Getting the Picture: Airtime and Lineup Bias on Canadian Networks during the 2006 Federal Election

This research article addresses the issue of media bias as it played out on Canada’s three major television networks during coverage of the 2006 federal election. The data suggest that in spite of critics’ concerns that networks exhibit political bias, this was not evident. However, a more subtle and systemic bias was apparent. Front-runners (i.e., parties that polls indicated would do well) received substantially more coverage than other parties. Conversely, parties that were perceived as being less successful received less coverage than political front-runners. In addition, reports about front-runners were placed higher in the lineup. These empirical findings should be of interest to critics on both the right and left of the political spectrum who are concerned about the gatekeeping and agenda-setting functions of the media.