Summarization of Research
Through this research project I wanted to find out how, if at all, media bias based in political orientation impacted representation of Critical Race Theory in education. To find how media bias impacts news stories, I read through and coded fifty online news articles ranging from far left to far right bias categorizations based on Allsides.com bias meter. I used the independent variable of media bias, and the dependent variable of media portrayal of Critical Race Theory to determine my results. In response to the research question, “What is the effect of political bias on media portrayal of Critical Race Theory in online written news sources from the years 2020 to 2022?” my research showed that there were three key findings. As stated in the results and discussion section, there were differences in how different news sources used scholarly information, as well as how the articles were framed through factual or opinionated information. However, what stood out the most in my research was how media bias, and the misunderstanding of Critical Race Theory in K-12 curriculum, impacted the politicization of Critical Race Theory in the news. With the combination of news articles lack of scholarly information and opinion pieces and the theory of misinformation in what should be reputable news sources, misunderstanding on topics spread further and faster in biased articles.
My findings on how media bias can create misinformation is echoed in other works (Hameleers and Brosius, 2022). According to Hameleers and Brosius “People on the left-wing of the ideological spectrum may therefore perceive misinformation as coming mostly from the right, whereas news users with right-wing orientations may associate misinformation mostly with left-wing sources” (Hameleers and Brosius et al 2022: 3). As shown in the “Clueless about CRT” section, polarization and misunderstanding of Critical Race Theory is often seen as a ‘problem of the other side’. When reading the news articles in my data list, I found that words like “leftist” or “conservatives” were used to describe the opposing views. With the connotations that surround these words, especially when placed into the context of the news articles; “The coalition of leftist ‘civics’ groups behind the new CSDA [Civics Secures Democracy Act] is desperate to rake in the $6 billion windfall the bill would hand them. This is their last chance to tap into the federal gravy train before the Democrats likely lose control of Congress” (Kurtz 2022), it creates more polarization and negative emotions toward other views.
With the rise in opinion pieces rather than informative and factual information in news sources, it is understandable how topics such as Critical Race Theory have taken hold and become so politicized. As one article states, “Moreover, recent polls suggest that Americans increasingly believe that the mainstream media reports fake news, with 42% of the American public indicating that major news sources report fake news to advance a particular agenda (Monmouth University, 2018)” (van der Linden, Panagopoulos, and Roozenbeek Jon, 2020). With 42% of the public believing that news sources are not providing correct information, biased news articles do not help to lower this statistic when providing opinionated and slandering information on important topics. My research shows that while academics were cited, the results were not very productive. The writings provide brief mentions of academics, or provide citations hidden within articles, but there is little history given and Critical Race Theory is rarely defined.
Overall, my findings show that because of media bias, news sources may provide disinformation and therefore create further confusion around the topic of Critical Race Theory. With differences in how articles frame academic perspectives and how authors may include opinion, it is hard to see what CRT related content is actually being taught in schools. Providing a more detailed synopsis of the school’s curriculum would be more informative, and provide more understanding for the general public, who currently seems lost and confused on the topic.
Limitations and Future Research
While my research provides a strong argument towards media bias and misunderstandings shown in Critical Race Theory news, it still has limitations. Just like the online news articles studied, I also have bias that cannot be removed even with precautions. While I used an incognito web browser and cleared my history in between each search, I am not trained on how the incognito tab works. Without the proper knowledge, I do not know how much of my previous data is still included in these searches. Another limitation is the low number of news sources that I used. In future research, a wider array of news sources from each political categorization will be helpful. This will allow for a larger sample and more data points within each category. The third limitation is the use of Allsides.com to sort media bias. While this site allows the public to dispute and vote on these ratings, the agreement or disagreement may be biased as well. Using more researchers would be useful in order to sort, organize, and code these articles and thus provide a more detailed and inclusive research study.