If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my five years working in media, it’s that journalists are human—flaws and all. And humans, as many researchers argue, are inherently biased.
This doesn’t mean, of course, that every newspaper is unreliable or that every article you read is worthy of a “fake news” label. But even Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists don’t get the facts right all the time, and sometimes, it’s what they don’t say that makes all the difference.
It’s easy to find a news source that seems credible and slip on your rose-colored glasses, content to take their reporting as straight fact. But as consumers of media in the digital age, it’s our responsibility to be diligent and ask questions about our sources—and our sources’ sources. Who’s behind the words you see on the screen? Where did they get their information from? And what lens are they looking at this issue through? (Spoiler alert: It’s not always rosey.)
If you want to be a more informed reader and ensure you’re not being duped by slanted copy, keep reading.
Continue reading “What Is Media Bias? | 5 Questions To Help You Identify Bias in a News Story”
Shelly Rawlings 