BIAS IS IT ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE What is

BIAS – IS IT ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE?

What is your perspective?

Maps also show bias and perspective. *You cannot take a three-dimensional object (the Earth) and represent it as a twodimensional object without some form of distortion. The only true representation of the Earth is a globe.

Mercator Projection (1569): Shape and size distorted, distance accurate

Hammer (1892): shape is quite accurate; size and distance are flawed.

Robinson (1963): good balance of size and shape with accurate direction.

But what about these views of the world?

BIAS IN THE MEDIA Every media story we read, view or listen to has been filtered through many layers of people - all of which add bias to a story. Camera operators, editors, journalists, media companies all put their own ‘stamp’ on the final product.

In other words, the media ‘story’ that is presented to you is not necessarily the ‘truth’ nor is it your personal interpretation of the events. It is actually someone else’s perspective of the situation. This perspective may be influenced by: television ratings, career success/failure, money, fear of reprisal. . .

THE MEDIA Our news is brought to us by a surprisingly small number of organizations or powerful companies. In Canada, these include: Bell, Rogers, Shaw, CBC, Astral. Media. . but wait. . . .

BELL (BCE/Bell Globemedia) Proud and powerful owner of: • CTV television (18 stations) • Involved with 50+ television stations (ESPN, History, Discovery) • The Globe and Mail newspaper • Torstar (Toronto Star newspaper) • 109 radio stations across Canada

• BCE has bought out at least 11 major companies including most recently, Astral. Media. Significance? Bell has more controlling influence over what information you and I receive (or don’t receive!) • And this is just Canada! Remember, we get a lot of media coverage via the USA.

So what is a person to do? !?

v Do not immediately believe everything the media throws at you! v Think critically by questioning the statistics given or wondering/researching about the ‘other side of the story’. And there is always another side to the story!