Background:
Most of us hear “fake news” regularly. Often it is used mostly as an attack on news that one does not want to hear or believe. Usually, the validity of the comment is irrelevant because it is used as an attack. Misreporting is nothing new to journalism; however, with political bias becoming such a strong influence on reporting, finding truth can be difficult. Every source has a different perspective when telling news stories. Audience bias is a major contributing factor to twisted reporting.
Bias also impacts the way we present information as a whole.
In this essay, you’ll be comparing two sources influenced by bias.
Assignment:
For this essay, your task is to find two or three articles demonstrating bias on the same topic. You can use print or video for this assignment. Your goal is to make a point about the significance of these apparent or subtle examples of bias influencing how the truth is presented. The goal is to compare how the same topic can be reported differently between two sources.
You want to critically analyze why the example of bias distorts the story and how both sides of the spectrum are guilty of this. You’ll have to prove the bias exists in the articles, why it exists, and the issues that it creates. Beware your own confirmation bias when searching for support for your argument. You can pull from any source that claims to be news.
You need to use at least two articles, and they should be covering the same story or at least same type of story. For example, if you choose an article talking about an officer-involved shooting, all the news articles should talk about that incident or at least similar incidents. You should pull one from each side of the pollical spectrum. For instance, you might pull one from CNN and one from Fox News to compare how both of their bias distorts the truth.
Entertainment shows such as The Daily Show are not technically news and are satire and entertainment, so it’s easy to find extreme examples of bias. Shows like Fox and Friends and Tucker Carlson’s show are not considered news but instead are commentary shows, so again their bias is extremely easy to find.
The easiest way to find bias is to choose articles labeled opinion or analysis. These articles demonstrate the most bias.
Does it have to be news?
No. For this assignment, you could choose something like a sports matchup. For instance, if the New England Patriots are going to play the Indianapolis Colts, you might compare how a local publisher would cover each team differently. The obvious bias for their teams would influence how they present the information.
You could compare how a website like PETA talks about chicken farms versus how Tyson Chicken Farms talks about them.
You need at least two articles.
The articles need to be showing two sides to the same topic. CNN and Fox News always show different views of the same event, which is a good example of how bias can change the story.
You don’t want articles that agree with each other or show a similar point of view.
Example articles
You are free to choose whatever articles or videos that you want. They can be old or recent. Here are some examples. You can use these examples if you want, but you’re free to choose different topics.
Officer-involved shooting
This story involves the reporting of the officer-involved shooting of Daunte Wright and the protests that followed. The New York Times shows a liberal bias and tends to side with protestors against the police. Fox News, on the other hand, shows a conservative bias where they defend the actions of the police and condemn protestors. Even though they tell the same story, they frame it differently.
Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas and Paybarah, Azi. “Protesters Clash With Police After Minnesota
Officer Shoots Black Man” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 11
April 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/us/brooklyn-center-minnesota-police-
shooting.html
Wallace, Danielle. “Minnesota officer meant to fire Taser, not handgun, in deadly Daunte Wright
shooting, police chief says” Fox News, Fox News Network, 11 April 2021,
https://www.foxnews.com/us/minneapolis-police-officer-riot-looting-national-guard-
police-shooting-daunte-wright
Views on Hunting
In these two articles, we see how PETA has a strong bias against hunting because they are a Vegan organization. On the other hand, we have Nebraskaland magazine, which understands that the vast majority of its readers will probably be pro-hunting, so we see how their bias for hunting impacts their views.
“7 Reasons Why Hunting Is Wrong!” PETA Kids, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 18 Feb. 2021, https://www.petakids.com/save-animals/hunting/.
Wagner, Greg. “Why Hunting Is so Important • Nebraskaland Magazine.” Nebraskaland Magazine, 22 Sept. 2021, http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2021/08/why-hunting-is-so-important/.
Movie review
In these two articles, the authors review the movie Spiderman: No Way Home. We see BBC demonstrate a positive bias towards the film and its actors. This could be influenced by the fact that Tom Holland is British and so is the BBC. On the other hand, Vulture takes the unpopular opinion that the movie is bad. It’s not clear what’s influencing this bias, but we can see a clear bias towards the film. The author clearly doesn’t like the movies.
Barber, Nicolas. “Five Stars for Spider-Man: No Way Home.” BBC Culture, BBC, 15 Dec. 2021, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211215-film-review-five-stars-for-spider-man-no-way-home.
Ebiri, Bilge. “Spider-Man: No Way Home Is Aggressively Mediocre.” Vulture, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2021, https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-marvels-spider-man-no-way-home.html.
Requirements
Should be a minimum of five pages (All the way to the bottom of page five.)
Avoid using overtly bias sources to support your argument about bias. That means don’t use Fox News to show that CNN is biased. Both of those sources are biased. Neutral sources should be used to support your points about bias.
Have 2 or 3 articles demonstrating bias that you can analyze. Don’t do more than three.
A clear and definitive thesis
Clear comparisons that show how both sides are biased.
Each type of bias you write about should have it’s own paragraph.
A works cited page
Proper MLA citations
Strong support that is not based on bias beliefs
Grading criteria
Total 150 points
+15 thesis
Your thesis should establish a clear purpose and argument about the existence of bias in the articles?
+35 Choice of examples of bias
The examples of bias chosen from the articles should be strong and clear examples of bias.
You should name the type of bias.
+10 Sources used for support
This is the articles you use for examples of bias, but it is also the non-biased sources you use to help support your points.
+45 Points of support: the development and explanation of your information
You should analyze the bias. That means going beyond just showing the bias.
Explain how it’s bias
Explain why the bias matters
+25 organization
The use of topic sentences and transition sentences
The ordering of paragraphs.
+10 Grammar
Syntax, punctuation, spelling.
+10 MLA
Formatting
