Wednesday's Biased Item - February 21, 2007
What’s News, AP?
Excerpt
QUESTION: Read the excerpt below from Dan Riehl posted at Newsbuster.org on Feb. 19. Then scroll down and read "Types of Media Bias."
1. Does the Associated Press (AP) shows bias (by omission and story selection) by not running the story of a Muslim cab driver in Nashville who tried to run over two college students after arguing with them about religion? Explain your answer.
2. Do you think that the AP would have run the story if the cab driver had been Christian or Jewish? Explain your answer.
What's News, AP?
Amazing. The AP puts everything over the wire ... well, almost everythng.
Realizing we don't yet know all the details, apparently the AP has decided to not put the story of a Muslim cab driver running down two students [on Feb. 18] after a religious dispute over the wire. Why might that be? They can't all be writing about Anna Nicole Smith?
[View the story at wsmv.com, FOXNews.com or KnoxNews.com.]
Go to NewsBusters.org for the original posting.
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
- When Watchdogs Snore: How ABC, CBS & NBC Ignored Fannie & Freddie
October 1, 2008 - AP: US ‘A Nation That Enshrined Slavery in its Constitution’
September 24, 2008 - Media’s Treatment of Hillary, Barack and Sarah
September 17, 2008 - Media Credibility Plummets
September 10, 2008 - The NY Times: A Year-Long Analysis: Part 2
September 3, 2008
