BIAS IN MEDIA

What are the indicators?

WHAT IS BIAS?
A positive or negative attitude towards something,
often based on pre-conceived prejudices or viewpoints
rather than evidence

WHAT IS PREJUDICE?
Prejudgment, or forming an opinion before becoming
aware of the relevant facts of a case.

BIAS AND PREJUDICE

A bias may be the result of prejudice, but encountering
biased information may lead someone to become
prejudiced.

BIAS AND PREJUDICE

BIAS
is where you prefer one thing over another thing

PREJUDICE
refers to something that you hate completely

BIAS
Egotistical
Proud
Confident

Scrawny
Underweight
Slender

SIGNIFICANCE
NEWS
where we learn about and understand whats going on
in the world, is supposed to be
objective
and unbiased

MEDIA CRITICISM
the act of closely examining and judging the media.

When we examine the media and various media

stories, we often find instances ofmedia bias.

MEDIA BIAS
the perception that the media is reporting the news

in a partial or prejudiced manner

occurs when the media seems to push a specific

viewpoint, rather than reporting the news objectively

also occurs when the media seems to ignore an

important aspect of the story

MEDIA BIAS
One-sided
Lacks neutrality

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY OMISSION
BIAS BY SELECTION OF SOURCES
BIAS BY STORY SELECTION
BIAS BY PLACEMENT
BIAS BY LABELING
BIAS BY SPIN

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY OMISSION
leaving out one side of a story, or one aspect of a

story
often associated with political news stories

A news story could be written about people booing

during a speech.
The Presidents remarks were
greeted by loud jeers.
A small handful of people
disagreed with the Presidents remarks.
small handful of people

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY SELECTION OF SOURCES
when a media outlet leaves out sources that support

an opposing point of view or when there are more

sources that support one view over another
can also be seen when a reporter uses such phrases

as experts believe, observers say, or most

people believe.

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY STORY SELECTION
occurs when a media outlet regularly reports stories

that support only one political point of view.

Covering an allegation of corruption against political
candidate #1, while neglecting to cover a similar
allegation against candidate #2.

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY PLACEMENT
occurs when a news outlet prominently places news

stories that coincide with a specific agenda while 'burying'

those that represent an opposing point of view.
In a fair and balanced story, the reporter would quote the
positive and negative view at about the same place in the
story. If not, there is bias by placement.

 A local editor might campaign against the owning of

hand guns by giving prominent space to every shooting

with a hand gun and gun-related accident in his paper.
Some murders and robberies receive front-page

attention while others receive only a mention on page

20.

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY LABELING
Two types:
tagging one politician as extreme, while the other

is given a more mild label

labeling people as experts when they dont have

the credentials
Not all labeling is biased or wrong, only when one side
is labeled and the other is not.

TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY SPIN
occurs when the story has only one interpretation of

an event or policy, to the exclusion of the other

making one ideological side look better than another

What's the first

thing that jumps
into your mind
when you read
this?
Obviously it's that
Israel currently has
gender segregation
on public
transportation,
which is not true.
Huffington Post

Notice how in this

headline, there is no
mention of "public
transportation.

Reuters

In the story,
legislators are
attempting to make
any form of
segregation illegal,
including the
unofficial sort which
has been happening
in certain sectors of
the ultra-Orthodox

OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY HEADLINE
many people read only headlines of a news item
can summarize, as well as present, carefully hidden

bias and prejudices

What comes into

mind upon
seeing this
headline?
The story is
about Obamas
approval ratings,
which show a
decline. Among
those were that
support from
women declined

OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY WORD CHOICE AND TONE
shows the same kind of bias that appears in

headlines
the use of positive or negative words, or words with a

particular connotation, can strongly influence the

reader or viewer

New York Times

03/11/2003
Iraq forces suspension of U.S. surveillance flights
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) Iraqi fighter jets threatened two
American U-2 surveillance planes, forcing them to abort their
mission and return to base, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday.
USA Today
03/11/2003
U.N. Withdraws U-2 Planes
WASHINGTON (AP) U.N. arms inspectors said Tuesday they had
withdrawn two U- 2 reconnaissance planes over Iraq for safety
reasons after Baghdad complained both aircraft were in the air
simultaneously.

OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY PHOTOS, CAPTIONS, AND CAMERA
ANGLES
some pictures flatter a person, others make the

person look unpleasant

the captions are also potential sources of bias

OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS THROUGH USE OF NAMES AND TITLES
media often use labels and titles to describe people,

places, and events.

Jose dela Cruz, an ex-con, is now running for office.
Jose dela Cruz, who served time 20 years ago for a
minor offense, is now running for office.

OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS THROUGH STATISTICS AND CROWD COUNTS
to make a disaster or an event seem more spectacular

(and therefore worthy of reading about), numbers can be

inflated.
More than 900 people attended the event
Fewer than 1,000 people showed up at the event

OTHER TYPES OF MEDIA BIAS

BIAS BY SOURCE CONTROL
to detect bias, always consider where the news item

comes from: Reporter? An eyewitness? Police? Fire

officials? Executives? Elected government officials?
Each may have a particular bias introduced into the
story

A food company might supply recipes for a

newspapers food section that recommends use of its
products in the recipes.
A countrys tourist bureau will supply a glowing story,
complete with pictures of a pleasant vacation.

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
1. MISLEADING DEFINITIONS
prejudicing readers through language

The media must exercise caution when consciously

choosing to adopt (or avoid) certain terms, proper
nouns, or foreign words.

After the attacks of 9/11, Stephen Jukes, then Reuters

global news editor, sent a memo instructing the wire
service staff not to use the word terror.
His explanation became a catch-phrase for the news
industrys moral ambiguity:
We all know that one mans terrorist is another
mans freedom fighter, and that Reuters upholds
the principle that we do not use the word terrorist.

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
2. IMBALANCED REPORTING
distorting news through disproportionate coverage
presenting only one side of the story

This Time cover storyshows

Israelis as disinterested in
peace and detached from
the Mideast conflict.
For a story of such heft,
there is a need for Israeli
views.
Instead, the article was
based on the views of two
Russian-born salesmen, an
elderly woman, and her
waitress friend.

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
3. OPINIONS DISGUISED AS NEWS
injecting opinion or interpretation into coverage

A journalists job is to report facts without injecting his own

opinion or interpretation of events
Blurring the distinction between fact and opinion undermines
the journalists sacred mission of objectively reporting the facts
and letting the public decide.

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
4. LACK OF CONTEXT
without a frame of reference for readers,journalists

can dramatically distort the true picture.

AFP:
Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian teen in West Bank

Irish Times:
Palestinian protester shot dead in West Bank
New York Times:
Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Teenager in West Bank

Reuters:
Israeli officer kills stone-throwing Palestinian youth in West
Bank

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
5. SELECTIVE OMISSION
Reporting certain events over others, or withholding

key details.

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
6. USING TRUE FACTS TO DRAW FALSE
CONCLUSIONS
Infecting news with flawed logic

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
7. DISTORTION OF FACTS
Getting the facts wrong

8 VIOLATIONS OF MEDIA
OBJECTIVITY
8. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Failing to be open and accountable to readers.