LibGuides: News Media: News Bias

Source: Jon S on Flikr, used with CC 2.0. Modified by zooming in, cropping, and adding center bubble and "News Media" text. | https://www.flickr.com/photos/62693815@N03/6277208078

Types of Media Bias

Demographic bias is the bias of reporting on, about, and by different demographics in different ways.

One well-known example of this is "missing white woman syndrome," which is a way of referring to the tendency media outlets have to be more likely to report on some missing people (particularly younger white women) than they do for other missing people.

The Columbia Journal Review created a tool that allows you to estimate how many news stories you would be likely to have written about you if you went missing, based on your age, gender, race, and location.

A graphic that says "You are worth 67 news stories. You would receive an above average amount of press coverage. In comparison, an elderly Hispanic male would be covered in five news stories or less."

Source: https://areyoupressworthy.com/ by Columbia Journal Review

So where does this kind of bias come from? There are probably a lot of factors, but one thing that definitely tends to make this bias more common is a lack of diversity in the media. More diverse newsrooms tend to lead to staff with more diverse viewpoints, interests, and a better ability to notice and fix this kind of bias. Unfortunately, while it is improved from the past, this is still a major issue in the news media today, with a disproportionate amount of news staff being white and male compared to the overall statistics of U.S. workers overall (77% white news employees instead of 65% white U.S. workers) as of 2018, and this number has only decreased to 76% as of 2022.

Bias by omission is the form of bias where some stories are not reported on, or certain sides or facts that may favor or disfavor some perspectives are not included. This is different from lying, but it still creates a false narrative and shows a skewed view of reality.

A camera spotlighting the center of a man chasing after another man with a knife, in such a way that it looks like the victim is attacking the attacker.

Source: Unknown, found on https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/c.php?g=600315&p=4157699

Layout bias is the form of bias that comes from visualizing, presenting, or organizing news in a way that favors or disfavors different perspectives or communities.

For example, the picture in this article (discussing the subject's possible guilt in a controversial situation) has the subject with a guilty look on his face. It gives a visual emphasis on his apparent guilt without technically saying "he's guilty."

Screenshot of an article about a congressman and a scandal, with the congressman looking to the side with a closed mouth.

Source: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/how-to-spot-types-of-media-bias using a screenshot from this article: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/the-nunes-crew-is-neck-deep-in-the-ukraine-scandal/

Another example is this:

Chart marked "murders in the united states" with 2018 vs 2019, the Y-axis ranges from 16340 to 16430.

On the left, you can see that it looks like murders have risen a lot from 2018 to 2019. On the right, they look like they're almost the exact same number. The graph on the left is choosing to only include the very top of the graph. The numbers are just as accurate on both graphs, but the graph on the right will give people a more accurate image of how the murder rate has changed.

Source: https://web.stevenson.edu/mbranson/m4tp/version1/fake-news-misleading-graphs.html

There are lots of other ways that visual bias can exist in the news, including layout (if a newspaper always shows stories that make a politician look bad on the front page and keeps the stories that make them look good in the back, for example) or even photo editing (there have been examples of newspapers lightening or darkening skin tones). It can be hard to notice sometimes, but take a second to recognize how a newspaper makes you feel and why you feel that way, and you might be able to find a bias that wasn't clear initially.

Neutrality bias happens when two perspectives are given equivalent space and credibility to two different perspectives, even though one of the sides is objectively incorrect. This is typically done in an effort to avoid appearing biased, but in reality is creating a bias closer to the objectively incorrect side.

For example, if a news source published an article titled "Is the Earth flat?" and gave 50% of the quotes to people saying it was round and 50% to people saying it was flat, this would lend credibility to the idea that the Earth might be flat, despite this being a widely debunked, unpopular, and scientifically disproven conspiracy theory.

A comic displaying a debate presented by a newscaster, with a scientist and a flat earth society member.

Source: https://skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=408 via crankyuncle.com

Corporate bias is bias that is influenced by corporate or advertising interests of the news source.

Some news sources may include advertisements or articles that are sponsored by corporate interests, without making it very clear that they're advertisements, usually using language like "Sponsored" instead. In the following example, they're listed just to the right of legitimate news articles, with only the phrase "Sponsored Stories" on top to differentiate the two.

Screenshot of a news site with news stories on the left and sponsored stories on the right.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/ as of 4/24/2024

Another way this can happen is even more subtle. The Washington Post, while a highly respected news source in many ways, is also owned by Jeff Bezos, who is the former owner of Amazon. So you can imagine that articles like the following one could have a bias related to that, even though there is no marking or notice related to the conflict of interest.

Screenshot of a Washington Post article reporting on reported bias at Washington Post related to Amazon

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-accuses-the-post-of-biased-coverage-due-to-his-criticism-of-amazon-cites-no-evidence/2019/08/12/9846878e-bd67-11e9-a5c6-1e74f7ec4a93_story.html

Sensationalism is a broad form of bias that generally refers to news being presented in a dramatic, emotional, or over-emphasized way.

One tactic is covering certain topics more than is accurate to the reality of the situation. Certain topics are more exciting or seemingly newsworthy than others, so they get extra attention and skew how common readers think they are. Cause of death is a famous example of this.

Large chart comparing the percentages of causes of death in reality vs how much people search for them on Google vs how much they are discussed in The New York Times and The Guardian, with various differences, like terrorism and homicide far more often in the newspapers than in reality.

Implicit Bias vs Explicit Bias

Source: https://www.facebook.com/whymovementmatters/photos/a.2071569989806539/2327322934231242/?type=3 | @movementmatters on Facebook

Explicit bias is different than implicit bias in that explicit is known and self-aware, and implicit is unaware and not known. In the news, this can happen in all sorts of ways (including in combination with most of the listed types of bias above). It's difficult to tell when a bias is implicit or explicit when you're an outsider reading, but the harm from bias exists either way.

Explicit or Implicit? Test your understanding of the difference between explicit and implicit bias!

Explicit or Implicit / If someone said "I don't like people from New Jersey"... / Would this be explicit bias, or implicit bias?

Explicit (circled) or Implicit / If someone said "I don't like people from New Jersey"... / This would be explicit bias, because it is directly and consciously biased against people from New Jersey.

Explicit or Implicit / A jeweler usually tries to sell to the people with the most expensive clothing, without thinking about it. / Would this be explicit bias, or implicit bias?

Explicit or Implicit (circled) / A jeweler usually tries to sell to the people with the most expensive clothing, without thinking about it. / This would be implicit bias, because it is not planned, spontaneous, and happens without thinking.

Explicit or Implicit / A reporter accidentally spends more time interviewing someone in her own wealth class, because they have more in common. / Would this be explicit bias, or implicit bias?

Explicit or Implicit (circled) / A reporter accidentally spends more time interviewing someone in her own wealth class, because they have more in common. / This would be implicit bias, because it is not planned, spontaneous, and happens without thinking.

Explicit or Implicit / A news editor intentionally avoids stories that might make his brother-in-law's business look bad. / Would this be explicit bias, or implicit bias?

Explicit (circled) or Implicit / A news editor intentionally avoids stories that might make his brother-in-law's business look bad. / This would be explicit bias, because the editor is intentionally holding back stories he would otherwise publish, directly planning to favor other stories.

Why still read the news?

Painting: "Reading the News" (1918) by José Malhoa

With all these kinds of bias, it can be pretty hard to find unbiased news. In fact, everyone has some bias, and that will come through in the news to one degree or another. There is no one perfect source of news that you can consult for a completely unbiased take on the world. But that doesn't mean it's not worth reading the news. You are biased too, and there's nothing wrong with that, but the best way to compensate for your own bias is to read and hear different perspectives to keep your mind open. Reading the news, especially reading multiple publications, can be incredibly helpful for having a fuller understanding of the world. This is especially true in a time with the Wild West of social media, which are designed to keep you using them as long as possible, which means information is not being checked by journalists or editors, and is biased in whatever way means it will keep you using it the most.