Media bias
Published Apr 21, 2022 12:05 am
MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
Yes, the Constitution guarantees a free press, but being a human institution, there’s no escaping media bias even where none is intended.
Still, for watchers of television news, radio listeners, newspaper readers, what fun to navigate election news and coverage of the main participants – candidates national and local, their spokespersons and rabid supporters, political analysts and commentators, and the voters themselves. Should audiences, listeners, and readers care about the bias they perceive in their sources?
This is not a thesis, treatise, or term paper, so readers of this space should not expect a recitation of the laws and regulations that define a free press versus libel, slander, malice, and other grounds that an alleged victim may take to court to protect his reputation. Still, media bias is relevant when the shaping of public opinion is a given, considering the public’s expectations of fair reportage and fair commentary in the midst of a heated, chaotic election campaign.
When a slightly raised eyebrow, no matter how nearly imperceptible, or a smirk colors the delivery of a straight news story by a news reader on your TV screen, you see the bias. When a TV station consistently gives more time to one person – 10 or 15 seconds is a long time on the screen for news – or a favored party gets more headshots/closeups than the other side, you may assume there’s bias.
Bias is detected in how moderators and interviewers phrase their questions: Look at their body language, listen to the tone of their voice and choice of words. Do they sound like a police detective out to catch a culprit, or are they sincerely curious to hear what the subject has to say? Should an interviewer try to look pleasant every time? Maybe not, but unpleasantness on the screen is a turnoff, unless the viewer has the same dislike for the interviewee (or station management has an unwritten un-nice policy toward certain types or personalities.)
Among newspaper publishers, bias is normally influenced by provenance and history. Bias, if any is intended, is shown by the choice of headlines and positioning of the stories – front page or inside, what slant? – and the size and frequency of photos of the week’s leading characters. Unconvinced? Turn to the comics.
Jullie Y. Daza
Yes, the Constitution guarantees a free press, but being a human institution, there’s no escaping media bias even where none is intended.
Still, for watchers of television news, radio listeners, newspaper readers, what fun to navigate election news and coverage of the main participants – candidates national and local, their spokespersons and rabid supporters, political analysts and commentators, and the voters themselves. Should audiences, listeners, and readers care about the bias they perceive in their sources?
This is not a thesis, treatise, or term paper, so readers of this space should not expect a recitation of the laws and regulations that define a free press versus libel, slander, malice, and other grounds that an alleged victim may take to court to protect his reputation. Still, media bias is relevant when the shaping of public opinion is a given, considering the public’s expectations of fair reportage and fair commentary in the midst of a heated, chaotic election campaign.
When a slightly raised eyebrow, no matter how nearly imperceptible, or a smirk colors the delivery of a straight news story by a news reader on your TV screen, you see the bias. When a TV station consistently gives more time to one person – 10 or 15 seconds is a long time on the screen for news – or a favored party gets more headshots/closeups than the other side, you may assume there’s bias.
Bias is detected in how moderators and interviewers phrase their questions: Look at their body language, listen to the tone of their voice and choice of words. Do they sound like a police detective out to catch a culprit, or are they sincerely curious to hear what the subject has to say? Should an interviewer try to look pleasant every time? Maybe not, but unpleasantness on the screen is a turnoff, unless the viewer has the same dislike for the interviewee (or station management has an unwritten un-nice policy toward certain types or personalities.)
Among newspaper publishers, bias is normally influenced by provenance and history. Bias, if any is intended, is shown by the choice of headlines and positioning of the stories – front page or inside, what slant? – and the size and frequency of photos of the week’s leading characters. Unconvinced? Turn to the comics.