SLS Library: Fake News vs. Real News: Bias Examples

GALE

From Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Click on article to access full text.

While consumers of news media may express a desire for journalism free from political and commercial agendas, most media professionals agree that complete objectivity is impossible. When a political belief or commercial interest distorts the reporting of an event, the news outlet may be accused of media bias. Accusations of media bias can be leveled at a television station that chooses not to cover negative news regarding its parent company, a newspaper that uses loaded language to frame certain political debates, or a website that provides positive reviews in exchange for advertising revenue. Biases do not need to be expressed explicitly to be present in news media. Newsroom editorial decisions may also distort coverage of an issue in a biased manner.

Studies indicate that news media consumers are more likely to choose and trust news sources that reinforce their political beliefs. Some media analysts argue that this behavior provides news outlets with an economic incentive to produce biased reporting. Others contend that the biases of advertisers can motivate a news outlet to produce more moderate programming in the hope of seeking a more diverse audience. Media studies primarily focus on political biases that fall into liberal and conservative categories, but cultural biases can reflect loyalties beyond this ideological dynamic, including preferences for specific economic systems, religious traditions, and codes of conduct. Several media watchdog groups, such as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Accuracy in Media (AIM), and Media Matters for America, aim to provide Americans with a better understanding of media bias functions. These media watchdog groups are aware of their own political biases and acknowledge those leanings in their mission statements. Heightened partisanship during the 2010s has led to increased charges of media bias and dwindling confidence in news media. In survey results published by Gallup and the Knight Foundation in 2018, 66 percent of American adults maintained that news media does a poor job of distinguishing between fact and opinion, a notable increase from the 42 percent that expressed such sentiments in 1984. The report also found that fewer than half of respondents (44 percent) could identify a news source they considered objective.

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"It is consistently interesting to me that mainstream media outlets have somehow convinced themselves of two contradictory things at once: 1) They cannot fairly cover America without a newsroom that more or less looks like America, but 2) they can cover America without a newsroom that thinks like America. In other words, their coverage will be woefully deficient if they don't supplement progressive white male reporters, producers, and editors with progressive female, black, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ reporters, producers, and editors; but it's completely fine to build an ideological monoculture and also nurture an office environment that often views conservatives as morally depraved."

—David French, "The Ideological Blindness at the Heart of Media Bias" (National Review, September 4, 2018)

"In 1984, the government of Orwell's Big Brother spoke in 'doublespeak,' language perverted to obscure the truth or actually turn it on its head. Consider these two lines from the Sinclair catechism: 'Some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias' and 'This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.' In fact, Sinclair officials are pushing their own personal biases on their news employees, and using the power of corporate media to direct people away from honest journalism and toward demagoguery. That is what is extremely dangerous to our democracy."

—David http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC3010999044/OVIC?u=new80206&sid=OVIC&xid=52a4df7eRothkopf, "Sinclair's fake-news zombies should terrify you (opinion)" (CNN.com, April 2, 2018)

Bias Example: Travel Ban

These three news sources represent conservative (Human Events), liberal (MSNBC) and centrist (PBS NewsHour) stories on President Trump's travel ban.