Participation in Government Johnstown High School Mr. Cox Media Bias Participation in Government Johnstown High School Mr. Cox

Bellringer Respond to each of the following clips of news interviews What issues are presented? How do the interviewer/interviewee interact? How could the interview/news story had been presented differently? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e25in2BNo48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43PSfXguXKM

How Could We Begin to Research News Bias? With what political party are reporters registered? Search for a controversial current event, one that would divide the left and the right, and attempt to discern the angle played by the reporter /news outlet. What would be a way of “biasing” a story?

Bias What is bias? Bias – the collective influences of the entire context of a message. Media bias – the selection of events and stories that are reported, as well as how they are covered There is no such thing as an objective point of view. No matter how much we may try to ignore it, human communication always takes place in a context, through a medium, and among individuals and groups who are situated historically, politically, economically, and socially. This state of affairs is neither bad nor good. It simply is.

Major News Outlets and their General Biases Liberal Leaning Conservative Leaning Conservatives typically view these media outlets with skepticism Major Networks News Division: ABC, NBC, CBS Cable Outlets: CNN and MSNBC Major News Paper: New York Times Huff Post Liberals typically view these media outlets with skepticism FOX News Division: FOX News and FOX Business Channel Talk Radio: Rush Limbaugh Major News Paper: Wall Street Journal

Critical Questions for Detecting Bias What is the author's / speaker's socio-political position? With what social, political, or professional groups is the speaker identified? Does the speaker have anything to gain personally from delivering the message? Who is paying for the message? Where does the message appear? What is the bias of the medium? Who stands to gain? What sources does the speaker use, and how credible are they? Does the speaker cite statistics? If so, how were the data gathered, who gathered the data, and are the data being presented fully?