How to Detect Bias in the News Bias

How to Detect Bias in the News

Bias through placement • Page One – Teen shoots man at bus stop!! • Page 35 – Teens collect turkeys to serve homeless

Bias through selection and omission Class choices: British Lit American Lit Not offered: African Literature

Bias by headline

Bias by photos, captions and camera angles

Bias through use of names and titles • Bill Gates the ex con In 1977 the owner of Microsoft was arrested for driving without a license and not stopping at a stop sign. This wasn’t the first time he got arrested though. In 1975 he was arrested for driving without a license and speeding. In 1989 he was arrested for driving drunk but that charge was reduced later on.

• Bill Gates the Multimillion Dollar Philanthropist

Bias through statistics and crowd counts • Fifty people injured in Air Crash!

Only 7% of passengers sustained minor injuries 50 out of 700

• To make a disaster seem more spectacular (and therefore worthy of reading about), numbers can be inflated. "A hundred injured in aircrash" can be the same as "only minor injuries in air crash, " reflecting the opinion of the person doing the counting.

If 714 people were onboard, & 7% were injured this would mean 50 people

Bias by source control • To detect bias, always consider where the news item "comes from. "

Word choice and tone • Pushy or Assertive? • skinny or slim? • reckless or daring?

Pretend Magazine • Please turn the pages of this fake magazine and using your media awareness information sheet see if you can spot bias.

Memories of Hurricane Katrina Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana. (AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen) Page 2

Page 3 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spent nearly a half-hour Friday meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the Obama administration tried to prevent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from collapsing.

Let’s look at teen magazines Page 3

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