Echoes of Bias: Affective Asymmetry and the Emotional Politics of Press Coverage in South Korea

This study examines the emotional architecture of media coverage in South Korea’s presidential elections, tracing patterns of affective framing over a twenty-five-year period. Drawing on a large corpus of newspaper articles and employing a large language model for dual-dimensional sentiment analysis, it demonstrates a persistent asymmetry: conservative candidates are portrayed more favorably and with lower emotional intensity, while liberal candidates face more negative and emotionally charged depictions. These patterns endure across six electoral cycles, reflecting not episodic bias but a structural embedding of affective asymmetries in political news. Building on theories of media political economy and affect, the study argues that emotional tone operates as a subtle mechanism of partisan reproduction, shaping perceptions of legitimacy and reinforcing ideological hierarchies. By foregrounding affective framing as a critical axis of political communication, this study advances broader debates on media bias, and the emotional infrastructures sustaining democratic contestation in post-authoritarian contexts.