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64-615: Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other The Media Research Center ( MRC ) is an American conservative content analysis and media watchdog group based in Herndon, Virginia , and founded in 1987 by L. Brent Bozell III . The nonprofit MRC has received financial support primarily from Robert Mercer , but with several other conservative-leaning sources, including

128-509: A "skinny ghetto crackhead". The Media Research Center has also faced scrutiny over the group's $ 350,000 purchase in 2012 of a Pennsylvania house that a top executive had been trying to sell for several years. In 2013, Media Research Center president Bozell appeared on Fox News to defend a Fox interview in which Fox journalists conducted almost no research into the background of Reza Aslan to prepare for its interview with him, and its putative biases. Content analysis Content analysis

192-571: A broader range and make inferences based on latent meanings. Robert Weber notes: "To make valid inferences from the text, it is important that the classification procedure be reliable in the sense of being consistent: Different people should code the same text in the same way". The validity, inter-coder reliability and intra-coder reliability are subject to intense methodological research efforts over long years. Neuendorf suggests that when human coders are used in content analysis at least two independent coders should be used. Reliability of human coding

256-430: A critique of quantitative analysis, asserting that it oversimplifies complex communications in order to be more reliable. On the other hand, qualitative analysis deals with the intricacies of latent interpretations, whereas quantitative has a focus on manifest meanings. He also acknowledges an "overlap" of qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Patterns are looked at more closely in qualitative analysis, and based on

320-632: A former MRC employee went so far as to tell The Daily Beast , 'I know for a fact that Bozell didn't even read any of the drafts of his latest book until after it had been sent to the publishers,' The Daily Beast reported." One newspaper, the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa , dropped Bozell's column as a result, saying, "Bozell may have been comfortable representing others' work as his own. We're not. The latest disclosure convinces us Bozell has no place on our print or web pages." In 2018,

384-444: A message. The process of the initial coding scheme or approach to coding is contingent on the particular content analysis approach selected. Through a directed content analysis, the scholars draft a preliminary coding scheme from pre-existing theory or assumptions. While with the conventional content analysis approach, the initial coding scheme developed from the data. With either approach above, researchers may immerse themselves into

448-692: A moral decline in " Dear Abby " columns. The CMI website remained online through the end of 2010, before it was folded in the Media Research Center website in 2011. In November 2014, the MRC renamed the institute MRC Culture. MRC sponsors MRCTV (formerly Eyeblast), a conservative-leaning YouTube -like video-hosting site. In 2018, the MRC started a new project in the Culture Department to monitor online censorship of conservatives called MRC TechWatch. In February 2014, former employees of

512-406: A nominal or ordinal scale——via selected conceptual units (the unitization ) which are assigned values (the categorization ) for enumeration while monitoring intercoder reliability , if instead the target quantity manifestly is already directly measurable——typically on an interval or ratio scale——especially a continuous physical quantity, then such targets usually are not listed among those needing

576-685: A simplified view of language that ignores the complexity of semiosis , the process by which meaning is formed out of language. Quantitative content analysts have been criticized for limiting the scope of content analysis to simple counting, and for applying the measurement methodologies of the natural sciences without reflecting critically on their appropriateness to social science. Conversely, qualitative content analysts have been criticized for being insufficiently systematic and too impressionistic. Krippendorff argues that quantitative and qualitative approaches to content analysis tend to overlap, and that there can be no generalisable conclusion as to which approach

640-426: A single reader. According to today's reporting standards, quantitative content analyses should be published with complete codebooks and for all variables or measures in the codebook the appropriate inter-coder or inter-rater reliability coefficients should be reported based on empirical pre-tests. Furthermore, the validity of all variables or measures in the codebook must be ensured. This can be achieved through

704-455: A subscription fee. Its leadership consists of president Brent Bozell and editor Terry Jeffrey. Under editor David Thibault, CNSNews.com questioned the validity of the circumstances in which Democratic Rep. John Murtha received his Purple Hearts as a response to Murtha's criticisms of the U.S. War in Iraq . The Washington Post and Nancy Pelosi have commented that this approach is similar to

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768-459: Is analyzed for frequencies and coded into categories for building up inferences. Computer-assisted analysis can help with large, electronic data sets by cutting out time and eliminating the need for multiple human coders to establish inter-coder reliability. However, human coders can still be employed for content analysis, as they are often more able to pick out nuanced and latent meanings in text. A study found that human coders were able to evaluate

832-408: Is not as overt, and requires interpretation to uncover the meaning or implication. Holsti groups fifteen uses of content analysis into three basic categories : He also places these uses into the context of the basic communication paradigm . The following table shows fifteen uses of content analysis in terms of their general purpose, element of the communication paradigm to which they apply, and

896-517: Is now focused on "Advancing the culture of free enterprise in America." BMI's advisory board included such well-known individuals as economists Walter Williams and Bruce Bartlett , as well as former CNN anchor David Goodnow . BMI is led by career journalist Dan Gainor, a former managing editor at CQ.com, the website for Congressional Quarterly . It released a research report in June 2006 covering

960-404: Is often measured using a statistical measure of inter-coder reliability or "the amount of agreement or correspondence among two or more coders". Lacy and Riffe identify the measurement of inter-coder reliability as a strength of quantitative content analysis, arguing that, if content analysts do not measure inter-coder reliability, their data are no more reliable than the subjective impressions of

1024-415: Is styled as a rapid-response blog site that contains posts by MRC editors to selected stories in mass media. Although the site is advertised chiefly as a conservative site, it frequently defends neoconservatives as well. The site highlights journalists and non-journalists (writers, musicians, producers, scientists, etc.) perceived as having liberal viewpoints. The MRC has produced research and analysis on

1088-403: Is superior. Content analysis can also be described as studying traces , which are documents from past times, and artifacts, which are non-linguistic documents. Texts are understood to be produced by communication processes in a broad sense of that phrase—often gaining mean through abduction . Manifest content is readily understandable at its face value. Its meaning is direct. Latent content

1152-418: Is the distinction between dictionary-based (quantitative) approaches and qualitative approaches. Dictionary-based approaches set up a list of categories derived from the frequency list of words and control the distribution of words and their respective categories over the texts. While methods in quantitative content analysis in this way transform observations of found categories into quantitative statistical data,

1216-648: Is the study of documents and communication artifacts, which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video. Social scientists use content analysis to examine patterns in communication in a replicable and systematic manner. One of the key advantages of using content analysis to analyse social phenomena is their non-invasive nature, in contrast to simulating social experiences or collecting survey answers. Practices and philosophies of content analysis vary between academic disciplines. They all involve systematic reading or observation of texts or artifacts which are assigned labels (sometimes called codes) to indicate

1280-608: The Bradley , Scaife , Olin , Castle Rock and JM foundations, as well as ExxonMobil . It has been described as "one of the most active and best-funded, and yet least known" arms of the modern conservative movement in the United States . The organization rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and criticizes media coverage that reflects the scientific consensus. Bozell and a group of other American conservatives founded MRC on October 1, 1987. Their initial budget

1344-654: The FCC fairness doctrine , a policy requiring broadcasters to present differing views on controversial issues of public import. The MRC claims the rule had been politically weaponized by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to suppress conservative radio, before being abolished by a bipartisan FCC in 1987. The CBS crime drama Cold Case has been twice criticized by the CMI for alleged anti-Christian prejudice in two episodes. In May 2008, CMI released another report, one that claimed

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1408-594: The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) or the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), retains the necessary form of content analysis. Recognizing potential limits of content analysis across the contents of language and images alike, Klaus Krippendorff affirms that "comprehen[sion] ... may ... not conform at all to the process of classification and/or counting by which most content analyses proceed," suggesting that content analysis might materially distort

1472-654: The Parents Television Council , with a focus on combatting indecency on television. In October 2006, the MRC created the Culture and Media Institute , the mission of which is "to advance, preserve, and help restore America's culture, character, traditional values, and morals against the assault of the liberal media." Robert H. Knight was the institute's first director. MRC VP Dan Gainor is now in charge of that department. The CMI promoted its mission through editorials and research reports. In March 2007,

1536-498: The scientific consensus on climate change and criticizes media coverage that reflects the scientific consensus. The MRC received over $ 10 million from Robert Mercer , its largest single donor. As of its 2015 reporting to the IRS , the organization had revenue approaching $ 15 million and expenses in excess of $ 15 million. Bozell's salary during this year was reported as close to $ 345,000, with nearly $ 122,000 in additional compensation from

1600-472: The scientific consensus on climate change . In November 2021, a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate described Media Research Center as being among "ten fringe publishers" that together were responsible for nearly 70 percent of Facebook user interactions with content that denied climate change. Facebook disputed the study's methodology. In 2002, MRC said CNN was "[Fidel] Castro's megaphone". In 1999,

1664-475: The "subjective" selections and formulations of content analysis. For example (from mixed research and clinical application), as medical images communicate diagnostic features to physicians, neuroimaging 's stroke (infarct) volume scale called ASPECTS is unitized as 10 qualitatively delineated (unequal) brain regions in the middle cerebral artery territory, which it categorizes as being at least partly versus not at all infarcted in order to enumerate

1728-399: The CMI published a "National Cultural Values Survey" and concluded from its results that most Americans perceived a decline in moral values. One study released by the organization in June 2007 claimed that television viewing time correlated directly with one's liberal attitude, even possibly degrading to moral attitudes. In 2008, it published a report detailing its opposition to reinstatement of

1792-708: The Class , and thirtysomething for containing storylines or dialogue believed to be hostile to conservatives. Then at its annual convention in July 1989, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists passed a resolution criticizing the MRC's newsletter. A 1990 issue of TV, etc. published lyrics to the Todd Rundgren song "Jesse" that attacked Jesse Helms , Tipper Gore , and Pope John Paul II ; Bozell also wrote to Warner Bros. Records urging

1856-634: The Grain as the show was struggling in ratings. Bozell praised Against the Grain for "staunch advocacy of education and gentle, respectful treatment of family life." Following the 1994–95 television season , TV, etc. named the NBC made-for-TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story the most biased program of the season; others included Roseanne and The X-Files . Then in 1995, Bozell founded

1920-542: The MRC said that network news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC largely ignored Chinese espionage in the United States during the Clinton administration . In MRC reports released from 1993 to 1995, it was claimed that such programs made more references to religion each later year, most of which became more favorable. In 2003, the MRC urged advertisers to pull sponsorship from The Reagans , a miniseries about President Ronald Reagan to be shown on CBS . The network later moved

1984-414: The Media Research Center alleged that the center's founder L. Brent Bozell III does not write his own columns or books and instead has used a ghostwriter , Tim Graham, for years. "Employees at the MRC were never under any illusion that Bozell had been writing his own copy. 'It's an open secret at the office that Graham writes Bozell's columns, and has done so for years,' said one former employee. In fact,

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2048-473: The Media Research Center criticized journalist Katy Tur for introducing the issue of climate change into reporting on Hurricane Florence , while its director of media analysis bemoaned what he described as the use of "spin" to politicize media coverage of natural disasters. In 2017, MRC sponsored a conference by the Heartland Institute , an organization known for its effort to cast doubt about

2112-602: The Presidency (2007, with Tim Graham). Research director Rich Noyes has also co-authored several published books. In 1992, the MRC created the Free Market Project to promote the culture of free enterprise and combat what it believes is media spin on business and economic news. That division recently changed its name to the Business & Media Institute (www.businessandmedia.org) and later to MRC Business and

2176-511: The Republican nomination, Bozell attacked the media for their "hatred" of Trump. Politico noted, "The paradox here is that Bozell was once more antagonistic toward the president than any journalist." Bozell singled out Jake Tapper for being "one of the worst offenders" in coverage of Trump. However, several senior MRC staff told Politico that they considered Tapper a model of fairness, although that viewpoint has since changed. Extra! ,

2240-428: The advent of mass communication , content analysis has known an increasing use to deeply analyze and understand media content and media logic. The political scientist Harold Lasswell formulated the core questions of content analysis in its early-mid 20th-century mainstream version: "Who says what, to whom, why, to what extent and with what effect?". The strong emphasis for a quantitative approach started up by Lasswell

2304-461: The analysis begins. These coding categories are strictly relevant to the researcher's hypothesis. Quantitative analysis also takes a deductive approach. Examples of content-analytical variables and constructs can be found, for example, in the open-access database DOCA . This database compiles, systematizes, and evaluates relevant content-analytical variables of communication and political science research areas and topics. Siegfried Kracauer provides

2368-527: The banner BiasAlert . Media analysis director Tim Graham and research director Rich Noyes regularly write Media Reality Check , another MRC publication documenting alleged liberal bias. Notable Quotables is its "collection of the most biased quotes from journalists". In Notable Quotables , editors give honors such as the " Linda Ellerbee Awards for Distinguished Reporting" based on the former CNN commentator, who Bozell considered "a liberal blowhard who has nothing to say". Other features on its website include

2432-451: The codebook needs to be developed and pretested for reliability and validity before coding. The codebook includes detailed instructions for human coders plus clear definitions of the respective concepts or variables to be coded plus the assigned values. According to current standards of good scientific practice, each content analysis study should provide their codebook in the appendix or as supplementary material so that reproducibility of

2496-523: The data to obtain an overall picture. A consistent and clear unit of coding is vital, with the choices ranging from a single word to several paragraphs and from texts to iconic symbols. Lastly, researchers construct the relationships between codes by sorting out them within specific categories or themes. Walter E. Williams Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

2560-455: The entertainment industry, as well. In May 1989, the MRC began publishing the newsletter TV, etc. Its mission, said Bozell in a 1992 lecture at The Heritage Foundation , was to "document the left-wing antics within the entertainment industry". TV, etc. attracted immediate attention in entertainment circles. As noted by Broadcasting magazine, the debut issue of TV, etc. was critical of primetime TV shows like The Golden Girls , Head of

2624-597: The first newspapers at the end of the 19th century, analysis was done manually by measuring the number of columns given a subject. The approach can also be traced back to a university student studying patterns in Shakespeare's literature in 1893. Over the years, content analysis has been applied to a variety of scopes. Hermeneutics and philology have long used content analysis to interpret sacred and profane texts and, in many cases, to attribute texts' authorship and authenticity . In recent times, particularly with

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2688-470: The general question they are intended to answer. As a counterpoint, there are limits to the scope of use for the procedures that characterize content analysis. In particular, if access to the goal of analysis can be obtained by direct means without material interference, then direct measurement techniques yield better data. Thus, while content analysis attempts to quantifiably describe communications whose features are primarily categorical——limited usually to

2752-575: The label not to include the song in Rundgren's upcoming album. TV, etc. also released annual lists of programs it deemed the "most biased". For the 1991–92 season , The Trials of Rosie O'Neill made the top of that list; other shows ranked included Captain Planet and the Planeteers , L.A. Law , and The Simpsons . In 1993, Bozell wrote a letter to NBC in support of its show Against

2816-401: The latent meanings that the researcher may find, the course of the research could be changed. It is inductive and begins with open research questions, as opposed to a hypothesis. The data collection instrument used in content analysis is the codebook or coding scheme. In qualitative content analysis the codebook is constructed and improved during coding, while in quantitative content analysis

2880-420: The latter, with published series often assessing intercoder reliability by Cohen's kappa . The foregoing italicized operations impose the uncredited form of content analysis onto an estimation of infarct extent, which instead is easily enough and more accurately measured as a volume directly on the images. ("Accuracy ... is the highest form of reliability." ) The concomitant clinical assessment, however, by

2944-448: The magazine of the progressive media watch group FAIR , criticized the MRC in 1998 for selective use of evidence . MRC had said that there was more coverage of government death squads in right-wing El Salvador than in left-wing Nicaragua in the 1980s, when Amnesty International stated El Salvador was worse than Nicaragua when it came to extrajudicial killings. Extra! also likened a defunct MRC newsletter, TV etc. , which tracked

3008-587: The network morning shows devoted more airtime to covering Democratic presidential candidates than Republican ones for the 2008 election. Producers for such shows criticized the MRC's methodology as flawed. During the 2008 US presidential election , MRC claimed that the vast majority of news stories about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had a positive slant. MRC president Bozell praised MSNBC for having David Gregory replace Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann as political coverage anchor beginning September 8, 2008, but MSNBC president Phil Griffin disputed

3072-655: The number of texts that can be labeled, but the scientific utility of doing so is a matter of debate. Further, numerous computer-aided text analysis (CATA) computer programs are available that analyze text for predetermined linguistic, semantic, and psychological characteristics. Content analysis is best understood as a broad family of techniques. Effective researchers choose techniques that best help them answer their substantive questions. That said, according to Klaus Krippendorff , six questions must be addressed in every content analysis: The simplest and most objective form of content analysis considers unambiguous characteristics of

3136-510: The off-screen political comments of actors, to " Red Channels , the McCarthy Era blacklisting journal." Journalist Brian Montopoli of Columbia Journalism Review in 2005 labeled MRC "just one part of a wider movement by the far right to demonize corporate media", rather than "make the media better." On December 22, 2011, Media Research Center president Bozell appeared on Fox News and suggested U.S. president Barack Obama looks like

3200-480: The organization and related organizations. From 1996 to 2009, the MRC published a daily online newsletter called CyberAlert written by editor Brent Baker. Each issue profiles what he perceives as biased or inaccurate reports about politics in the American news media. Prior to CyberAlert , MRC published such reports in a monthly newsletter titled MediaWatch , from 1988 to 1999. Media analysis articles are now under

3264-770: The portrayal of business on prime-time entertainment television during the May and November "sweeps" periods from 2005. The report concluded that the programs, among them the long running NBC legal drama Law & Order , were biased against business. Another report of the BMI accused the networks of bias in favor of the Gardasil vaccine, a vaccine intended to prevent cervical cancer . Bozell founded CNSNews (formerly Cybercast News Service) in 1998 to cover stories he believes are ignored by mainstream news organizations. CNSNews.com provides news articles for Townhall.com and other websites for

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3328-553: The presence of interesting, meaningful pieces of content. By systematically labeling the content of a set of texts , researchers can analyse patterns of content quantitatively using statistical methods , or use qualitative methods to analyse meanings of content within texts . Computers are increasingly used in content analysis to automate the labeling (or coding) of documents. Simple computational techniques can provide descriptive data such as word frequencies and document lengths. Machine learning classifiers can greatly increase

3392-419: The program to its co-owned premium cable network Showtime . The MRC has been a critic of the video game industry , arguing that there is a link between violent videogames and real-world violence ; in this capacity, they (along with the Parents Television Council , a subsidiary) were invited to President Donald Trump 's 2018 summit on video games and gun violence. MRC released a report in 2007 claiming that

3456-399: The qualitative content analysis focuses more on the intentionality and its implications. There are strong parallels between qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis . Quantitative content analysis highlights frequency counts and statistical analysis of these coded frequencies. Additionally, quantitative content analysis begins with a framed hypothesis with coding decided on before

3520-405: The rise of common computing facilities like PCs, computer-based methods of analysis are growing in popularity. Answers to open ended questions, newspaper articles, political party manifestos, medical records or systematic observations in experiments can all be subject to systematic analysis of textual data. By having contents of communication available in form of machine readable texts, the input

3584-431: The statements by Bozell and others who have accused the network of liberal bias. ThoughtCo named MRC one of the top 15 conservatives to follow on Twitter . Bozell was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries, describing him as "the greatest charlatan of them all", "a "huckster" and "shameless self-promoter". He said, "God help this country if this man were president." After Trump clinched

3648-567: The study is ensured. On the Open Science Framework (OSF) server of the Center for Open Science a lot of codebooks of content analysis studies are freely available via search for "codebook". Furthermore, the Database of Variables for Content Analysis (DOCA) provides an open access archive of pretested variables and established codebooks for content analyses. Measures from the archive can be adopted in future studies to ensure

3712-534: The tactics of the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth , which opposed John Kerry 's candidacy in the 2004 election . In the summer of 2005, Media Research Center launched NewsBusters, a website "dedicated to exposing & combating liberal media bias," in cooperation with Matthew Sheffield, a now-former conservative blogger (who now works at Salon.com ) involved in the CBS Killian documents story. NewsBusters

3776-449: The text such as word frequencies , the page area taken by a newspaper column, or the duration of a radio or television program. Analysis of simple word frequencies is limited because the meaning of a word depends on surrounding text. Key Word In Context (KWIC) routines address this by placing words in their textual context. This helps resolve ambiguities such as those introduced by synonyms and homonyms . A further step in analysis

3840-507: The use of established measures that have proven their validity in earlier studies. Also, the content validity of the measures can be checked by experts from the field who scrutinize and then approve or correct coding instructions, definitions and examples in the codebook. There are five types of texts in content analysis: Content analysis is research using the categorization and classification of speech, written text, interviews, images, or other forms of communication. In its beginnings, using

3904-459: The use of high-quality and comparable instruments. DOCA covers, among others, measures for the content analysis of fictional media and entertainment (e.g., measures for sexualization in video games ), of user-generated media content (e.g., measures for online hate speech ), and of news media and journalism (e.g., measures for stock photo use in press reporting on child sexual abuse, and measures of personalization in election campaign coverage ). With

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3968-580: The weekly syndicated news and entertainment columns written by founder Bozell. MRC staff members have also written editorials and books about their findings of the media. Bozell has written three books about the news media: And That's the Way it Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias (1990, with Brent Baker); Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media (2004); and Whitewash: How The News Media Are Paving Hillary Clinton's Path to

4032-597: Was at US$ 339,000. Prior to founding the MRC, Bozell was the chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee ; he resigned from that position a month before establishing MRC. A wealthy donor whose name has been kept anonymous helped set up the MRC. The MRC has received financial support from several foundations, including the Bradley , Scaife , Olin , Castle Rock , Carthage and JM foundations. It also receives funding from ExxonMobil . The organization rejects

4096-658: Was finally carried out by another "father" of content analysis, Bernard Berelson , who proposed a definition of content analysis which, from this point of view, is emblematic: "a research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication". Quantitative content analysis has enjoyed a renewed popularity in recent years thanks to technological advances and fruitful application in of mass communication and personal communication research. Content analysis of textual big data produced by new media , particularly social media and mobile devices has become popular. These approaches take

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