1. Bias, Fallacies, Misinformation, sources
Or, “Don’t get all your news from reading headlines on facebook”

2. What is bias?
: Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another
: An inclination to hold a partial perspective, often accompanied by a refusal to consider any alternative points of view
Synonyms: prejudice, partiality, favoritism, unfairness, one-sidedness

3. We do this naturally We are not robots, and we are all biased.
We look for patterns to help make sense of our world, and sometimes this leads to us jumping to irrational conclusions to try and fit something into our worldview.

4. Types of Cognitive bias
A cognitive bias is a basic misstep in thinking, assessing, or remembering

5. 1) Anchoring
Anchoring is our tendency to rely on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions.
Example: the initial price offered for a used car sets the standard for the rest of the negotiations, so that prices lower than the initial price seem more reasonable even if they are still higher than what the car is worth

6. 2) Apophenia
The human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns within random data.
Example: Apophenia is well documented as a rationalization for gambling. Gamblers may imagine that they see patterns in the numbers which appear in lotteries, card games, or roulette wheels.

7. Pareidolia
Pareidolia is the visual form of apophenia: seeing patterns in chaos
Example: different cultures throughout history have discerned a man’s face or many different forms on the surface of the moon – this lead to the development of some myths

8. More pareidolia

11. famous examples of pareidolia

12. 3) Attribution Bias
People make faulty or irrational attributions about the causes of their own and others’ behaviors.
When we judge another person's actions, we tend to overemphasize the role of personality. When we judge ourselves we overemphasize external factors.
Example: if we see a co-worker bump into someone on his way to a meeting, we are more likely to explain this behavior and say they were being careless or hasty, rather than considering that he was running late to a meeting. But when we are late, we may blame the traffic or the weather for making us late.

13. 4) Confirmation bias
Our tendency to search for, interpret and recall information in a way that confirms our beliefs or hypotheses
We love to agree with people who agree with us. It's why we only visit websites that express our political opinions, and why we mostly hang around people who hold similar views and tastes.
Example: A student who is going to write a research paper may primarily search for information that would confirm his or her beliefs. The student may fail to search for or fully consider information that is inconsistent with his or her beliefs.

14. Media bias There are also watchdog groups that report on media bias.
: The bias or perceived bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media
There are also watchdog groups that report on media bias.

15. Types of Media
Mass media: all the various forms of communication used to reach a large population. Also refers to the organizations, companies and/or individuals that own the media outlets.
Mainstream media: distributed by the largest/ popular outlets
Alternative media: presents an alternative to mainstream media (content or modes of distribution)
Print media: newspapers, articles, books, pamphlets
Broadcast media: radio, TV, film, music
Digital media: internet – social networking sites, ads, websites
Outdoor/External media: billboards, posters, streetcars, blimps

17. Class survey In the last 24 hours, have you Watched the news on TV?
Read a newspaper article?
Listened to the news on the radio?
Read about the news on Facebook or some other social media platform?
When you share articles on FB, what sites do you tend to share most often?
When you watch or read the news, what channel/newspaper do you watch/read?

18. Media and the study of world issues
Globalization of media has created a border-less world in terms of sharing information in real time
Internet – contributes to the spread of democracy, wealth creation, technological advancements, etc.

19. Be aware of the language used to describe people
Does the newspaper article describe a protest march as a “well-organized, peaceful group of marchers arriving at the government offices”, or as an “unruly mob descending upon the building”? Are the rebels “freedom fighters” or are they called “terrorists”?
Also be aware of the pictures chosen to represent that person or group

20. Types of Media bias
Gate-keeping Bias: declining to report on stories or even keeping stories covered up
Coverage Bias: reporting on only one perspective of a story.
Mainstream Bias: reporting on the most popular stories, while ignoring unique stories.
Sensationalism Bias: reporting on events that are unusual or rare, as if they are more common. Often associated with entertainment value: “infotainment”

21. Corporate and advertising bias
Six corporate conglomerates (Disney, CBS Corporation, News Corporation, Viacom, Time Warner, and Comcast) own the majority of mass media outlets in the USA.
Such a uniformity of ownership means that stories which are critical of these corporations may often be underplayed in the media.
In the USA most media are operated for profit, and are usually funded by advertising. Stories critical of advertisers or their interests may be underplayed, while stories favorable to advertisers may be given more coverage.

22. Who owns the media in Canada?
Media in Canada are primarily owned by a small number of companies, including Bell, Shaw, Rogers, Newcap, Quebecor and the government- owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Each of these companies holds a diverse mix of television, cable television, radio, newspaper, magazine and/or internet operations.

24. Is there a “liberal media bias”?
Many critics of the media say liberal bias exists within a wide variety of media channels, especially within the mainstream media, including network news shows of CBS, ABC, and NBC, cable channels CNN, MSNBC, as well as major newspapers, news-wires, and radio outlets, especially CBS News, Newsweek, and The New York Times
There have been many studies conducted and books written. Many conclude there is a slightly left lean to many of the mainstream media companies. Many differ and say that most journalists skew centrist.

25. How reliable is Wikipedia?
Wikipedia says that it is reliable, they even have a page about it “Reliability of Wikipedia”. They quote a study from 2005 that says they are comparable to the Encyclopedia Britannica. LOL.
But really, when you look at the independent studies, Wikipedia does actually fare quite well.
Their articles on academic subjects tend to be more accurate than their articles on pop culture.

26. Personal bias
Everyone has their own particular set of economic and social perspectives. They will colour your viewpoint.
Every hear of the “Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant”?

27. Ways to Spot a BS news story
Don’t be that person who shares a news story online before checking to see if it’s legit or not

28. How big is the protest/group?
If a news story mentions a protest or disagreement, dig a little deeper to find out the size of the protest. Is this a legitimate phenomenon and people are up in arms about something en masse, or is it just a few loud dissenters?
Several news outlets recently reported “furor” over a woman’s choice to breastfeed during her college graduation ceremony. That furor turned out to be a handful of mildly annoyed comments. Yet the headline makes it sounds like an angry mob.

29. “Many experts agree”
This type of language implies a definite fact without stating it outright
These are called weasel words

30. How did some guy’s random blog know about the cure for cancer before CNN?
If you see some earth-shattering important news headline but can’t find the story on any other recognized, credible news site, chances are it’s fake
If your only source is some small unknown website or blog, it’s probably not a credible source
And that, my friends, is from a crazy conspiracy website

31. Read a crazy viral news story?
Does the story say that this crazy thing happened in Russia or China or somewhere else where it’s hard to verify if it’s true and they may be culturally different?
Be skeptical

32. Check your sources: it might be satire
News satire is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism
News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, but it has gone through a huge spike in popularity in the last decade

33. Examples of people who don’t know what satire is
Most courtesy of literallyunbelievable.org