Media Bias in News Reporting
Media bias in the reporting of the news is pervasive – it is present in every form of media and every style of reporting, no matter how non-biased one platform or outlet may claim to be. This is because of agenda-setting: the ability that the news has to tell the consumer which issues are important. Media of all kinds assert their agenda by many means. In a newspaper, the story on the front page is deemed to be of most importance; on a nightly news show, the story at the top of the hour is highlighted as most important, or labeled “breaking news” to signal that the viewer should pay attention; on an online setting, the links to stories at the top of the page signal the consumer that these are newest and of most concern to them. Every media outlet has methods of agenda-setting that have been meticulously cultivated since the inception of mass media over a century ago. There are many forms of bias that show up in the media, and there are many reasons why these biases happen. According to Studentnewsdaily.com Bias by omission is when the author intentionally leaves out facts that support the other side of an argument presented in an article. This bias can happen over the short term (for example, an article on CNN that rips apart Obamacare by systematically pin-pointing how this system will attempt to under-cut conservative interests, such as private-sector health insurance providers); or, this bias can occur over long-term (for example, Fox News has become a haven for conservative viewpoints because, over time, this media hub has systematically omitted the liberal voice in the majority of the stories it reports). Another form of bias is inherent in the selection of sources to support a specific viewpoint in a news story. An example of this is when a newspaper runs a story about abortion and backs up its assumptions by testimony from “experts” who already subscribe to a school of thought that is either anti- or pro-abortion. The author simply references
Cited: Baker, Brent. "Types of Media Bias ." www.studentnewsdaily.com. Capitial Web Design , n.d. Web. 5 Nov 2013. . Blumer , Tom. "Media Bias Debate." Newsbusters.org. 05 11 2013: n. page. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. . McCombs , , and Shaw. "University of Twente." Agenda Setting Theory . Universirty of Twente , 25 10 2013. Web. 5 Nov 2013. .