Detecting Bias in the News

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Detecting Bias in the News
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Media Bias defined

• Media bias is a term used to describe a real or
  perceived bias of journalists and news producers
  within the mass media, in the selection of which
  events will be reported and how they are covered.
• Occurs when the media (individually or
  collectively) reports something that is
  inaccurate or one-sided because of ideology,
  political favoritism, reliance on limited (not
  treating both sides equally), or other factors.
  Bias can show up in coverage (or lack thereof)
  or in the content and analysis of stories.

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Media Bias defined

• Media Bias is a real or perceived tendency of
  journalists and news producers within the mass
  media to approach both the presentation of
  particular stories, and the selection of which
  stories to cover, with an unbalanced perspective.
  In essence, media bias generally refers to
  accusations of either censorship or propagandism
  on the part of particular news sources, where
  suck content is framed in the light of a
  preconceived agenda.

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Bias in the news

• No matter how objective the news agency is there
  will be some bias in the news
• Not all bias is deliberate

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Bias through selection and omission

• Someone can express by choosing not to run or use
  a specific news item
• They can leave out details in a story
• It is difficult to detect because you need to
  compare multiple news reports from a variety of
  sources.

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Bias through placement

• Editors can put news items on the front page of
  the news paper or at the beginning of the news
  cast
• People are likely to pay more attention to the
  news at the beginning because they think it is
  more important
• Front Page news

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Bias by headline

• Headlines are the most read part of the paper
• Headlines can convey excitement when none exists
• Headlines can present carefully hidden bias
• They can express approval or disapproval
• Teacher no longer allowed in school

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Bias by photos, captions and camera angles

• Some pictures flatter a person others make a
  person unpleasant
• A lot of people will just look at pictures and
  captions
• TV can influence a story by where, what, and how
  they film.

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Bias through use of names and titles

• News media often use labels and titles to
  describe people, places, and events
• Calling someone an ex-con versus someone that
  has served time
• Calling someone a freedom fighter versus a
  terrorist
• Occupying versus liberating

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Bias through statistics and crowd counts

• Hundreds injured in plane crash versus only minor
  injuries in air crash
• How many people make up a major protest?

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Bias by source control

• Who supplies the information?
• The info. provided may be biased depending on who
  the source is
• Reporter, eyewitness, police official, government
  official
• PR people provide statements that have bias in
  them

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Bias by Word Choice

• Use of positive and negative words can strongly
  influence the reader
• Hurricane Katrina looting versus gathering