“Bogeyman terms”: Understanding politically conservative Americans’ folk theories about news bias

This study unpacks how U.S. political conservatives conceptualize news bias by interpreting data from a survey ( N = 3467) and in-depth interviews with a subset of survey participants ( n = 91) who self-identify as political conservatives. We found they define news bias as a multi-faceted concept: Our participants see bias in news if they do not see themselves or their beliefs in stories in a way that resonates with them or if they perceive negativity toward conservatives or their views, even if those beliefs are inaccurate. We discuss the implications of these findings on the news media’s democratic imperative to inform the electorate and on newsrooms’ ability to serve their audiences and push up against long-standing perception of liberal bias.