by Craig Colby
There is a lot of talk about media bias, but many people don’t fully understand what it is and they miss the big one entirely. Let’s talk about the levels of media bias and what you can do about them.
Personal Bias
When I studied journalism at university 40 years, personal bias was the one we talked about the most.
Here’s how it works. Say you and a friend see a movie. The lights go out, you watch the film side by side. When it’s over, you love the movie, your friend hates it. The film was the same, the conditions you watched it in were identical. The difference is your personal experience and preferences. That’s a bias.
So how does that express itself in journalism? Let’s say a journalist is interviewing two people. One guest says it’s raining. The other says it isn’t. The journalist’s job isn’t to say, “Well, you’ve heard both sides, you decide.” The journalist’s job is to look outside then tell people if it’s raining. In short, tell people the truth.
That’s simple when it comes to a fact like whether it is or isn’t raining. When stories are complicated journalists need to use their own expertise to present the truth as best they see it. That’s called gatekeeping and journalists are trained for it. They evaluate the quality of an interview subject, consensus among experts, and any other factors that affect the story. There can be a lot to juggle. Journalists need to use their own judgement when they lay out the story. That’s where bias plays in. It can’t be removed. It’s baked into who you are. No one is completely objective. Journalists understand this.
You can see personal bias this when you read two different articles on the same event. Who did they talk to? What information is more prominent in the story? You can minimize the effect of personal bias by looking at different coverage of a story.
Editorial Bias
Editorial bias occues at the level of an editor-in-chief, executive producer, or other newsroom leadership. This is seen in which stories are covered and where they are placed in a paper or a television program. You can’t cover everything, so decisions are made about where to put resources.
When you compare newspapers and newscasts you’ll get a sense of what the newsroom’s editorial bias may be. Which stories are at the start of a show or on the front page? What do the headlines say?
You can also find editorial bias on the opinions page or with the opinion hosts on a channel. This is where you see which way an organization leans politically.
Corporate Bias
Corporate bias is the one we hear about the most these days. Do the owners of the news organization force the reporters and editorial teams to cover some things and not others? This is what people are afraid of.
Does it happen? Sure. It’s happening at the Washington Post where Jeff Bezos cancelled their presidential endorsement and has told the opinions editors what the paper’s editorial bias will be. It’s also why I cancelled my subscription to the paper.
The biggest worry is that news teams will ignore stories that make ownership look bad, play up stories that make them look good, or misrepresent a story because they’re afraid for their jobs. Good news organizations will identify potential conflicts of interest in the body of the story. When they cover a story that involves ownership they will tell you that the company owns the news orgnaization.
I frequently hear from conservative friends that they don’t trust the mainstream media because it is biased towards liberal thinking. There’s a problem with that idea. The media is not a monolith. It’s not one thing. There are many conservatives media voices, like Sinclair media in the U.S. and the Sun chain in Canada. Because they are popular, they are part of the mainstream media too.
The Biggest Bias
I think all of this misses the biggest bias of all – the desire for eyeballs. What all media wants most is for you to pay attention to it. That drives decisions more than anything I’ve mentioned so far. People often say CNN is a left-leaning channel but I disagree. They covered Donald Trump heavily during his first campaign. CNN may have helped him more than anyone. They also feature right-wing pundits every night.
What CNN is actually promoting is confrontation. It has more in common with the ESPN debate show “Pardon the Interruption” than it does with a traditional newscast. Every night you see people debating issues rather than crafted news stories on the issues themselves. They know people will tune in to conflict. It’s the main ingredient of compelling storytelling.
Fox “News” got its toe hold in the media landscape by going after an underserved demographic, right wing America, and they feed their audience whatever will keep them watching.
None of this is new. There is an old saying in the news business. If it bleeds it leads. That means news skews towards sensationalism.
What To Do?
So, what do you do about this? First, you need to realize that bias on its own isn’t a bad thing. If you listen to two friends talk about a labour dispute and one of them owns a business and the other is in a union, you’ll learn something from both perspectives. They will help you form your own opinion. That’s a good thing. It’s the same with the news.
This is why you should get your news from multiple news sources, and I do mean news sources, reputable places with editorial teams and processes, not online propaganda sites. That’s another topic entirely.
To pick up on our movie example, Rotten Tomatoes is popular because they take many movie reviews into account. You’re not just relying on one opinion. They certify something as fresh or rotten through an amalgamation of reviews.
You can do the same. There are sources online that will tell you where news sources are on the political spectrum. Try to read across that range.
While you’re reading, look for the facts in a story and try to separate them from the opinion. The facts should be the same in all the coverage.
You Are a News Source
The last thing you can do is to be aware of your own bias. It will influence the way you interpret every story you read or hear. It especially influences the stories you share because if you share stores in any social media platform, you have become a news source yourself. By being aware of your own bias it will help you be the best gatekeeper you can be.
Craig Colby is a television executive producer, producer, director, writer and story editor. He runs a storytelling consulting and production service.
Craig is also the author of the multiple award winning ALL CAPS: Stories That Justify an Outrageous Hat Collection.