Media Bias - Research Paper Example

The first step in challenging biased news coverage is documenting bias. Here are some questions to ask yourself about newspaper, TV and radio news (Thiere 50). Political coverage often focuses on how issues affect politicians or corporate executives rather than those directly affected by the issue. For example, many stories on parental notification of abortion emphasized the "tough choice" confronting male politicians while quoting no women under 18--those with the most at stake in the debate.

Economics coverage usually looks at how events impact stockholders rather than workers or consumers (Thiere 50). [The bias] is not the result of a vast left-wing conspiracy [there is] an unconscious “groupthink” mentality that taints news coverage and allows only one side of a debate to receive a fair hearing. When that happens, the truth suffers. A reporter’s job is to present a balanced story. As you read, listen to and watch news stories, you probably already notice stories that you think are biased.

To see if they really are biased, you need to determine if the story falls into at least one of the several forms in which bias occurs (Fahri). There are several types of bias. To start with is bias by omission: For every news story that is selected, there are many others that are left out. Do the news stories you see show a balanced view of real life? What are the characteristics they have in common? (e.g., are they mostly about violence, famous people, and wealth?) Do some news sources include items that are ignored by others? (Fahri) The other form of bias is bias by emphasis: What stories are on the front page or “at the top of the hour?

” Which stories get the largest headlines or the first and longest coverage on TV or radio? Consider how this placement influences people’s sense of what is important. Bias by use of languages when the use of labels such as “terrorist,” “revolutionary,” or “freedom fighter”