Bias or Not? Diagnosing the Real Media Problem
Is media bias the real problem? No. It is both a symptom and a by-product of a much greater problem.
We recently did an interactive graphic on media bias at GraphicLens and I’ve mentioned it before. We used data from a study done at UCLA for that particular graphic and since then people have both praised and ripped apart that particular study. This morning we re-examined the topic of “media bias” to see if there was another angle worth illustrating. We ended up shifting to a different graphic, but it got me thinking about media bias in general and asking myself some interesting questions.
I saw a site this morning about something going on in Israel and how a Washington Post article dismissed someone this particular website called a “convicted murderer” as “Israeli-imprisoned”. We also see lots of websites and people talking about how the media doesn’t hold “Team Bush” accountable. Where is the media bias, is it swinging left or right? I do believe there is media bias. However, I think bias in the media is much bigger than left-wing or right-wing, conservative or democrat. I asked myself the question, what would an unbiased (if that’ s possible) absolutely perfect media look like? That’s not answered easily.
I personally believable it is impossible to be unbiased. To be unbiased is to not have an opinion. Whether you like it or not, your opinons and beliefs influence your actions. On any given topic, there are so many aspects it would be impossible to show every angle. On any given day, there are so many newsworthy events that go unreported, but how could they all be reported? Failure to include one story, source, or viewpoint tips a precarious scale in one direction instantly. You are labeled biased.
Is the media biased? Yes it is. Is that disgusting? Not necessarily, however, there are some very smelly bits to this. I believe the problem is not bias, but rather, agenda promoted writing. There is no way to be 100% unbiased. You can be as fair as you possibly can, but inevitably you decide what you believe truth is and will take your discussion, story, newsbit, whatever in that direction. It happens in the media, it happens at work, it happens on a person to person basis. If you have an idea at work you believe is smarter, more cost-efficient , and so on, even if you’re the only one sharing those opinions, you will push that idea because you believe it. There’s nothing wrong with that, it actually inspires discussion, creativity, and a real solution by examining multiple viewpoints.
Countries where the government controls the media, what do you think the stories are gonna be about? Whatever the government decides it’s agenda is. The Washington Post, The New York Times, other papers who’ve been labeled as liberal bias, what are they really doing? The people who have the say in what stories are born, they are writing what they believe to be true and what they believe is in the best interest of what should be printed and known. Ultimately this leads people to feel they are underrepresented. I commend the blogging community and the internet community in general for calling people out on false reports, underreported stories, and volumes of viewpoints, but not everyone is familiar with blogs or other new media, they still only get their doses of news from the morning paper or newsstations. I think ultimately we can find a way to integrate these two together, not to crush and destroy bias, but to keep things honest, transparent, and most importantly, to give people enough accurate information to make an informed opinion or decision. How do we get there? Again I ask, what would a perfect media be like?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer, but I believe I have provided the right question. What should perfect media be like? Not, how biased, or, in which direction is it biased. We already know it is, in every direction! It just depends which outlet you look at.
Here are a few sites that discuss the UCLA study:
Media War
Poynter
We recently did an interactive graphic on media bias at GraphicLens and I’ve mentioned it before. We used data from a study done at UCLA for that particular graphic and since then people have both praised and ripped apart that particular study. This morning we re-examined the topic of “media bias” to see if there was another angle worth illustrating. We ended up shifting to a different graphic, but it got me thinking about media bias in general and asking myself some interesting questions.
I saw a site this morning about something going on in Israel and how a Washington Post article dismissed someone this particular website called a “convicted murderer” as “Israeli-imprisoned”. We also see lots of websites and people talking about how the media doesn’t hold “Team Bush” accountable. Where is the media bias, is it swinging left or right? I do believe there is media bias. However, I think bias in the media is much bigger than left-wing or right-wing, conservative or democrat. I asked myself the question, what would an unbiased (if that’ s possible) absolutely perfect media look like? That’s not answered easily.
I personally believable it is impossible to be unbiased. To be unbiased is to not have an opinion. Whether you like it or not, your opinons and beliefs influence your actions. On any given topic, there are so many aspects it would be impossible to show every angle. On any given day, there are so many newsworthy events that go unreported, but how could they all be reported? Failure to include one story, source, or viewpoint tips a precarious scale in one direction instantly. You are labeled biased.
Is the media biased? Yes it is. Is that disgusting? Not necessarily, however, there are some very smelly bits to this. I believe the problem is not bias, but rather, agenda promoted writing. There is no way to be 100% unbiased. You can be as fair as you possibly can, but inevitably you decide what you believe truth is and will take your discussion, story, newsbit, whatever in that direction. It happens in the media, it happens at work, it happens on a person to person basis. If you have an idea at work you believe is smarter, more cost-efficient , and so on, even if you’re the only one sharing those opinions, you will push that idea because you believe it. There’s nothing wrong with that, it actually inspires discussion, creativity, and a real solution by examining multiple viewpoints.
Countries where the government controls the media, what do you think the stories are gonna be about? Whatever the government decides it’s agenda is. The Washington Post, The New York Times, other papers who’ve been labeled as liberal bias, what are they really doing? The people who have the say in what stories are born, they are writing what they believe to be true and what they believe is in the best interest of what should be printed and known. Ultimately this leads people to feel they are underrepresented. I commend the blogging community and the internet community in general for calling people out on false reports, underreported stories, and volumes of viewpoints, but not everyone is familiar with blogs or other new media, they still only get their doses of news from the morning paper or newsstations. I think ultimately we can find a way to integrate these two together, not to crush and destroy bias, but to keep things honest, transparent, and most importantly, to give people enough accurate information to make an informed opinion or decision. How do we get there? Again I ask, what would a perfect media be like?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer, but I believe I have provided the right question. What should perfect media be like? Not, how biased, or, in which direction is it biased. We already know it is, in every direction! It just depends which outlet you look at.
Here are a few sites that discuss the UCLA study:
Media War
Poynter
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