ESTIMATING LIABILITY RISKS WITH THE MEDIA AS YOUR GUIDE - A CONTENT-ANALYSIS OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF TORT LITIGATION

A content analysis of 249 articles from Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbe s, and Business Week during 1980-1990 examined the representativeness of popular media coverage of fort litigation. Compared to objective da ta on fort cases, the magazine articles considerably overrepresented t he relative frequency of controversial forms of litigation (product li ability and medical malpractice), the proportion of disputes resolved by trial (rather than settlement), the plaintiff victory rate at trial , and the median and mean jury awards. Psychological mechanisms by whi ch biases in media coverage could affect the decision making of potent ial litigants are discussed. The results highlight the need for more s ystematic monitoring and dissemination of reliable data on fort outcom es.