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2020年10月26日讀畢需時 2 分鐘

Blog 9:Bias and Objectivity-The Impact of Political Bias in Media

The 2020 election has become an important topic nowadays. News featuring election has also received enormous attention. Many people have their political ideas, let alone journalists who are responsible for writing relevant stories. Therefore, political news can be instilled with certain political beliefs of the journalists or news organizations.

First, I want to talk about media bias research conducted by ALLSides. There are five categories in its Media Bias Chart, including left, lean left, center, lean right and right. We can look at some famous news organization. For instance, The New York Times and The New Yorker are categorized as left. The BBC and NPR are viewed as the center.

Under this circumstance, media bias can have an impact on people’s political thoughts.

When people have certain political beliefs, chances are that they will choose media stories that confirm his or her news belief. Hence, they will be consistently exposed to news stories with similar political beliefs, making them more unwilling to accept ideas that contradict theirs. This phenomenon can be illustrated by a term called the “echo chamber.” According to GCF Global, an online education website, the echo chamber means that a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. When people are immersed in the environment without opposing viewpoints, they may contribute to political polarization. For instance, research shows that Republicans and Democrats spot bias only in articles that favor the other party. If an article tilts in favor of their party, they tend to see it as unbiased.

All in all, people need to have a better understanding of the media bias of media outlets, which enables them to develop a balanced news diet. Plus, they need to be willing to read the news that may contradict their original political belief, trying to understand views and opinions in other groups. Only in this way can they get a full picture of political issues.

Reference:


https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/

2020年10月19日讀畢需時 2 分鐘

Blog8: Bias and Objectivity-Bias in Stories about People with Disabilities

When it comes to bias and objectivity in media stories, it is significant for journalists to pay attention to people in special groups. In blog 4, we discussed how to cover news stories of people with mental disabilities. This week, we are more concentrated on people with physical disabilities. According to the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, people with disabilities are seldom seen as individuals beyond the framework of their disabilities. What is more, there are lots of biases and stereotypes in news stories featuring this group of people. I want to talk about two problems in related news stories. First, I want to talk about bias towards people with disabilities from the perspective of the content of the news. Second, I want to talk about bias towards them during the news dissemination process.

First, I want to talk about inspiration porn in related news stories. This term was first brought up by Stella Young in her TED Talk, which means that people are objectifying disabled people for the benefit of non-disabled people. For instance, in lots of stories, we can see content that “even though he cannot see anything, he can still achieve ‘A’ in class.” According to Young, there is an underlying assumption in such motivational stories. The public tends to think that it is a miracle that people with a disability can achieve something in their lives. What is worse, in such news stories, people with a disability are considered an object of inspiration. In other words, from the angles of irresponsible journalists, people with a disability do not have a personality as a human. They are just a tool to inspire people without a disability. According to the article from Forbes, disabled people are often told from the point of view of non-disabled observers, leaving out the actual disabled person’s personality and perspective, which can result in inspiration porn. To address this issue, journalists need to stop and ponder before they produce a story regarding this group of people. It will be beneficial for them to ask, “if I were a people with disabilities, would I be comfortable to see stories like that?” The questions will help journalists put themselves in the shoes of people with disabilities.



Second, the barriers for people with disabilities during the news dissemination process can be seen as an implicit bias towards this group of people. Sometimes it is difficult for people with disabilities to view news, thus hindering them from knowing how media portrays them. For instance, for people with eye problems, they cannot know what the photo stories are about when pictures online do not have alter text within them. Likewise, it is challenging for people whose hearing is impaired to know what the main character in a video story is talking about without a caption. Hence, it is a responsibility for journalists to consider the accessibility of the news stories. In this way, people with disabilities can get to read or view every news story and thus become more prepared to voice their opinions in the media.

Reference:


2020年10月11日讀畢需時 2 分鐘

Blog7:Bias and Objectivity-Bias in Media Coverage Related to Rape Issues

已更新：2020年10月19日

Media plays an important role in exposing issues related to rape and sexual assault. On one hand, media coverage makes more and more people pay attention to this issue. On the other hand, there are serious problems in some of the media stories, spreading rape culture in communities. The video from Media Matters for America displays some problems of inappropriate reporting of rape cases, including the tendency of focusing on behaviors of the victims.



I want to talk about bias in media coverage from the victims’ perspectives in the first place. Some journalists tend to point out the problems of survivors or victims in the related stories. For instance, some reporters would depict the appearance and clothes of a victim, saying that it is the inappropriate dressing style of the victim that results in the tragedy. According to the analysis conducted by Southern Connecticut State University, people blame the victim because they want to separate themselves from the unpleasant experience. By emphasizing the difference between themselves and the victims, people can feel relieved by the autosuggestion that "Because I am not like her, because I do not do that, this would never happen to me." Indeed, such an irresponsible conclusion can be detrimental in various aspects. It makes the public hold biased attitudes towards the victims, strengthening the stigma of them. Consequently, biased reporting will put pressure on the survivors or victims in rape cases, thus exerting a negative influence on their psychological well-being.

Second, I want to talk about bias related to perpetrators. Commonly, news stories define the perpetrators as a ruthless "monster." By reinforcing the violent and atrocious characteristics of the perpetrators, the media will instill a belief in the public that only people with monster-like appearance and personalities are dangerous. The article from Feminism in India suggests that monster imagery of perpetrators “takes attention away from the fact that respectable people are not immune to predatory tendencies.” In fact, most cases related to sexual assault or rape are conducted by family members or acquaintances, who are usually not considered to be “monsters” at first.

In order to address problems in reporting rape issues, journalists should reduce the bias of both victims and perpetrators in their stories. They should avoid victim-blaming, eliminating harm to the victims or survivors in related cases. Plus, they also need to avoid demonization of perpetrators. Instead of making the perpetrators fit into the conventional “monster image”, they should depict the story in a calm and unbiased way.


Reference:

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