Bailis, D. S., & MacCoun, R. J. (1996). Estimating liability risks with the media as your guide: A content analysis of media coverage of civil litigation. Law and Human Behavior, 20, 419-429. [Abridged version reprinted in Judicature, 1996, 80, 64-67.]

A content analysis of 249 articles from Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, and Business Week between 1980 and 1990 examined the representativeness of popular media coverage of tort litigation. Compared with objective data on tort cases, the magazine articles considerably overrepresented the relative frequency of controversial forms of litigation (product liability 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 which biases in media coverage could affect the decision making of potential litigants are discussed.