Bias in the News

Creative Commons photo by DonkeyHotey

As we examine the problem of bias in the news, you're probably thinking, "I'm not prejudiced. So I would never be biased in my reporting or writing." But bias isn't the same thing as prejudice. Prejudice is a deliberate negative feeling or attitude. Bias is a tendency or an inclination to assume a certain viewpoint, and a bias may be favorable or unfavorable and is not always deliberate. Indeed, most reporters are unaware of bias in their reporting until someone points it out to them.







Even if your work is free of bias, you need to be a critical observer of the news media and have a greater understanding of bias in reporting. Because it happens. All the time.
Bias can occur in many ways, particularly through:  

•  Selection and omission of specific details

•  Placement of a story

•  Choice of sources

•  Word choice and tone

•  Headlines

•  Photos and camera angles

•  Captions

•  Names and titles

•  Statistics

Click here to examine how two articles cover the same news event in much different way.Then click on some of the other menu items and explore this excellent University of Michigan website on news bias.

For an example of liberal bias, read the examples below (from Breitbart.com) regarding a story about former presidential candidate Mitt Romney who made some controversial remarks while he was being secretly videotaped. How do the revised versions of this New York Times article show a liberal bias?

The original piece contains this paragraph:

Romney told reporters Monday night that his remarks were “not elegantly stated” and were “spoken off the cuff.” But he says Obama's approach is “attractive to people who are not paying taxes.”

The new version reads:

Mr. Romney addressed the video, somewhat awkwardly, at a fund-raiser Monday night in Costa Mesa, Calif., summoning reporters with a few moments’ notice to walk through the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, which was filled with guests sipping drinks at tables elegantly draped in blue cloths.

The original reads:

Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager, said in a statement Monday evening that it was “shocking” that Romney would “go behind closed doors” to describe nearly half of the country in such terms.

The new version reads:

Mr. Romney, who has been under fire for releasing only two years of his tax returns, was quickly attacked by the Obama campaign. Jim Messina, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, said in a statement Monday evening that it was “shocking” that Mr. Romney would “go behind closed doors” to describe nearly half of the country in such terms.

Finally, watch this video by comedian Jon Stewart, who shows a collection of news clips from Fox News about its biased coverage that accuses the Obama administration of covering up "the truth" about how an American ambassador was killed in Benghazi, Libya.

Less is More

There's an old saying in journalism: "Less is more."   

Flickr photo by by Alan Cleaver

Forget about the times you wrote as much as you could about something in order to impress the teacher or give your reader the impression that you really know what you're talking about. In journalism brevity is key. Hard news stories must be concise or you'll confuse and lose the reader.

While feature stories allow writers to be more descriptive and more creative, that doesn't mean you should necessarily start writing a lot more. Right now we're focusing on short profiles so that means first do thorough reporting and interviewing, then pick the very best information to write your story. Don't give the reader all of the information. While your words may be sacred to you, you have to be able to cut what's not necessary and edit wordy phrases. Your powers of observation will also be key to collecting good, descriptive details.

Think of it as fat-free writing.

Click on the links below to see three more examples of 300-word stories by Brady Dennnis, then comment on which you like the best and why.

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Interviews, Angles & 'Whammies'

Although everyone in the class still needs more practice with writing hard news leads and writing stories that follow the basic inverted pyramid structure, it's time to move towards other forms of journalistic writing, beginning with basic feature writing. Features rely more heavily on quotes and interviews, so we need to spend some time in and out of class considering and practicing what makes a good interview.

It's true that the best interviews are like good conversations. That is, in most cases the interview should be a comfortable give-and-take session where you and the person you interview talk with each other, not at each other. Of course, if the interviewee is hostile or defensive, this may not be the case. But the three best things you can do to have a good interview are:

1) Prepare thoroughly by researching the topic and/or the person and list questions.
2) Take good notes and record the interview if possible.
3) Listen very attentively.

Being a good listener is the most important thing you can do. One of the biggest mistakes many inexperienced reporters make is worrying so much about what question to ask next, that they don't realize something important or unexpected that the interviewee has just said.

Here are a couple of short videos I would like you to watch. The first is some good advice about interviewing from former network anchor Katie Couric. The second is from National Public Radio's Scott Simon.

The following information is taken directly from Journalism Toolbox:

"The Angle
The main idea of a news story and lead is called the "angle."

It is also referred to in newsrooms as the "hook" because the angle is used to grab, or hook, the reader's attention to make them want to read the rest of the student's story.

Simply, it is the main point a student learned from their reporting and that the rest of their story will try to support.

Finding the angle of a news story forces a newswriter to be critical of a story idea and the reporting. A news writer will discover if there's no angle in an idea or the facts that have been gathered before an editor, teacher or reader will.

Creative Commons photo by StuartPilbrow

Writing the lead and angle involves making some difficult decisions. A news writer must sort through the facts that were gathered from the reporting and decide what the theme is. There may be several different themes, but the writer must decide what the central theme of the story will be in the lead.
Then students must consider what form their story will take.

In sorting through a mass of material, Carman Cumming and Catherine McKercher of Carleton University tell reporters to think about "S-I-N" -- which stands for Significant, Interesting and New. Students should look for either of those three things from their research and interviews and they will be able to find a compelling angle for their lead.

"Whammy"
The late Walter Steigleman, a journalism teacher in Iowa, told his students to look for the WHAMMY. He explained that the whammy is the single fact that makes your story unique.
Consider the following example, based on a radio interview with Vern Walters of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia with CBC's As It Happens in early March 1996:

Vern Walters, a third-generation blacksmith from Lunenburg, has decided to retire and has put his shop up for sale, closing a 120-year-old family-owned business.

That lead has all the required elements. But a "whammy" is provided when it is learned that Mr. Walters is probably Canada's only working maritime blacksmith -- a blacksmith trained to do special blacksmithing to build and repair boats:

Vern Walters, one of Canada's last remaining maritime blacksmiths, has put his shop in Lunenburg up for sale, closing a family- owned business begun 120 years ago by his grandfather.

That story also illustrates the human interest story, which focuses on an interesting or unique person.
The only way to really understand leads and angles is to try writing one. News writing is like learning to play a musical instrument -- the more you practice, the easier it gets and the better you become."

Reporting vs. Speculation

Creative Commons photo by Ayushπ

What is your opinion of cable news networks? Do they do a good job covering the news? Or do they sensationalize the news and speculate more than report the actual facts?

Watch this brief video where political satirist and comedian Jon Stewart criticizes CNN for their live reporting of the search for the Boston bomb suspect. Then read this article written by a Michigan reporter about his growing frustration with speculation posing as reporting on a major news network like CNN.

Do you think this writer and Jon Stewart are being too harsh in their criticism? Or do you think they are right about an alarming trend in how news gets reported?