Media bias debates today feel fierce, but they’re not new. Journalism professor Matthew Pressman reminds us that the roots of “liberal media bias” go back decades, as news outlets slowly shifted away from openly partisan papers toward professional norms that often aligned with liberal values on issues like civil rights, social reform, and government transparency.
As one review of his work puts it, Pressman “does acknowledge the press shifted leftward over the period” he studies, even as he resists the simplistic conservative accusation of blanket “liberal bias.” That historical drift still shapes today’s coverage, narratives, and newsroom cultures.
Understanding that long arc matters: if we treat bias as a purely modern, partisan-media problem, we miss how structural choices – what counts as news, whose voices are trusted, which values define “responsible” journalism – have been tilting the playing field for generations.
https://journals.ala.org/index.php/jifp/article/view/7085/10056