns or partisan organizations, the black-and-white pages of newsprint are full of subtle gray areas that defy easy categorization, from the personal political affiliations of reporters to a paper’s election endorsements. (Register Publisher Mary Stier refused to comment for this story, and Carolyn Washburn, the paper’s editor, did not respond.)

“What about a gay-rights parade?” Yepsen offers, as an example. “Who can march in that, and who shouldn’t? What about spouses? Maybe I don’t want to put a yard sign in my yard, but my wife does.…

“If I’m covering the Legislature and a gay-rights debate, I probably shouldn’t be out in the parade,” he says, adding that other employees — such as feature writers or those who work on the loading dock — usually have a wider berth.

Connie Wimer, publisher of the Des Moines Business Record, says her publication does not enforce a bias policy, simply because she has not had a problem with politically prejudiced employees. Wimer, a registered Democrat who says she’s never voted straight-ticket, says she does not ask her editorial staffers about their political affiliations. According to Cityview’s analysis of voter-registration data, the Business Record’s upper-level editorial team has on no registered Republicans, which Wimer says surprises her.

And yet, Yepsen stresses that media bias hinges upon more than simply a reporter’s or editor’s voter-registration card, or the tone of the letters-to-the-editor accusing a paper of leaning R or D. Bias rears its head in subtler ways: For example, in the events a newspaper deems newsworthy versus those it ignores; in the specific wording of a headline; in the kind of placement a story receives — is it given front-page, above-the-fold treatment, or is it buried beneath “Dear Abby”?

Campaign endorsements, which many Iowa newspapers issue before major elections, is one area that separates print media from its peers on television and radio.

Paul Frederickson, KCCI-TV general manager, says he read “with great interest” a recent column by Des Moines Register Editorial Page Editor Carol Hunter explaining the paper’s endorsement in Iowa’s gubernatorial race.

“I completely understand why the print media feels the need to endorse a candidate, but we would never do that,” he says. “And I don’t recall any television station having done that.”

Jim Boyer, WHO-TV president and general manager, concurs. One reason TV stations don’t issue endorsements is because they are regulated by the government, he says. And even if they weren’t, he wouldn’t choose to endorse, he adds.

“Newspapers early on were created to push the political agenda of the owner,” he says. “It’s become a long tradition.”

Regardless of the modern extent of such bias, Boyer is correct about the history of print media. America’s founding fathers themselves aided in the creation of newspapers designed solely as bullhorns for their personal agendas. The partisan politics pumped out
by the presses of yesteryear — like the Whig party’s National Gazette and the Federalists’ Porcupine Gazette — would put today’s mudslinging campaign ads to shame.

Yepsen agrees that endorsements are a part of newspapers’ history, but he says it’s “appropriate” for the medium. After all, newspapers regularly display opinions on their editorial pages. (Although some readers might not agree, Yepsen says it’s no secret that the Register “clearly” tips leftward; its editorials, he says, are anti-Iraq-war, pro-gay rights and pro-choice.)
“I see some of the local newspapers in Iowa that endorse and others that don’t. It’s just the prerogative of the editor. I think we all make too much out of them. … The primary function of newspaper endorsements is to re-enforce the bias people already have. … I don’t think it changes your mind.”

As for the Business Record, Wimer says the paper does not endorse candidates, and “it is unusual for us to write about anything political.”

For any publication, complete impartiality among reporters is impossible, Yepsen says. But every attempt should be made to remain “dispassionate and objective.”

“I’m a middle-aged, white male, born and raised in small-town Iowa,” Yepsen says. “I have certain biases and prejudices that would be different than a young, urban, black woman who grew up in Detroit.

“We look at the world differently. A good news organization has lots of different sets of eyeballs. That is why I believe in diversity in the newsroom. It’s not political correctness; it’s good business.”

Television

If public feedback fuels the perception that local print media leans to the left and local radio stations lean to the right in their political coverage, then Des Moines television stations must enjoy a middle-of-the-road status based on the lack of viewer complaints, right? Though public feedback is not a conclusive means to determine a news outlet’s ability to cover politics without bias, it is a good start, local television executives say.

Cityview interviewed the general managers of all four local television news stations — KCCI-TV Channel 8, WHO-TV Channel 13, WOI-TV Channel 5 and KDSM FOX 17 — all of whom claimed they have received few or no complaints this election season from viewers about their coverage, including their own stories or broadcasts of debates. Each credited his news directors, anchors and reporters for their fairness and accuracy. And though some stations have policies in place to safeguard against any perceived biases for their on-air and off-air employees — including no yard signs, no campaigning on behalf of candidates, etc. — none of the general managers interviewed for this story claimed to know or care about their staff’s political affiliations, citing personal freedom rights and a system of checks and balances in the newsroom that would weed out any potential conflicts.

“This market is fortunate that all the television stations take that responsibility of fair coverage seriously,” says Ray Cole, WOI-TV general manager. “I’ve never asked any employee I’ve hired what their political persuasion was because they’re entitled to their views as citizens, though they’re not allowed to reflect their positions in their work. We monitor our product on a daily basis, whether it’s political or non-political stories, and I’m comfortable there aren’t any biases in our reporting.”
Paul Frederickson, who has worked for 33 years at KCCI-TV and serves as its general manager, says if a viewer complains that a story wasn’t balanced, it’s because “nine times out of 10” the reporter was unable to get the other side’s rebuttal. “They’ve either refused to speak to us or we were unable to reach them,” he says. “But we make every effort to get their side.”

Jim Boyer, WHO-TV president and general manager, says the public likes to complain about media bias in general terms, but citing specific examples is another story. He says during his 35 years of work in television, he has never had to reprimand a reporter for any alleged biases. “If you’ve got a bad apple, which is possible, you find them and root them out,” he says. “Our staffs are so small, however, that they’re covering different beats every day, so it would be difficult for a reporter to insert their bias into their story. If they did, they would get called on it.”

Boyer cites WHO-TV’s well-publicized handling of anchorwoman Erin Kiernan as an example of the lengths it goes to in preventing perceived biases. Kiernan is the wife of Des Moines City Councilman Michael Kiernan and is not allowed to report on her husband, City Hall or the city council. “It’s simple; she just can’t do it,” he says.

Mike Wilson, KDSM FOX 17 general manager, says local television stations like his are careful to avoid favoritism, though he adds there’s a growing trend in which companies that own media operations express their political views.

Case in point, he says: Some viewers think KDSM is affiliated with FOX News, though the station carries only its prime time lineup. KDSM also airs Mark Hyman’s “The Point,” a one-minute syndicated conservative editorial, each night during its 9 p.m. newscast. Wilson says all television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, like KDSM, are required to air it.

“Those segments aren’t part of the broadcast,” he says. “They’re inside the news time slot, but listed as guest commentary.”

Being fair and balanced is not only ethical, it’s downright profitable for television stations. Last week, WHO-TV reported that third parties campaigning on behalf of gubernatorial candidates Chet Culver and Jim Nussle — as well as the candidates themselves — spent more than $1 million to advertise their campaigns.

But profit margins, all four general managers say, aren’t the underlying motivators for a station to provide balanced coverage. WOI-TV, for example, donates five minutes of airtime to candidates seeking election to the Iowa Senate, House and governor’s chair. Cole says this is the fourth consecutive election cycle in which the station has done so.

“The rules are that they talk about why they should be elected and not talk about their opponent,” he says, “to address viewers beyond a sound bite in a story. Our hope is that it will raise the level of political discourse. When you’re providing that amount of fairly balanced coverage, it defuses any charge that suggests we’re slanted.”

Even though stations — like print and radio — go to great lengths to ensure fairness, Frederickson says you can’t convince everyone, no matter how hard you try.

“Sometimes perceptions are out there, and perception can be reality,” he says. “It’s a tough job day in and day out.”

Radio

Iowa’s public radio stations make a point of being as nonpartisan as possible, says Wayne Jarvis, director of network operations at Iowa Public Radio and general manager at KUNI/KHKE. Everyone on the staff “is very aware of the fundamentals of journalistic ethics,” he says.

Jarvis says he doesn’t know the political persuasions of the Iowa Public Radio staff, but regardless, it isn’t an issue. “I think that as a group of people, we’re very, very concerned about questions of fairness. … I think people come in with the idea that we’re here to report the news, not be part of it.”

It’s a different story at WHO 1040-AM, a conservative media voice in Central Iowa. But program director and host Van Harden feels confident that the station is able to separate news from opinion, keeping news reporting unbiased while letting the hosts run free on their talk shows, attracting audiences in whatever ways they can.

The station’s news reporting is nonpartisan, and there are no company policies necessary on political affiliations for the news staff, Harden says. “That’s never, ever been an issue.”

But the talk-show hosts are openly conservative, a bent that serves the people who have felt that they weren’t getting the full story from other media, Harden says. “A lot of them have felt that there was a liberal bias in the mainstream media in the past.”

After all, radio is a business, and stations make money by attracting listeners to hear advertising along with the local programming.

“That’s the whole goal of the radio business, to get as many people to listen to the radio for as long a period as possible,” Harden says. “Nationwide, unequivocally, the conservatives tend to listen to the radio a lot more than liberals do.”

Sauber, of the Republican Party of Iowa, says Republican candidates are more comfortable talking to conservative talk show hosts like WHO’s Steve Deace and Jan Mickelson, though not so much as some people might think.

“I think there’s that perception because some radio shows are a little more Republican-friendly, like Rush Limbaugh. You don’t have to present both sides, and you can state your views,” she says. “But it’s not just a Republican outlet. Our candidates appear on Steve Deace and Jan Mickelson’s shows because they appreciate going into that environment. But [the talk-show hosts are] also not afraid to tell our candidates where they went wrong.”

Does that help determine where Republican candidates spend their advertising dollars?

“I think if we spend money during their shows, it’s because that’s when your voters might be listening,” she says. “It’s more about reaching your audience.”

For whatever reason, liberal talk shows generally have not been successful in this country. Radio America, the big new progressive radio network that featured liberal voices like Al Franken, declared bankruptcy in October. Meanwhile, conservative radio voices like Michael Reagan and Limbaugh draw in the listeners, as do local conservative personalities like Mickelson.

Deace has a theory that conservativism plays better on radio, whereas liberalism plays better on TV.

It’s easier for liberals to evoke sympathies for emotional issues with visual images, he says, whereas it’s easier to fire people up about theoretical concepts, like school prayer, on the radio.

Deace says local conservatives feel ignored by the “Locust Street Liar” and certainly don’t feel that Cityview represents them, either (though the talk show host used to write a column for this newspaper). However, he says, “I don’t ever hear anybody complaining about the broadcast media bias.”

With his new talk show, Deace is trying to reach Central Iowans who are socially conservative, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. He hopes to speak to the middle-class African-American family, South Side Democrats and people who are white Christian evangelicals like he is.

As Deace sees it, social conservatives are totally ignored by this country’s socially liberal, politically conservative media. Social conservatives “are really the counterculture nowadays,” he says.

Deace argues that what people need from the media in the Des Moines market goes beyond the party labels of Democrat or Republican. “I think that’s simplistic. I think it’s much deeper than that,” he says.

In Central Iowa, there’s not enough reporting on difficult issues like the school drop-out rate in Des Moines, Deace maintains. Meanwhile, the Metro has a concentration of power, with the same handful of families running the show just like they have for more than 50 years, Deace argues, and too little reporting exposes those connections. “Everybody’s exchanged everybody’s money.”

Deace says he’s been called disloyal by certain Republican listeners when he doesn’t necessarily follow the standard party line. He says he’s trying to create a true exchange of information that has been missing in this market — and that has nothing to do with whether the media outlets are Democratic or Republican.

“Gutlessness knows no party label,” Deace says. CV

Political affiliations of local media personalities

WOI-TV Channel 5
Christopher Flanagan, anchor: no party
Lisa Lovell, anchor: no party
Bobbi Bergman, anchor: Republican
Stephanie Angleson, anchor: Republican
Kristen Cullen, reporter: Democrat
Elizabeth Erwin, reporter: Republican
Jay Villwock, reporter: Democrat
Ray Cole, president and general manager: Republican

WHO-TV Channel 13
John Bachman, anchor: Democrat
Erin Kiernan, anchor: no party
Trisha Shepherd, anchor: no party
Patrick Dix, anchor and reporter: no party
Courtney Greene, anchor: Democrat
Dan Winters, anchor: no party
Lynn Melling, anchor and reporter: no party
Jim Boyer, president and general manager: no party

KCCI-TV Channel 8
Kevin Cooney, anchor: Democrat
Stacey Horst, anchor: Republican
Mollie Cooney, anchor: Republican
Cynthia Fodor, anchor: Democrat
Emily Givens, anchor: no party
Geoff Greenwood, reporter: no party
Eric Hanson, reporter: no party
Angie Hunt, reporter: no party
Steve Karlin, anchor and reporter: no party
Todd Magel, anchor and reporter: Republican
Marcus McIntosh, anchor: Democrat
Molly Nelson, reporter: Democrat
Michelle Parker, senior reporter: no party
Katie Piper, reporter: no party
Caitlyn Coyner, anchor: Democrat
Paul Fredericksen, general manager: Republican

KDSM-TV: Channel 17
Linsey Grams, anchor: Democrat
Cal Woods, news director: Democrat

WOW 98.3 FM
Michael McKoy, host of “Mac’s World”: Republican

99.1 FM
Ron Sorenson, general manager: Democrat
Preston Daniels, station overseer: Democrat
Des Moines Business Record Connie Wimer, publisher: Democrat
Janette Larkin, assistant publisher: Democrat
Marilyn “Beth” Dalbey, editorial director: Democrat
Jim Pollack, managing editor: no party
Joe Gardyasz, senior staff writer: Democrat

Iowa Public Radio
Wayne Jarvis, general manager and program director: Republican
Cynthia Browne: no party
Todd Mundt, director of content and media: no party
Jeneane Beck, statehouse correspondent: unable to find record of registration
Joyce Russell, statehouse correspondent: Democrat
Dean Borg, reporter and host: unable to find record of registration
Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa news director: unable to find record of registration

Associated Press
Mike Glover, senior political writer (also a host on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press”): no party

WHO Newsradio 1040 AM
Joel McCrea, station manager: republican
Steve Deace, host: no party
Jan Mickelson, host: no party
Bonnie Lucas, host: Republican
Van Harden, program director and host: Republican

Des Moines Register
Mary Stier, publisher: no party
Carolyn Washburn, editor: no party
Randy Brubaker, managing editor: no party
David Yepsen, political columnist: no party
Marc Hansen, columnist: no party
Jason Clayworth, reporter: Democrat
Carol Hunter, editorial page editor: no party
Rekha Basu, columnist: no party
Bert Dalmer: Democrat
Richard Doak, reporter: no party
Clark Kauffman, reporter: no party
Thomas Beaumont, reporter: no party
Ken Fuson, reporter/ columnist: no party
Shirley Ragsdale, religion reporter: Republican

Cityview
Shane Goodman, publisher: no party
Michael Swanger, editor: no party

Bobbi Bergman WOI-TV Channel 5	Trisha Shepherd WHO-TV Channel 13	Patrick Dix WHO-TV Channel 13
Lynn Melling WHO-TV Channel 13	Kevin Cooney KCCI-TV Channel 8	Stacey Horst KCCI-TV Channel 8
Mollie Cooney KCCI-TV Channel 8	Cynthia Fodor KCCI-TV Channel 8	Marcus McIntosh KCCI-TV Channel 8
Linsey Grams KDSM-TV: Channel 17	Cal Woods KDSM-TV: Channel 17	Wayne Jarvis Iowa Public Radio
Todd Mundt Iowa Public Radio	Carolyn Washburn Des Moines Register	Dave Yespen Des Moines Register
	Shirley Ragsdale Des Moines Register

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