Biased About Being Biased, Terra Poole

Objectivity in reporting

People often make the assumption that journalists remain completely objective in their reporting. However, there is no way a journalist can remain absolutely objective for each journalist is her/his own person and would tell each story differently from the next journalist. The journalist's selection of facts, quotes and wording all suggest there are different ways to tell a story. Each journalist has biases too, it goes along with being a human being. However, this is not a negative thing. Biases are a good thing because they make a person more passionate about what she/he is reporting on. However, biases exist in many different industries.

Bias in politics

There are even biases in politics. For example, President Barrack Obama and the health care system in the United States. He is specifically trying to make change in that area of politics because he thinks it is important. Is this a bad thing? Being biased towards a certain topic is not necessarily a negative thing because it helps promote change. Perhaps having a government that is not passionate or biased towards any topics could result in little movement and/or change.

Bias in film

An extremely biased filmmaker is Michael Moore, who directed documentaries such as Sicko (2007), Fahrenheit 911 (2004) and Bowling for Columbine (2002). He has received a lot of criticism for his one-sided approach to telling the truth. People argue that he often exaggerates the truth, misleads people with cinematography, and omits certain facts to defend his points better. However, people should be criticized for merely taking everything they hear or read at face value. Moore is offering one perspective, though it may be biased, people have the right and freedom to research the opposing side and find out how much truth is hitting the light. Moore cares a lot about certain issues about the United States and he's making an attempt to draw some light to those subjects.

Bias in blogs

Is it a bad thing to have opinions and to have those opinions shine through in writing? Even Kevin's blog post about Fox News has bias throughout it, which should be considered a positive thing. Kevin clearly has a distaste for Fox News and it shines through in his writing. Perhaps his blog post would not have been as compelling and engaging if he didn't use lines like, "and it sickens me to see how many ratings they get." However, people should be proactive enough to consider that perhaps Kevin could be biased against Fox News and research for themselves the other side to Kevin's argument. Perhaps even this blog post is biased towards being biased.

Note: Image from Jrenseyblog

Bias Activity, Megan Perras

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2009/0616/obama-struggling-to-control-smoking-habit

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1254684/Barack-Obama-try-harder-kick-smoking-habit-doctors-say.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/02/28/2010-02-28_president_obama_still_smoking_doctors_note_may_be_smoking_gun.html

There is definitely bias in the news concerning the particular issue of President Obama being a smoker (or an occasional smoker). While this can be a taboo vice, it is especially taboo when it is a habit had by a President who is signing papers to increase smoking laws. It is understandable that U.S. citizens have every right to hold their President to a certain standard, especially when it pertains to the health of their leader, but does the press have a right to portray their news in a biased manner on the topic?

The first article is written by the Christian Science Monitor, and is surrounding President Obama’s “struggle” to kick his smoking habit. This article is quite biased, even concerning the headline, “Obama “struggling” to control smoking habit.” Even though the word struggling could be a quote, the quotation marks make it seem sarcastic. When the article carries on to say, “Obama has promised not to smoke in the White House, although it was unclear whether he meant that in the most narrow sense.” It insinuates that he is going to break his word about smoking in the White House, or that he chose his words carefully so as to not hold himself up to the standard of not smoking around the White House, just as long as he is not inside of it. The article goes on to mention Obama’s legislation concerning greater tobacco regulation, and tells of his negative opinion of the habit. Perhaps to be less biased, the article could have focused on how Obama, a man struggling with the addiction can act as a role model for those who are considering taking up the habit.

The second article is from the Daily Mail, and gives a ton of updated information on Obama’s recent health check up, but is also biased concerning the portrayal of his medical results. Right away the article mentions the recommendation of his doctor to continue his efforts towards quitting smoking, but it also mentions the doctor’s recommendation to not drink as much as he has been lately. This creates the drinking and smoking as the center of the article, whereas a completely unbiased approach that was not going for shock factor would have been surrounding the main points on the fact that Obama is healthy, except could improve not just his smoking and drinking habits, but also his cholesterol levels, and could also put more focus on the fact that he had visited some patients in the hospital that had been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Overall though, part of the bias of the article could come from the fact that it seems to be a little all over the place, information is not organized wisely, and it seems as if it was just updated haphazardly.

The third article is the least biased of all three, and it has information balanced by quotes from Obama as well as his doctor. Each portion of information is balanced with a good and a bad point. He smokes, but he has an excellent heart rate. The article felt as if it gave the information without generating a bias- it lets the reader form their own opinion.

Image from: http://thenovapulse.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/obama-smoking1.jpg

Bias Activity, Shannon Findlay

Newspapers pride themselves on being objective and fair. They try to tell stories with differing view points, not just slant it one way or the next. However, to write a truly factual unbiased story would be like writing a text book... incredibly boring. Therefore each story has small biases to catch the interests of an audience.

During the 2010 Olympics Canada won its first gold on home soil in the men's moguls. Second place went to Australia, and third to the USA. Three different nations reported this event with three views. In Canadian papers such as the Vancouver Sun, the focus went to Alex Bilodeau, the national hero who claimed the first gold for Canada. Bilodeau is praised in all the articles for 'making history'. A few articles made note of the stoic response to winning silver by the Canadian born athlete Dale Begg-Smith who competed for Australia. Usually he was painted in a more negative light. Smaller mention is given to the American bronze medalist.

In an Australian paper called The Age, the focus went Dale Begg-Smith. However, it was not proclamations of heroism accompanying his name. Instead he was usually the object of criticism for his lack of emotion. To Australians the Canadian born athlete seemed to show little pride in the nation he was competing for. The bias in these papers was given to the coverage of their own athlete, even if it wasn't to his praises.

Lastly American papers such as The New York Times gave note to Canada winning its first gold on home soil. They were the most objective as well when it came to discussing Dale Begg-Smith. With no reason to over analyze his emotionless finish, the Times were more sympathetic than critical to the the silver medalist. However, their articles all made sure to give sufficient length to detailing the hard work of the American bronze medalist, Bryon Wilson.

Bias Activity, Jayme Hagen

The Haiti Earthquake has dominated many major news sites over the past month. Time magazine declared the U.S. involvement in Haiti a compassionate invasion. There are certain websites that do not share the same optimistic outlook on the Haiti dilemma.

Recently there has been less frequent updates on the situation in Haiti, which is still in need of massive assistance. It is not considered breaking news so its not really covered as widely. There are however certain websites covering less popular subjects. The website democracynow.org tackles many issues left out of most mainstream media, such as who will reconstruction deals, damage cost estimates, and the slippery slope you approach when you militarize a country in a situation such as Haiti.

The New York Times has spawned a page with stories solely based on the Haiti situation as it develops. The site has articles on the rising problem of gangrene, education, and even Voodoo.

A website such as the Edmonton Journal will only really run stories that involve Canadians directly, as that is what the users who log into the site are interested in. Smaller scale websites will often focus on more localized issues, which gives a bias on what they will cover.

Image courtesy of Rolling Hots.

Bias Activity, Aden Cruz

When the 21-year-old Georgian Olympic luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died in a crash during practice on Feb. 12, controversy sprung from many different angles regarding the nature of the incident. Some articles say it was inevitable and shouldn't have been a shocker, yet others describe it as unexpected.

A BusinessWeek article says the death shouldn't surprise anyone, stating that “[t]here are plenty of words we can attach to the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili… Tragic applies. So, too, do heartbreaking, horrific and just plain old sad. One word that does not belong, however, is unexpected.” Conversely, there are articles that describe the incident as “shocking” (Washington Post) and “unexpected” (Daily Titan).

It can be perceived that the bias of sensationalism may play a factor in calling the incident “unexpected” and “shocking” in opposition to what the Business Week article asserts. However, these descriptions could also just be conveying the general reaction of the masses to the incident.

Note:

Image source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00685/Gonzalez_685075a.jpg

Bias Activity, Pamela Di Pinto

Bias is prejudice in favor of or against a particular person, thing, or group in comparison to another, usually in a way that is deemed unfair. As journalists, we are taught to eliminate all bias within our writing; ultimately, it is our job to report the facts, and remain fair, objective, and accurate all the while. In the end, our final copy should represent all sides of the story and leave no questions unanswered for the reader. When bias is present, the question remains: if a story only presents one side, how is a reader supposed to make an informed decision on how they feel about the issue?

For example, there have been several stories published recently surrounding the Canadian women Olympic hockey team, and their double digit wins over teams such as Slovakia, who they beat out 18-0 in the tournament's opening game. Stories have been circulating as to whether or not these type of wins signal a fair competition in woman's hockey at the Olympics. Three stories from three separate regions in Canada present very distinct views on this issue. These stories are examples of both biased writing, and covering a biased issue; some women on the Canadian Olympic hockey team feel that they are being attacked for such wins because of their gender, citing examples such as the junior men world championship where Canada outscored the opposition 32-0 in the first three games without any criticism. In an online article from the Edmonton Journal, the reporter is clearly biased against Canada's double digit wins, forming his argument primarily out of opinion. One statement in particular stood out: "The Olympic motto is supposed to be swifter, higher, stronger; not beat, crush, destroy. It was an ugly game . . . and it should never have been allowed to happen." On the other hand, in an online article from the Vancouver Sun, the headline promotes a very different point of view: "Canada the role model for other countries to follow." Although not as biased as the article from the Journal, this article is clearly in favor of Team Canada's wins, ignoring points of view as seen in the article from the Journal. Also, the same quote from Rene Fasel is used in both articles, but it appears to take on a different meaning in each -- the result of bias. The final article from The Globe and Mail's website (which linked to ctvolympics.ca), was definitely the most neutral out of the three because it addressed alternative arguments (backed by credible sources), and focused more so on the statistics behind the double digit wins, in respect to both Canada and their opponents.

I also tried to find an article from a Swiss newspaper to get their perspective on this issue; however, it was very difficult because there was literally a handful of articles on woman's hockey to pick from, which were mostly recaps of the games. This is yet another example of bias.

In considering all of the above mentioned articles, I suppose one could form a well-rounded opinion on the issue. However, a journalist should always work to achieve this through their article alone.

Image from: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/ourgame/images/minor_memories/wickenheiser-595.jpg

Bias Activity, Kevin Penny

When I hear the word bias, immediately Fox News comes to mind. They have a long record of being slanted towards anything conservative (guns, drugs gay marriage, etc.). Its great line-up of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and many others have even come out and said that "we represent the traditional values of America".

Now, I don't know what the traditional values are for America nowadays (I hope they ditched the slavery idea), but I can tell you that Fox News goes out of its way to make sure that Republicans are made out to look better on television than Democrats. A small example of what I mean:

Now I know its only one example, so you can view 100 more of these videos at this website if you would like more proof.

I will agree that it is kind of ironic to use a Youtube user with the name of 'LiberalViewer' to show the bias of a right-wing network, but the man has done his homework and checked his facts when it comes to showing bias within Fox News. When Rupert Murdoch allows his employees to act like crazies on television, he is defiling the art of journalism.

In addition, Fox News should not include opinion shows like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. These opinionated shows are a form of propaganda, and it sickens me to see how many ratings they get. I am ALL for them having their own shows, but to label them as 'News Anchors' is a mockery of the art of reporting the news. Ron Burgandy would be ashamed...

Image taken from San Francisco Guardian

Video from Youtube user LiberalViewer

Bias Activity, Ricki Cundliffe

With regards to Tiger Woods's public apology Friday, there was bound to be a number of different reviews with bias inevitably attached. To begin, the article in the Calgary Sun contains a very bias heading. To put quotation marks around a word typically represents satire, or sarcastic views. To write that Woods is "sorry" implies that he's actually not. The Sun's article also states that the apology was "highly orchestrated," which in no way, shape, or form gives Woods any credit for his apology. That is certainly bias against Woods, because it tells the readers that there was no emotion or real meaning involved when he apologized to the public. Conversely, the Calgary Herald states that Woods gave a "blisteringly self-critical address" to the public. This article gives Woods the most credit, without a doubt. These two articles highlight the exact same event, but portray it in such opposing lights that it's mind blowing. In the Edmonton Journal, Tiger's affairs are referred to "extramarital escapades," which is just a fancy way of saying the he cheated on his wife on numerous occasions. An affair is an affair, and no matter how much jargon is thrown onto the page, the facts do not change.
Clearly, each paper throws it's own bias into the mixture someway or another. Sometimes, that's exactly what a story needs to add spice and spunk; other times, it just seems cruel and unnecessary.


Links:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/golf/Tiger+ready+come+woods/2580971/story.html
http://www.calgarysun.com/sports/golf/2010/02/19/12944521.html

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/golf/Tiger+Woods+make+public+apology+after+months+silence/2585108/story.html



Note: Image from: http://mediaswirl.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/tiger-woods.jpg

Bias Activity, Jennifer Carbert

Good writers have a world view and an opinion. Opinions give a writer an angle and often encourage the writer to find the story. Yet these opinions and world views can sometimes come across as biased if the writer is not careful. Articles covering the death of the Georgian luge athlete at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics did a decent job of keeping bias out of articles while still presenting different views of the accident. Stories taken from The Seattle Times, The Vancouver Sun, and Time Online all talked to the Olympic organizers as well as other athletes at the games who use that track either for luge, bobsledding, or skeleton races. Vancouver is the host for the Olympics this year, they have a bias is wanted to present Vancouver as doing a good job of organizing the games. The Seattle Times has advertising from Budweiser which is supporting the Olympics games, the Vancouver Sun has numerous Olympic advertisements showing a strong opening for biased opinions from advertisers. Within the stories themselves people who disapproved of how Vancouver has run the games, or didn't want the games in Vancouver stand to gain; however, presented with the other bias VANOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee) stands to benefit from good press. The Seattle Times articles judges the Vancouver Olympic games, later the articles turns around and becomes better balanced. The Vancouver Sun presented an article that was based from the Olympic committee perspective. All three articles are written by different people and the opinions of the writer flow out through the order in which they put the information, the sources and the word choices. All the articles end in a balanced matter having presented both sides of the story and shown great respect to Nodar Kumaritashvili, however the opinions driving the writer to investigate the article are present.

Links:

Image: http://www.randomfate.net/MT/images/biased.gif

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2011056216_apolyluglugerdies.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article7025669.ece

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/sports/2010wintergames/Georgian+president+says+fatal+luge+accident+athlete+fault/2561957/story.html

Bias Activity, Terra Poole

There is always going to be bias in the news because every writer has an opinion. The important thing when regarding a bias in journalism is to give each side of argument an equal voice. An article from the Winnipeg Free Press with the headline, "Will Vancouver Games be 'worst' ever?" leaves out bias even in its headline because it doesn't shove an opinion down the reader's throat. The Edmonton Journal's article, Olympic critics leave out facts, is a little more biased because it doesn't give the other side of the argument a voice. However, headlines are appropriately biased at times because they're intended to draw readers in. Both the Canadian news sites, Winnipeg Free Press and The Edmonton Journal, have the intentions of Canadian's behind them. Neither would like to write that they are, indeed, the worst olympics ever when Canadian moral is hoping to remain optimistic. However, Guardian.co.uk's article, Vancouver Games continue downhill slide from disaster to calamity, doesn't have to write to protect Canadian moral and writes about the transportation issues, questions the safety of the luge sliding tracks and discussing the loss of face of $400,000 in ticket revenue due to lack of snow. The two Canadian articles don't even discuss these facts. The Edmonton Journal article brings up the fact that there were other Olympics that suffered worse fates than Vancouver 2010. For example, from the Edmonton Journal article:

"But the worst Olympics in history? Worse, say, than the 1972 Munich Olympics, at which Black September terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches? Worse than the smoggy Atlanta Games of 1996, at which a pro-life, anti-gay terrorist ignited a pipe bomb, killing two and injuring 111? Worse than the Berlin Olympics of 1936, which Hitler perverted as a Nazi propaganda tool?

A little historical perspective might be useful here."

Whereas, the United Kingdom article doesn't even bring up said facts. The Edmonton Journal does, however, present those facts with definite bias. They are suggesting that Vancouver 2010's Olympics do not even compare to the chaos and tragedies that happened in previous Olympics.

Note: image from boomtownbejing

Lecture 6: Checking Facts and Forms of Bias

Outline:
Homework Review
Evaluate Websites
Forms of Bias
Blog Report 2
Homework


Chapter 5 Review:
With a partner:
Write a blog post responding to the following questions
Title: Chapter 5: Critical Interpretation, Student Names
Label: Lecture 6, Review
Interaction: Add a comment to another group’s Chapter 5 blog post

20 – 25 minutes

Purpose

• What is this text about?
• What does the author of the text want me to know or think?
• What does the author want me to do?
• Who would read or view this text?

Structures and Features

• What structures and features are used in the text?
• What does the design or style suggest about the text or about the audience of the text?
• What do the images/figures suggest?
• What kind of language is used?
• What do the words suggest?

Power

• Is the text fair?
• Are there people or groups who are seen in a ‘good light’? Are there people or groups who
• are not?
• Whose interests does the text serve?
• Who benefits from the text being read or viewed?

Gaps

• Are there people depicted in the text who are ‘seen’ but ‘not heard’?
• Who is not seen in the text?
• Are there people for whom this text is not intended?
• Does the text leave out or avoid certain ideas or issues?

Checking Sites for Accuracy:
Choose a journalism related website
Using the tips on page 99, evaluate the website for accuracy
Include your findings in a blog post
Title: Evaluating “Name of Website,” Student Name
Label: Lecture 6, accuracy, journalism 2.0, fact-checking


30 minutes

Types of Bias:

• Political bias, including bias in favour of or against a particular political party, candidate, or policy.
• Advertising bias, corporate media depends on advertising revenue for funding. This relationship promotes a bias to please the advertisers.
• Corporate bias, coverage of political campaigns in such a way as to favour or oppose corporate interests, and the reporting of issues to favour the interests of the owners of the news media or its advertisers. Some critics view the financing of news outlets through advertising as an inherent cause of bias.
• Mainstream bias, a tendency to report what everyone else is reporting, and to gather news from a relatively small number of easily available sources.
• Religious bias, including bias in which one religious or nonreligious viewpoint is given preference over others.
• Bias for or against a group based because of their race, gender, age, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
• Sensationalism, bias in favour of the exceptional over the ordinary, giving the impression that rare events, such as airplane crashes, are more common than common events, such as automobile crashes.

Critical Questions:

1. What is the author's/speaker's socio-political position? With what social, political, or professional groups is the speaker identified?
2. Does the speaker have anything to gain personally from delivering the message?
3. Who is paying for the message? Where does the message appear? What is the bias of the medium? Who stands to gain?
4. 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?
5. How does the speaker present arguments? Is the message one-sided, or does it include alternative points of view? Does the speaker fairly present alternative arguments? Does the speaker ignore obviously conflicting arguments?
6. If the message includes alternative points of view, how are those views characterised? Does the speaker use positive words and images to describe his/her point of view and negative words and images to describe other points of view? Does the speaker ascribe positive motivations to his/her point of view and negative motivations to alternative points of view?

Bias Activity:
Choose an event and locate 3-4 articles in different news sources. For example, if it is a Canadian story choose news sources from various regions of the country, if it is an international issue such as conflict in the Middle East select sources from various sides of the issue.
Some good websites include: www.newseum.org, www.onlinenewspapers.com and www.journalismnet.com/papers/canada.htm (Canadian Newspaper Index)
write a paragraph on whether there is bias in the news and give examples related to the chosen issue to prove your points

Blog Report 2:

Due: March 9th
Title: We Regret the Error, Name Surname
Label: Blog Report 2

Respond, using examples and in an academic tone:

“Journalists are conditioned to fear and avoid mistakes. This helps send the message that accuracy is important. From there, the best course of action is to help mitigate the fear by teaching practices and introducing tools that help prevent factual errors. Fear of mistakes doesn't lead to accuracy. In fact, one of the best ways to learn how to avoid errors is to make them in the first place. A study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition is just the latest piece of research that suggests, as lead author Nate Kornell, an assistant professor of psychology at Williams College told me, that "making errors is the best way to learn information that you want to learn." Perhaps this sounds a bit confusing: fear is good, but also bad; mistakes are bad, but also instructive. That's exactly the point. Teaching accuracy is a multi-faceted process. It's complicated, and in truth it never really ends. You can't learn accuracy the way you learn to add and subtract. It's a process and a combination of learned behaviours, not a matter of memorization or motor memory.” ~ Craig Silverman

Include at least three mistakes made in Canadian newspapers (online versions)
Note the inaccuracy
Example:
“In a story on Page 3-A of Wednesday’s Independent about the Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Trail of Terror haunted house, a reaction to strobe lights should have included the word “freaking.” The word was replaced with asterisks, perhaps causing confusion about what was actually said. The Independent apologizes for this confusion and the impression it left.” — The Grand Island Independent

Homework:
Read Chapter 9
Read a current edition of the Huffington Post (the Feb. 22 of 23 issue)
Come with a topic for your e-portfolio



Note: Image 1 from Wristwatch Review, Image 2 from Unambiguously Ambidextrous.