Wednesday's Biased Item - December 5, 2007
WaPo Promotes Cuban ‘Election’ Fiction in News Brief
Excerpt
INSTRUCTIONS:Read the excerpt below from Ken Shepherd's Dec. 3 NewsBusters.org post. Scroll down and read "Types of Media Bias." Then answer the questions.
QUESTIONS:
1. What type of bias is this excerpt an example of? (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answer)
2. Do you agree with Ken Shepherd's assertion that "The Post...could have reworked the wording to more accurately reflect upon Castro as an ailing dictator who's never faced a free and fair election, not a beloved leader emotionally rent at the notion of leaving public service" ? Explain your answer.
EXCERPT (from the NewsBusters.org post):
Add the Washington Post to the list of news agencies suspenseful over Fidel Castro's reelection to dictator. From the World in Brief digest on page A14 of the December 3 paper (emphasis mine):
In the first official indictation that he could remain Cuba's unchallenged leader, Fidel Castro was formally nominated Sunday as a candidate for the communist island's National Assembly, a requirement for continuing as president.
It remained unclear whether the ailing Castro would seek the post, but the nomination keeps his candidacy in play, providing a rare bit of suspense in a Cuban presidential election, analysts said...
While the Post culls its World in Brief feature from varying news wires, it could have reworked the wording to more accurately reflect upon Castro as an ailing dictator who's never faced a free and fair election, not a beloved leader emotionally rent at the notion of leaving public service.
Go to NewsBusters.org for the original posting.
Types of Media Bias
ANSWER:
1. The excerpt is an example of bias by spin.
To accurately identify different types of bias, you should be aware of the issues of the day, and the liberal and conservative perspectives on each issue. (See our chart “Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs”)
Types of Media Bias:
Omission – leaving one side out of an article or a series of articles over a period of time... (read more)
Selection of Sources – including more sources that support one view over another... (read more)
Story Selection – a pattern of highlighting news stories that support one side of an issue over another... (read more)
Placement – the location in the paper or article where a story or event is printed; a pattern of placing news stories so as to downplay information supportive of one side... (read more)
Labeling – comes in two forms: 1. Tagging of person from one party or group with extreme labels while leaving the other side unlabeled or with more mild labels. 2. A reporter not only fails to identify a liberal or conservative as such, but also describes the person or group with positive labels, such as “an expert” or “independent consumer group”... (read more)
Spin – occurs when the story has only one interpretation of an event or policy, to the exclusion of the other. Spin involves tone- a reporter’s subjective comments about objective facts... (read more)
Previous Biased Items
- The NY Times: A Year-Long Analysis: Part 1
August 27, 2008 - Washington Post Ombudsman: ‘3 to 1’ Obama Front Page Advantage
August 20, 2008 - Poll Shows Majority of Americans Believe Reporters Try to Help Their Candidates Win
June 11, 2008 - The Great Media Depression
June 4, 2008 - The AP Maligns Our Soldiers On Memorial Day Weekend
May 28, 2008
