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- Every day, millions upon millions of people across the globe spend hours upon hours looking at our phones and other smart devices. Scrolling from post to post, consuming countless amounts of information and news all while being unaware of the dark truth embedded into the media content they're consuming. Bias, it's an inescapable aspect of journalism. I've been working at this company for long enough to understand that media bias is no different than a villain hiding in the shadows, unnoticed and quietly awaiting its moment to strike out, without a chance to defend oneself.
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- Bias huh? What's the big fuss about it now, it's been around forever. News outlets are always playing favorites.
- True, however bias is a lot more subtle than just news outlets playing favorites. Brooke Gladstone said it best when she referred to media bias as “the great refusal”, within her book the influencing machine she uncovers the dark truth behind what causes the manifestation of biases in journalism (Gladstone 327). Bias stems from neutrality, it is the effect of journalists not choosing a side.
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- woah, that's a lot to unpack. First off “the great refusal”? Sounds overly dramatic. Where did gladstone derive that term from? Secondly if biases are caused by journalists are you saying all journalists are villains?
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- Dante’s Inferno, it's a poem where Dante writes about the souls stuck in a limbo, not because they did bad but because they were neither good nor bad. Gladstone used this exact same metaphor to describe journalistic limbo, the unfortunately ironic paradox where in trying to avoid commitment to a certain stance, a journalist instead tries their hardest to maintain neutrality, therefore causing a whole list of different subtle biases (Gladstone 327). So no, journalists are not villainous in nature as the starting act of creating bias comes from a place of pure intent but unfortunately results in the creation of the true villain, Bias.
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- This is completely new. I mean this is insanity. This isn't your run of the mill villain that has a mask to hide their identity, who you can uncover and bring to justice. How are you supposed to defeat a villain that has no face?
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- there's only one thing that can defeat this villain, the power of awareness. The main evil effect of bias is subtle manipulation, keyword subtle, its power comes from being unnoticed, therefore if an individual is able to identify the bias they can view the information with clarity, stripping it of its influence and putting an end to its villainous reign.
- Brilliant! Bias is like a magic trick, an illusion at first but once you understand it, the magic's gone and so is the illusion. But how do we go about making people aware?
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- The presidential race of 2024 between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, it’s one of if not the biggest news events going on today. Using this news story we can turn it into the catalyst needed to expose certain biases and give awareness to them. Most people understand that when politics are involved News outlets are always choosing sides… that's bias at the surface level but beneath that is the true villain that goes unnoticed , that's the deep subtle bias that we have to make people aware of in order to cut off its power. Within the ongoing presidential race of 2024 more and more news outlets are increasingly falling into the paradox of neutrality, thereby permeating three prevalent forms of media bias: commercial bias, bad news bias, and finally narrative bias
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- Commercial Bias
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- In order to take down bias we have to do it one bias at a time so let’s start with the most common form of bias, commercial bias. Remember how all biases stem from neutrality, well this one is no different. The reason for why commercial bias occurs is because media outlets choose to present information that is interesting to everyone. Essentially the choice to present information that only is exciting for the general public creates a higher likelihood of news outlets publishing stories that are more focused on the more controversial elements that'll garner a bigger audience than less exciting information.
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- So by media outlets purposely choosing to cater to a neutral audience they present news stories in a biased way that focuses on a story's controversy rather than its actual deeper significance? They’re basically prioritizing sensationalism over meaningful analysis in the name of staying neutral?!
- Unfortunately, you’re spot on. Look at this news story made by ABC news, headlined “Harris calls Trump 'one of the biggest losers ever' on manufacturing in crucial Pennsylvania” (Farrow, Abdul-Hakim, and McDuffie). This illustrates blatant bias formed by wanting to appeal to the general public. Rather than addressing Kamala Harris' speech on her economic agenda, they focused on a reactive comment made by her towards her opponent Trump. The truth is most people don't want to click on a boring headline discussing different economic policies but show them a dramatic statement and you’ll have their attention. News media understand this so they cater their articles in a way that can appeal to the majority, thus forming commercial bias.
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- Great example! That's the illusion of commercial bias gone but we still have two more to go. Which one should we expose next?
- Bad news bias is next on our list.
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- Bad News Bias
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- Similar to commercial bias, bad news bias is a result of an appeal to a more general audience. A part of the human condition is the fact that we evolved to be more aware of the bad than the good. The reason for this is survival. If we are unable to look out for danger, we are unable to protect ourselves. Bad news bias is no different than this. It’s fairly common practice within news media to report on the negative story as it will bring in more views. The issue is because we tend to focus more on the bad, we bias bad news over good news. This discrepancy is the reason for why some people may have a skewed perception of reality. Within the context of the presidential race running candidate Donald Trump has had a plethora of headlines made about him in regard to his legal issues.
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- I’ve seen those news stories, they really hammered into the reader the notion of Trump being a criminal. Looking back at it now knowing what bad news bias is I can see how they were really focused on all the negativity surrounding his name at that time rather than reporting on any good news. They’re even doing the same thing to Kamala Harris right now. Hurricane Helene just left a path of destruction and news outlets have taken the opportunity to report on all the negativity that has come from the situation and put it on the Biden-Harris administration.
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- Exactly right. This leaves only one bias left... Narrative Bias. Out of all the different kinds of biases there are, narrative bias is the most dangerous
- The others seemed pretty bad. What does this bias do that earns it the title of most dangerous?
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- Narrative Bias
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- Narrative bias has the power to push agendas on to the general public. It can be used to manipulate the masses into believing a false reality by creating a false story. It is because of this power, the ability to control a story, that Narrative bias should be taken the most seriously. For example, look at this News article by The News Republic headlined “Fox News Host Reveals Trump Is Running Scared from Debating Harris” (Houghtaling) Upon reading this the immediate thought is Trump believes he will lose if he debates Harris and the author's reasoning behind this is because Trump does not want to debate with Harris therefore he is scared and believes he would lose. Here the trick behind narrative bias can be spotted. The true story is Trump refused to do another debate, the reason behind this action is purely speculative as even the interviewee on the news article states “ Now, his reasoning, I don’t know” (Houghtaling). Yet the author still chose to add a twist onto the original story therefore painting a false picture which can shift peoples views on Trump. Now while this example highlights how narrative bias works it does not convey the full gravity of its potential harm. If used in a malicious enough way news sources can create a lot worse narratives than a candidate being scared.
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- Right it can be used to push lies that can result in destructive historical events.
- Yes, for example, the insurrection done on the white house can be heavily attributed to the narrative bias being pushed around during that time along with a whole lot of other major historical events. That is why again it is important to be aware of the bias, so we won't be prey to its influence.
- It definitely earns its title of most dangerous.
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- Conclusion
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- In conclusion, commercial, bad news, and narrative bias all pose a significant threat to the world around us. Such biases while almost invisible in their design can be uncovered once we recognize how it is that they work. Commercial bias as shown in our discussions, often leads media outlets to prioritize sensationalism over substantive analysis, focusing on provocative headlines rather than the underlying issues. Similarly, bad news bias skews public perception, amplifying negativity and overshadowing positive narratives, fostering a sense of fear and mistrust among audiences. But most dangerous of all, narrative bias can be used to manipulate the public's understanding of reality by crafting misleading stories that serve specific agendas, as seen in the coverage surrounding Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The United States of America's 2024 presidential election serves as the perfect example of how these different media biases play out in real world news coverage. The only way to defeat these biases is to cultivate awareness about them, recognizing the influence they may have on our decision making and thought process. In becoming more informed consumers of media, we can negate the influence of bias and call out the manipulative news story headlines, thereby cultivating better democratic discourse within our nation while also creating a world where accuracy and objectivity triumph over all else.
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