Are you familiar with media bias? If not, don’t worry. Keep reading and you’ll learn what it is and what bias there is in popular news sources.
What is media bias?
Media bias is when media, like the news, is reported in a way that reinforces a specific view. In the news, bias is often in the wording of an article or even in what the news source chooses to report on. By reporting more frequently on certain issues, readers may believe that these problems are bigger than they actually are. Bias is often unintentional and isn’t always bad.
For an extreme example, an article could use the words “illegal aliens” instead of “immigrants.” You may see that a politician “slammed” a specific policy. Instead of saying that the politician doesn’t support this policy, the choice of “slam” implies that the policy is a horrible idea. If you’re interested, you can find examples of media bias here. The Canadian Encyclopedia also has an article on media bias.
Many articles and pieces of media have bias, as the author’s view affects what they say and how they say it. Even this writing has bias! Bias is everywhere when people write and share content. Since what we read affects what we believe, it’s important to learn how to identify it. Learning to recognize bias can help you make better decisions with information that is more accurate.
Bias in the news
Bias is often rated as left, right, or centre. Left is associated with a viewpoint that is often more liberal or progressive, while right is more conservative. Centre takes a position between these. This media bias chart from AllSides shows the bias of popular, predominantly American news sources.
AllSides rates CBC and Global News as left leaning. If the news sources you prefer aren’t below, you can look them up online.
If you would like a comparison of bias in global or US politics and issues, AllSides groups articles by topic to offer different perspectives. For President Trump’s economic policies, for example, AllSides found articles with biases that are left, right, and centre. You can read and then compare what each article says.
Overall, it’s important to understand media bias because the media is how we learn about the world, and what we know shapes who we are and what we believe.