BIAS IN OUR MEDIA

Media Lit 2016

How has the

news media
changed over
time?

Media in the 19th century - early 20th

century:
19th century:
Newspapers were extremely partisan, and they were often affiliated with political
parties or political figures.
20th century:
In the 1940s, only three networks existed: CBS, ABC, and NBC.
Televised news was considered a public service
Fairness Doctrine -- the news was required to be objective.

Media Then Vs. Media Now

Media Today
The news is mixed with gossip, opinion, hot takes, and branded content, from many
different sources but often through a single platform
The Pew Research Center found that the news environment is very reliant on original
content created by traditional newsrooms
Even though 83% of newsrooms have reduced their number of journalists
Many different news sources takes away from mainstream news power
Money driven; influenced by stockholders sensationalism, opinionated articles
More democracy, more sources of news

What is fragmentation?
A few sources
of news, each
with large
audiences

Many different
sources of news, all
of them with
smaller, niche
audiences

How and why is

the current
fragmented
media
landscape
vulnerable to

How can fragmentation lead to bias?

In the 20th century, news came from a limited number of sources, and news didnt
exist on a 24 hour cycle.
Now, with the presence of a 24 hour news cycle, networks are forced to fill up a lot
of time.
People choose to watch fluff news instead of news about things like policy
The existence of more news sources means that news companies have to
compete for views
With the rise of cable news, and the decline of the Fairness Doctrine, it opened up the
door to opinionated reporting.
This opinionated reported can sometimes come off as being biased, especially
when there is not a clear line drawn between what is opinion and what is factual
Who can be trusted?

Example of Fragmentation
Up to 60% of people say they get their news from Facebook
Facebook has an algorithm that ranks your feed by what you are
most likely to find interesting (and thus click on)
This can create an echo chamber
This can also create more polarization because people are so used to being
reaffirmed in their beliefs and are rarely challenged

Example from the Wall Street Journal

Shifting from just a few news sources to many has made us
vulnerable to bias

What are the

ethical
demands
placed on
journalists?

Journalist Code of Ethics

These are ethics that reporters are
expected to follow. A lot of the people
that we are listening to, are not
reporters. Instead they are
interpreting the news, and giving
their own opinions.

What role does

personal
political
inclination play
in shaping the
news?

28% DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLICAN
JOURNALIST
OF THE JOURNALIST THAT
IDENTIFY 4 IN 5 ARE
DEMOCRATIC

Biased in Media
65% journalist are independent
Does a journalist/person in
medias political party effect the
outcome?
Example: Lester Holt
moderating the first presidential
debate

///

7%

What role does

institutional
mission or
company
management
play in shaping

Institutional Mission of Companies Impacts

our News
Some institutions openly consider themselves oriented toward one side or the other.
This makes it OUR JOB to figure out what an institution may have as its undermining goal before judging their news
coverage...
1)

Institutional heads can shape how their anchors cover issues:

&
FOX CEO Robert Ailes had a clear
agenda for each of his anchors to
follow when they were reporting.

MSNBC clearly shows a liberal bias

or agenda in their opinions / air time.

But what about neutral media outlets?

When media outlets consider themselves neutral, the bias people
tend to see is in the TONE of interviews, questions, and reporting rather
than in the material.
NPR & PBS are
good examples of
this.

What role does

audience
demand play in
shaping the
news?

Most Media Institutions today want to

make MONEY!
A frontline reporter once said, News is what matters to people.
The average human would rather receive ENTERTAINMENT news than NATIONAL or
POLITICAL news.

More views = More Money = Company and People are Happy

This means the media is giving their audiences what they want to hear rather than
what they NEED to hear.

When does
editorial news
reporting get in
the way of
factual news
reporting?

Editorial News Disguised as Factual News

When news institutions begin to change the facts to align with their agenda, we enter into a new realm of
challenges in trying to answer the question: How do we trust the media

Problem with this: Not everyone sees that some channels may be oriented towards a specific political
viewpoint, which blurs the line between factual news and opinion-based news.

This further leads to an uneducated population based on nothing but the medias opinion-based reporting.

"When you mix fiction and news, you diminish the

distinction between truth and fiction, and you wear
down the audience's own discriminating power to
judge."
Bill Moyers

How does bias

take place?

In Many Different Form

Placement:

Information that gets presented:

Fox News
Washington Examiner
Fox News:
F

The Washington Examiner:

Framing:

Analysis and Opinion

0:30 1:05
3:00-3:55

Subtle Bias in the news