Week 5 Activity #3 - Detecting Bias in the News

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans

 Synopsis: After Hurricane Katrina, two nearly identical photographs, published by Yahoo! News, ran with very similar captions. The differences were important, however. Beneath the picture of a young black man, shown wading through chest-deep water and dragging a bag, the caption read: “A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans. . . .” Under the picture of a white couple, also wading through chest-deep water and dragging food items, the caption read: “Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store. . . .”   

In response to the controversy that the changing in wording might be racially motivated, the journalist/photographer David Martin claimed it was not an issue of race but of having personally seen the subject of the first photo entering the store and leaving with the items, which is the definition of looting. It was the journalist/photographer Chris Graythen’s opinion that the couple—just two of numerous people, both black and white, in the water—found some of the many items floating in the water near a grocery store. (Source:  www.MediaSmarts.ca)

What is a Bias?

A bias is a prejudice in a general or specific sense, usually in the sense for having a preference to one particular point of view or ideological perspectiv.  One is said to be biased if their views are influenced by preconceived ideas; thus their opinion is not seen as neutral or objective, but rather as subjective

    

Detecting Bias in the News

Every news story is influenced by the attitudes and background of its interviewers, writers, photographers, and editors, thus, EVERY news story has some degree of bias despite the efforts to remain objective.

Not all bias is deliberate – the following list demonstrates the journalistic techniques that allow bias to “creep in” to the news:

-         Bias through selection and omission

-          Bias through placement

-          Bias by headline

-          Bias by photos, captions and camera angles

-          Bias through use of names and titles

-          Bias through statistics and word counts

-          Bias by source control

-          Word choice and tone

 

Bias through selection and omission

-          Choosing to use or not use a specific news item

-          Ignoring some details, while highlighting others

-          Omission is difficult to detect and can only be seen by comparing news reports from a wide variety of outlets

Bias through placement

-Readers often believe first page stories are more important than those later in the paper; same with television and radio newscasts

Bias by headline

-          Many people only read the headlines of a news item

-          Headlines are the most-read part of a paper and thus can summarize as well as present carefully hidden bias and prejudices

Bias by photos, captions and camera angles

-          Some pictures flatter a person, others are not so flattering, thus papers and newscasts can choose visual images to influence our opinion of a person/thing

-          Captions ran below photos are also a potential source of bias

Bias through use of names and titles

-          News media often use labels and titles to describe people, places and events

-          A person can be referred to as an “ex-con” or someone who “served time twenty years ago for a minor offense”; as a “terrorist” or as a “freedom fighter”

Bias through statistics and crowd counts

- Numbers are often inflated to make a disaster seem more spectacular (ex. “A hundred injured in air crash” can be the same as “only minor injuries in air crash”

Bias by source control

-         Always consider where the news item “comes from” – is the information supplied by a reporter, eyewitness, police or fire officials, executives, or elected or appointed government officials? – each may have a particular bias that is introduced

Word choice and tone

- Using positive or negative words, or words with a particular connotation can strongly influence the reader or viewer

 

(Source: http://nicbat.tripod.com/englishmedia/id8.html)