Tyler Cohen

Both left-wing and right-wing critics who complain about media bias are mistaken, writes economist Tyler Cohen in the following viewpoint. What may seem like political or ideological bias is in reality the result of the media striving to attract an audience by providing compelling and marketable stories. Media bias should not be considered an overly serious problem, Cohen concludes, because the media are limited in their power to influence what people think; most people recognize that the media are often biased and are thus able to draw their own conclusions about issues and stories. Cohen is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Virginia.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How and why did media coverage of the 2003 Iraq war change, according to Cohen?
2. Why are the media obsessed...