El MercurioLies, andLa TerceraLies More. Political Bias in Newspaper Headlines in Chile, 1994–2010

Abstract

In this article we examine the presence of bias in Chile's two main daily newspapers,El MercurioandLa Tercera, both of which have historically been associated with the political right. We analyse their principal headlines in the first 100 days of rule ofpresidents Eduardo Frei (1994–2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000–2006), Michelle Bachelet (2006–2010) and Sebastián Piñera (2010–2014). We find thatLa Tercerawas more critical of all these presidents thanEl Mercurio. InLa Tercerawe also identify an ideological bias in favour of Piñera as compared to the centre‐left presidents, and inEl Mercurioa greater bias against Bachelet than the other presidents.