Introduction

At some instances, you can sit down and listen to a new story on mass media you feel like that it sounds one-sided, or at times you may hear the news and feel like it does not seem like it is reporting the whole story or sometimes feel like it is evading some critical aspects of the story in question. From a personal experience is the recent news that covered some puppies that got stuck in a storm drain. The story in the news mainly looked at how the firefighters worked hard and for a long time to successfully rescue the puppies. From the look of things, the puppies had come from a nearby animal shelter, but the media tried as much as possible to exaggerate on the story (Hamburg, Felix, Karsten Donnay, and Bela Gipp). From what was reported, it was clear that the news story did not mention anything to do with how the puppies escaped from the shelter and why they ended up in the drain. Above is just but an example of how media is biased. To further understand the concept of media bias, it is critical to understand what is meant by the term media criticism. Media criticism refers to the act of closely analyzing and judging the media. It is through media criticism that one can identify some bias in the way the mass media present their stories. A bias mainly occurs when the media reports news stories in a racist manner. It is most evident when the media tries to push some specific viewpoint rather than objectively reporting the news. To further understand the media bias, it is important to note that it occurs when the media tries to ignore the essential aspects of the story being reported. For instance, in the story of the above, it w was clear that the media did not mention the critical elements but exaggerated that fact the firefighters took a look to rescue them from the drain.

Forms of Mass Media Bias

Omission and Selection

Omission bias involves leaving out some crucial aspects of the story being reported. An excellent example of the above media bias is the one outline about the saving of the puppies. For example, in the case provided above, it is clear that the shelter was underfunded and therefore understaffed. The reporter must be have omitted the facts above the shelter due to some selfish reason. Some of the potential reasons may include: the reporter did not want to criticize the city or the shelter workers or they were trying to protect the owners from the open investigation regarding the city budget.

Another excellent example of bias by omission is evident in political stories. In most cases, the media reports stories basing argument from the liberal point of view while neglecting the facts that support the conservative point of view. The above is mainly done for personal interest or gains. During political campaigns, not all areas a leader’s visits are attended with a significant magnitude of people. In some areas, the leaders are received negatively and with the limited number of people, but for publicity reasons, media capture areas where the leader is well received and omits areas where they experience a limited and negative reception.

Bias by omission is directly related to by selection of the sources. The above type of bias involves selecting sources that mainly supports the idea being reported. In this case, the media leaves out the causes that support an opposing point of view of the story being told in the news. An excellent example of the above type of bias is when the media decides to quote the conservative sources without regarding the sources from the liberal point of view (Eberl, Jakob-Moritz, Markus Wagner, and Hajo Boomgaarden). Going back to the story about the puppies, two points of view can come out of the story.  First, an expert may argue that the animals are poorly managed and the whole blame to land on the worker while another person can say that the shelter was understaffed due to lack of funding and the large city be blamed.

Bia Selection and Placement

The above type of bias involves the reporting patterns of news stories concerning some specific agenda. The high kind of bias occurs when media outlets try to report stories that favor only one political point of view. For instance, a newspaper may decide to print story or a case produced by a liberal group while neglecting a similar tale and studies provided by the conservative groups (Elejalde, Erick, Leo Ferres, and Eelco Herder). Or at times a television station may decide to cover story on corruption against a conservative candidate and neglecting to include a similar allegation against a liberal candidate. The above relates directly with the bias by placement whereby the news outlet tends to prominently place stories with a specific objective while burying those with opposing agenda.

Media Bias Images and their Explanation

Image 1

The image above is a clear illustration of mass media bias. From the first image from the camera lens, and what is being produced, it is clear that it is the person in the left attacking the one on the left. It is clear that the media is using camera tricks to make the person to the remaining evil yet the person is running from danger. The above images are a perfect example of selection and placement bias. From what is depicted on the camera, it influences personal opinion, and everyone could condemn the person to the right without any knowledge that it was out of the camera trick that the person to the left is depicted to be evil while in the real sense the person is running for his life.

Image 2

Image 2 shows an Arab attacking a woman with children with a knife and Israeli police trying to contain the situation. But what is captured by the media indicates that Arab is being shot without any reason. The press hides the fact that the Arab is carrying a knife and He is trying to hurt the woman and her children. The above type of bias can be considered as omission and selection. The news outlets capture what objectively favors those they want to support. It hides the reality from the general public. If someone sees the above on a newspaper or a TV, they will be forced to sway their opinions and stand against the Israeli police stand with the Arabians who was trying to harm innocent souls.

Conclusion

To sum it all, it is evident from the above discussion that the media determines what the general public will know and how they want them to view it. It is one of the critical influencers of public opinion. Out of the bias in the media platforms, public notices and decisions have been compromised since the information the public gets is altered and does not represent anything next to the truth. To make the media clean again, it is essential for rules to be established to manage and ensure media freedom. The media platform that alters information or is biased in any way should be subjected to the law and even be shut down for the truth to be told.

Works Citing

Hamburg, Felix, Karsten Donnay, and Bela Gipp. “Automated identification of media bias in news articles: an interdisciplinary literature review.” International Journal on Digital Libraries (2018): 1-25.

Eberl, Jakob-Moritz, Markus Wagner, and Hajo G. Boomgaarden. “Party Advertising in Newspapers: A source of media bias?” Journalism Studies 19.6 (2018): 782-802.

Elejalde, Erick, Leo Ferres, and Eelco Herder. “On the nature of real and perceived bias in the mainstream media.” PloS one 13.3 (2018): e0193765.

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