Bias and Point of View in Media - Assignment Example

Dobrovich was the best according to the judges during the finals at the Canadian Music Competition and was given a 90 percent score after performing for about 15 minutes and becoming number one in his category. Dobrovich who chose to play a Rubinstein concerto after receiving advice from his teacher, Pugach Yaroslav is planning to build a career in the music industry and study music at Toronto University. The news reporter, David Paterson reports that Dobrovich is headed for a summer position towards Barrie at the center for cadet training in Borden, the military base. Paterson goes ahead to report that Dobrovich is perhaps trying to pop up in the military band.

From this news, we can realize that the reporter has been biased from the headline to the entire story. The headline reads “A young pianist strikes gold on the national stage”, this is a bias by the headline. The headline catches our attention and at some point, the audience may imagine that the pianist got gold on the national stage, while in the real sense, he was only pronounced the best. David Paterson colored the report and made it flourish to catch the attention of the audience. Another bias in the story is that bias is through selection and omission. The reporter omitted a lot of other participants and even some important aspects of the competition; he only selected the flourishing part to report.

We can also see a bias in word choice and tone.  When David Paterson uses words like “strike” and “gold”, our attention is caught and we quickly run through the story to get a glimpse. Finally, there is a bias in the use of names and titles. We are told that Dobrovich was selected to play a Rubinstein concerto because he was advised by his teacher, Pugach Yaroslav who has been with him for about three years. This attracts attention to the competence of the teacher.

Assignment 2

In the editorial, "Oh Canada" from the Mississauga News, the author has used bias of various kinds in presenting his/her point of view. The first instance is the headline “Oh Canada”. This is a bias by the headline. At the first glimpse, it shows some emotions and the audience would probably divert attention from any other thing to read the editorial to the end. The audience may at some point think that there is something so big with the story, only to realize it’s a mere birthday wish. Another instance of bias used by the author is bias through word choice and tone. When the author uses words such as “separatist supporters”, “happy birthday Canada” and “rubbish”, we are influenced to read the entire story to get the gist.

The author also uses names and titles like the Quebec filmmaker Pierre Faladeau who criticized the celebration of Canada Day at the capital and suggested that the money used for celebrations was stolen from the residents of Quebec. This is a bias through the use of names and titles because the person is depicted to be brave and has influence, therefore the audience would want to read anything in which his name is mentioned. In the last paragraph, the author also used a bias through statistics and crowd count. For example, the author reports that approximately 30 million Canadians joined in the celebrations for freedoms, opportunities, and resources. This may not be the case, but it catches the attention of the readers anyway.

Assignment 3

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I am not very pleased with the security situation in Canada. There have been multiple recent reports on compromised security and safety of residents in Canada. I am a citizen of this country and it concerns me to see people lose their items in the hands of ruthless thieves.

First, reports of thugs knocking women and speeding away with their purses are so common, and nothing concrete has been done. No one has been charged in court and the culprits are still hovering around the city corridors. We are citizens of this country and we deserve maximum security from the government.

Second, we have become our sources of insecurity in this city. The police should step up security within the city to avoid the “purse grabbers” from this act. Recently a Brampton woman, 80 was knocked to the ground by some notorious teens and resultantly fled with her purse. The woman had just exited a bank hall. This is not pleasing at all. We pay our taxes in time and the government needs to reciprocate.

Finally, there is a need for civic education to foster love and harmony in this country. Police should remain responsible and ensure the city corridors are safe for all sorts of people. Those convicted should also be subjected to harsh punishment to avoid the repletion of such felonies.

Sincerely