Bias in the News

Bias through placement

• Page One:

TEEN SHOOTS MAN AT BUS STOP!!

• Page 35:Teens collect turkeys to serve homeless

Examples of bias through selection and omission

High School Class Choices:

The Romantics

British Lit

American Lit

NOT OFFERED:

African Literature

Bias by headline

Bias by photos, captions and camera angles

Bias through use of names and titles

• Bill Gates: Arrested and Convicted

Bias through use of names and titles

• Bill Gates: Ex Con?

In 1977 the owner of Microsoft was arrested for driving without a license and not stopping at a stop sign. This wasn’t the first time he got arrested though. In

1975 he was arrested for driving without a license and speeding.

In 1989 he was arrested for driving drunk but that charge

was reduced later on.

• Bill Gates the Multibillion Dollar Philanthropist

Bias through statistics and crowd counts

• Fifty people injured in Air Crash!

Bias through statistics and crowd counts

• Fifty people injured in Air Crash!• Fifty out of how many people?

• When it says injured, what does that mean?• What constitutes a crash?

Bias through statistics and crowd counts

• Only 7% of passengers sustained minor injuries (50 out of 700)

• Most injuries dealt with whiplash

• Most severe injury was a major wrist sprain

Bias by source control • To detect bias, always consider where the

news item "comes from."

Bias through word choice and tone

• Pushy or Assertive?

• Skinny or Slim?

• Reckless or Daring?

• Isolated or Shy?

• Take Charge Attitude or Micromanager

Pretend Magazine

• Please turn the pages of this fake magazine and using your media awareness information sheet see if you can spot bias.

Memories of Hurricane Katrina Page 2

Memories of Hurricane Katrina

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

Page 2

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spent nearly a half-hour

Friday, meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the Obama

administration tried to prevent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from collapsing.

Page 3

Let’s look at teen magazines Page 3

Page 4

Liberal Media Bias

• Is this a real thing?

• Why is this term used?

Liberal Media Bias

• Liberal: open-minded or tolerant, especially free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.

• Bias: prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

• Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Liberal Bias or Sensational Journalism?