Oxford Scholarship Online: The Press Effect

The Press Effect Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories that Shape the Political World Jamieson, Kathleen Hall Professor of Communication and Walter H. Annenberg Dean Waldman, Paul Postdoctoral Fellow, both at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania Print publication date: 2002 (this edition) Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-515277-7
Chapter 7 The Press as Custodian of Fact doi:10.1093/0195152778.003.0007 Kathleen Hall Jamieson Paul Waldman Abstract: The custodianship of fact should be the role that undergirds journalism. All too often, reporters allow the frames of their stories to shape the facts, instead of the other way around. The press has a responsibility to adjudicate factual disputes among political actors, even at the risk of charges of bias. The chapter offers a series of recommendations that would guide journalists toward fulfilling this role. Keywords: bias, fact, factual disputes, framing, journalism, political actors,