Media Bias Inventory
Abstract: In media literacy 1.0, we are the consumers of the media. However, in media literacy 2.0, we are now the producers of our own media (Ohler, 2010). By conducting my media inventory list, it allowed me to rediscover how my biases are seen by others. What is media bias? According to Wikipedia, media bias is “the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered” (2013). So how does the selection of events and stories, and the manner in which they are reported are biased?
Discussion:
While I was conducting my list on the media that I consume, I’ve noticed that for the most part, I actively choose what news article to read, what shows to follow, and what music to listen to. My media inventory was biased, in that it reflected my social, cultural, and political ideologies. How so? I am a regular user of the social networking site Facebook, and I would click on the “Like” button to show my interests in books, music, movie, or the like. Or I will post my thoughts for the day for my connections to see.
My bias was better revealed to me when I read the article, What you ‘like’ on facebook can be revealing, by Raphael Satter. For example, in a recent study done by the National Academy of Sciences, David Stillwell and his colleagues conducted a study of 58,466 of US volunteers giving them access to their profile to see if their “Likes” revealed anything about them (i.e. gender, age, sexual orientation, IQ, religion, politics, etc.). Stillwell and his colleagues “could correctly distinguish between users who identified themselves as black or white 95 percent of the time. That success rate dropped to a still impressive 88 percent when trying to guess whether a male user was homosexual, and to 85 percent when telling Democrats from Republicans” (Satter, 2013). What were some of the volunteers’ “Likes” that allowed the researcher to predict with such accuracy? “Men who liked TV song-and-dance sensation "Glee" were more likely to be gay. Men who liked professional wrestling were more likely to be straight. Drinking game aficionados were generally more outgoing than, say, fans of fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett” (Satter, 2013).
Furthermore, when I was researching the different types of biases like omission, selection of sources, selection of story, placement, and labeling—I came across an article by Brent Baker that explains these various types. In Types of Media Bias, however, Baker’s explanation and examples are biased themselves! When Baker writes about bias by story selection, he says: “a pattern of highlighting news stories that coincide with the agenda of the Left while ignoring stories that coincide with the agenda of the Right; printing a story or study released by a liberal group but ignoring studies on the same or similar topics released by conservative groups” (2012). Baker’s bias assumes that news stories that coincide with the Left’s agenda get more recognition and more discussion than the agenda from the Right. There was no factual presentation in the article to demonstrate that this was true. In addition, Baker also assumes that there are only two viewpoints from the media: the view from the Left and the view from the Right (i.e. liberal and conservative viewpoints).
Conclusion:
In retrospect, my “Likes” tell a story of my psychology of who I am, even if I do not outright say it. By creating an inventory list of the media I consumed; it was a great exercise for me to ponder over how much media and technology I take for granted. And it is equally important for me to remember, reflect, and critically analyze my personal biases.
Sources:
Baker, B. (2012). Types of media bias. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/types-of-media-bias/
Ohler, J. B. (2010). Digital Community Digital Citizen. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
Satter, R. (2013). What you ‘like’ on facebook can be revealing. Retrieved March 11, 2013 from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-revealing-190246614.html
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2013). Media bias. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias
Images:
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&ix=c1&q=media%20bias&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=1iFFUYv9CcaDywH0lIHABQ&biw=1366&bih=667&sei=JiJFUaeRFKm4yQHs3IGYBA#imgrc=zn62Ru6pjwcYlM%3A%3By3JHVyPEUd3_PM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgooseradio.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F08%252Fmedia-bias.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgooseradio.com%252F2010%252F08%252F13%252Fthe-great-media-bias%252F%3B300%3B311
Discussion:
While I was conducting my list on the media that I consume, I’ve noticed that for the most part, I actively choose what news article to read, what shows to follow, and what music to listen to. My media inventory was biased, in that it reflected my social, cultural, and political ideologies. How so? I am a regular user of the social networking site Facebook, and I would click on the “Like” button to show my interests in books, music, movie, or the like. Or I will post my thoughts for the day for my connections to see.
My bias was better revealed to me when I read the article, What you ‘like’ on facebook can be revealing, by Raphael Satter. For example, in a recent study done by the National Academy of Sciences, David Stillwell and his colleagues conducted a study of 58,466 of US volunteers giving them access to their profile to see if their “Likes” revealed anything about them (i.e. gender, age, sexual orientation, IQ, religion, politics, etc.). Stillwell and his colleagues “could correctly distinguish between users who identified themselves as black or white 95 percent of the time. That success rate dropped to a still impressive 88 percent when trying to guess whether a male user was homosexual, and to 85 percent when telling Democrats from Republicans” (Satter, 2013). What were some of the volunteers’ “Likes” that allowed the researcher to predict with such accuracy? “Men who liked TV song-and-dance sensation "Glee" were more likely to be gay. Men who liked professional wrestling were more likely to be straight. Drinking game aficionados were generally more outgoing than, say, fans of fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett” (Satter, 2013).
Furthermore, when I was researching the different types of biases like omission, selection of sources, selection of story, placement, and labeling—I came across an article by Brent Baker that explains these various types. In Types of Media Bias, however, Baker’s explanation and examples are biased themselves! When Baker writes about bias by story selection, he says: “a pattern of highlighting news stories that coincide with the agenda of the Left while ignoring stories that coincide with the agenda of the Right; printing a story or study released by a liberal group but ignoring studies on the same or similar topics released by conservative groups” (2012). Baker’s bias assumes that news stories that coincide with the Left’s agenda get more recognition and more discussion than the agenda from the Right. There was no factual presentation in the article to demonstrate that this was true. In addition, Baker also assumes that there are only two viewpoints from the media: the view from the Left and the view from the Right (i.e. liberal and conservative viewpoints).
Conclusion:
In retrospect, my “Likes” tell a story of my psychology of who I am, even if I do not outright say it. By creating an inventory list of the media I consumed; it was a great exercise for me to ponder over how much media and technology I take for granted. And it is equally important for me to remember, reflect, and critically analyze my personal biases.
Sources:
Baker, B. (2012). Types of media bias. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/types-of-media-bias/
Ohler, J. B. (2010). Digital Community Digital Citizen. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
Satter, R. (2013). What you ‘like’ on facebook can be revealing. Retrieved March 11, 2013 from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-revealing-190246614.html
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2013). Media bias. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias
Images:
http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&ix=c1&q=media%20bias&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=1iFFUYv9CcaDywH0lIHABQ&biw=1366&bih=667&sei=JiJFUaeRFKm4yQHs3IGYBA#imgrc=zn62Ru6pjwcYlM%3A%3By3JHVyPEUd3_PM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgooseradio.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F08%252Fmedia-bias.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgooseradio.com%252F2010%252F08%252F13%252Fthe-great-media-bias%252F%3B300%3B311