Political Slant of United States Daily Newspapers, 2005

The focus of this data collection was media slant in news coverage in the United States in 2005. Automated searches of newspaper articles and congressional records were conducted of 1,000 key phrases addressing issues such as abortion, gun control, taxes, health care, war, the environment, immigration policy, stem cell research, and minorities. A new index of media slant was then constructed that measured the similarity of a news outlet's language to that of the congressional Republican or Democrat. To measure news slant, the researchers examined the set of all key phrases used by each congressperson and identified those used much more frequently by one political party than by another. Newspapers were then indexed by the extent to which the use of politically charged phrases in their news coverage resembled the use of the same phrases in the speech of a congressional Democrat or Republican. Part 1, Newspapers File, lists the slant index of 434 city newspapers across the United States and the total number of uses of key phrases for each newspaper. Part 2, News Counts File, indicates the number of news articles in each newspaper using each key phrase. Part 3, Congress File, lists the United States congressperson from each congressional district, his or her political party identification, the slant index, and the total number of uses of all key phrases for this congressperson. Part 4, Congress Counts File, includes information on the number of uses of each key phrase by each member of Congress. Part 5, Phrases File, includes detailed information on the key phrases used in the searches and the total number of uses of each phrase for all Democrats and Republicans in Congress.