When people try to spot biased news, they may research the political leanings of the media sources they engage with, to gain a better idea of which biases are in their news. But, they may forget that every source, no matter its general bias, contains articles on all parts of the news bias spectrum. If people only look at the overall bias of a news outlet, they will remain unaware of the differing biases in the outlet’s individual articles. Therefore, it is important to observe how the articles of news sources vary in their biases, even when a news source has a particular overall bias.
Examples of how each news source displays different biases
There are multiple categories of news articles that have different biases than the news source’s primary bias leaning:
- Conservative sources publishing liberal articles
- Liberal sources publishing conservative articles
- Liberal and conservative sources publishing center articles
People need to take note of each news piece’s bias because there are many articles today that stray from the biases of their sources. For example, 77 WABC News is a Center source and tends to publish Center articles. One of these is Laden’s The White House race is this close. This article discusses the facts about how much support Trump and Harris have, stating:
“There was good news in the survey for Trump in that 15 percent of respondents…There was some good news for Harris in the poll too. Trump was up only six points over Harris…”
It does not make any negative comments toward the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate and makes positive comments for both. It also focuses on the statistics about the support for each candidate instead of expressing any biases about either of the candidates. Another Center article is University forfeits match over transgender player. The author explains:
“…some of the players told the university they wanted to forfeit the match in protest of SJSU having a transgender player. The university initially refused to cancel the match, but says it must now forfeit due to not having enough players to compete.”
Like the last article, it focuses on the facts about the players’ and university’s actions rather than showing support or opposition toward the transgender player.
However, not all of 77 WABC News’s pieces are Center. An example is the article President Biden calls for Supreme Court changes, with constitutional limits on presidential immunity contains a Liberal bias, since it mostly uses quotes from Democrats Biden and Harris. The fact that most of the quotes come from these two people means that readers are pushed into adopting Biden and Harris’s views as their own.
Similarly, there are liberal outlets with conservative articles. One of these is BERNAMA, which released the article Disastrous Debate ‘nobody’s fault but mine’: Biden. This article criticizes Biden–a Democrat–by claiming that he is too old and not mentally competent enough to be the U.S. President. It also focuses on the flaws of Biden’s performance in the debate, without acknowledging any positive aspects of it, or the flaws of Trump’s performance.
Another significant possibility is that both conservative and liberal sources can produce articles that are located at the center of the spectrum. ABC News is liberal, yet published the article Harris unveils economic plans on inflation, housing. Here’s what economists think. This piece is Center since it includes the perspectives of economists who agree with Harris’s economic proposals, as well as the perspectives of those who disagree. Another instance of this is how the conservative outlet 89.3 WFPL News released Speaker Pelosi says she will step down as party leader after two decades at the top, which is center because it does not praise or criticize Pelosi and her choice to step down.
Reasons why each news source displays different biases
There are multiple reasons why there are different biases in each news source. One of these is that each person has their own biases. Biases are caused by the different demographics that each individual is innately part of. Mayer notes in Journalists, it’s time to talk about our biases that people’s demographics influence their norms, what issues they believe are important, and which questions they ask about our society. All of these go on to affect what a journalist will emphasize and exclude in their stories.
Mayer also points out that certain communities comprise the majority of journalists, which means that some particular issues and views are often overlooked in the news. She explains that, for instance, the majority of journalists come from higher social classes. Because of this, they may not think to discuss the challenges of the lower class when these challenges are relevant to certain news topics. Because biases stem from the individual’s own identity and experiences, a certain author may write an article with a bias that goes against that of their news source.
A second reason is that news outlets use biases to market their stories. In the University of Tampa’s The Root of Media Bias, it is mentioned that news sources that display stronger biases attract more readers. Another marketing method involves publishing stories that oppose an outlet’s overall bias to gain more readers, by appealing to people with different views. The author writes that two newspapers may develop polar opposite biases to receive more engagement, even if they are owned by the same company.
In addition, journalists may incorporate biases into their work because of the journalism industry’s rapid and demanding nature. Morrissette, McKeon, Louie, Luther, and Fagen’s Introduction to Media Studies describe how significant news events occur quickly, which means that journalists have little time to cover each event. As a consequence, journalists are forced to finish their articles within a short period, which can deny them the time needed to gather all of the facts and sides of a certain issue. A similar problem created by the fast pace of journalism is that journalists unintentionally control the narrative of a story, by dictating what and who people focus on. This causes the audience to perceive their stories in one particular way since they do not have enough time to remove their biases through revisions.
How to recognize the biases in each news source
Given the nuances in each news source’s media bias, people must know how to stay aware of every article’s bias. One way to do this is to use the information, like Biasly’s Media Bias Chart from media bias agencies. Sheridan’s article Should you trust media bias charts? explains that media bias agencies are meant to help people avoid being misled by media biases. So, their websites indicate if an article has a liberal bias, a conservative bias, or neither. Sheridan also assures readers that these agencies are reliable since the bias ratings are determined by professional analysts and research.
People can also increase their awareness of biases in articles by researching liberal, conservative, and center stances. Unifrog’s Understanding the political spectrum advises doing this research because it will assist people in recognizing biases, which will help people be mindful of how these biases might influence how some people and events are framed.
Suppose people educate themselves on how all parts of the political spectrum view certain subjects. In that case, they will be able to distinguish left and right biases from neutral reporting, rather than accepting these biases as ultimate truths. They will have an easier time identifying biases in the news based on each article’s commentary on these subjects. For instance, if an article advocates for abortion, readers can conclude that the article has a liberal bias. A similar action people should take as well is to research the standings of the politicians who are featured in the news.
Dellavigna and Kaplan’s The Political Impact of Media Bias brings attention to the fact that news sources are sometimes biased in regard to politicians. An example that they describe is how a news source may have more positive reports about a politician and less negative ones. An outlet like this would be biased because this means that the unflattering events regarding the politician are unreported, while the flattering events are emphasized.
Therefore, readers can infer if authors demonstrate a liberal or conservative bias by paying attention to how they portray a political figure. Liberal writers are more inclined to place conservative politicians in a negative light, and vice versa. After all, people tend to perceive politicians who share their leanings more positively. This is proven in the chart below, which reveals that more of the sources with left-leaning audiences approve of Biden, while more of the sources with right-leaning audiences approve of Trump.
Source: Pew Research
In addition, people must note that while there are nuances, biases toward politicians and policies can be tied to particular news sources. One of these sources is Huffpost, which has a Very Liberal bias. Due to this bias, it publishes many articles that favor liberal politicians and antagonize conservative ones. This can be seen in several titles of their top stories, such as Kamala Harris Looks Pretty Darn Electable Now, Fox News Puts A Quick Stop To Trump’s Rambling During Post-DNC Phone-In, and Marjorie Taylor Greene Tells Infuriating Lie About Kamala Harris During DNC.
Another HuffPost article, In Bittersweet DNC Speech, Biden Declares, ‘America, I Gave My Best To You’, displays a clear bias in favor of Biden. The title itself suggests that he has been a hard-working president. The author then describes in detail the behavior of his supporters, including how they held signs with approving phrases, kept cheering for him, and shouted praise for him. The emphasis on people’s love of Biden frames him as a good person in the readers’ eyes. Also, there are no negative comments in the article from people who oppose Biden.
As one would expect, Huffpost also has a bias in favor of several liberal policies. One way this can be seen is through their pro-abortion attitude. The article Florida Is Waging An All-Out War On Its Abortion Clinics triggers sympathy for patients at an abortion clinic by listing quotes about how some of them cannot afford pregnancy care, cannot travel to the clinic because they have children, or are very young. Similarly, sympathy for abortion clinic workers is prompted by the author’s description of the violence and harassment they face as a result of their jobs, such as a butyric acid attack, the placing of a fake bomb beneath one’s car, and an arson attempt at a clinic.
Huffpost also takes the liberal stance when it comes to gun control. In How The Supreme Court’s Next Gun Ruling Could Impact Mass Shootings, Planas advocates for more gun control by emphasizing the violence caused by guns. He describes multiple incidents in which people used guns to make threats or cause harm. He also highlights a positive effect of more gun restrictions, explaining that if domestic abusers are prohibited from possessing guns, the chances of their partners dying from intimate partner homicide decreases.
A second news outlet with a problem of holding biases in regards to politicians is American Thinker. Unlike Huffpost, it allies with conservative politicians while antagonizing liberal ones. For example, Intellectual heft: Kamala Harris puts out ad against Trump, adding only chicken noises expresses a high level of negativity toward Harris. There are several comments throughout the article claiming that she is unintelligent. Meanwhile, Trump’s behavior during an interview is praised, and attention is brought to how he did not need cue cards or make any kind of “gaffe”, according to the author.
Like the politicians they support, American Thinker is also in favor of several conservative policies. This is evident in their article Study: Illegal aliens cost taxpayers $150 billion in just one year, which confirms their conservative views on immigration. Readers instantly realize that this article is biased against immigrants since it uses the term “illegal aliens”, which is a term for immigrants often used by people who want higher border security.
In addition, the main point of the article is that the presence of immigrants is costing more money for other people in the U.S. This argument is used to emphasize a drawback of allowing illegal immigrants and suggest that they should not be allowed into the country. Another way the author shows her bias against illegal immigrants is by putting the immigrants themselves in a negative frame. She highlights a Venezuelan gang that seized control of an apartment complex in Colorado; this is the only representation of immigrants in the article, even though not all of them take these violent actions.
When people attempt to recognize the biases in the news, they can easily fall short by not observing every facet of information about which biases are present. One core reason why they are not getting all of the information they need is that they are unaware of the diverse biases within one news source. Because of this, they fail to acknowledge the biases that differ from that of the outlet as a whole. But there are several ways to combat this lack of knowledge; people can seek help from media bias agencies, educate themselves on each part of the political spectrum, and educate themselves on the stances of politicians.