Bias in the Media

By Julianne Mobilian
jm544910@ohio.edu

Image via http://www.monomakhos.com/no-media-bias-here-move-along-now/ 

As Paul Farhi's article in The Washington Post pointed out, bias in the media, especially when it comes to abortion story coverage, is highly slanted and unethical. When it comes to sensitive matters such as abortion and abortion rights, they must be written about delicately. Though, as Farhi noted, in the case of Dr. Gosnell it wasn't the way abortion was portrayed throughout the trial, but rather the omission of the story from all different kinds of news media. It was a great thing that he took notice. Had he not written about it others probably would not have given the matter a second thought. But had journalists been fair and unbiased, there would have been absolutely no need for Farhi’s story in the first place.

As the Society of Professional Journalists states, journalists need to act independently. This is an extremely crucial and important aspect for any journalist when dealing with such a controversial subject matter. “Journalists should remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.”

It seems as though journalists are not providing continuous coverage of abortion headlines in the media. As a news reporter, objectivity is their best friend. In order for a story to be a trusted source, the story must remain unbiased and completely objective, and each issue (especially one such as abortion) should get fair coverage like any other story.

While Farhi’s story highlighted biased coverage in the media, which aimed to shame several news publications, another story took note of newsmakers omitting use of a certain word: “AP, NPR Curb Use of Obamacare Term." This story outlined the ways in which the Associated Press and National Public Radio both decided to cut back, or eradicate completely, the use of the word “Obamacare” due to the very liberally-charged meaning with the word tends to be associated.

I think this is a great idea, because they realized that the word's use was slightly biased, and that in order to deliver fair and trustworthy news, it would be in their best interest to stop using it. They also realized that it may have been offending their conservative audience, losing readers and listeners. They upheld the Society of Professional Journalist’s ethical standards, and both the AP and NPR are doing a great job in delivering fair and unbiased news.

All in all, when it comes to objectivity and bias in the news it can be pretty unclear as to what is right versus what is wrong. There are some organizations, such as NPR and the AP, who clearly strive for strong unbiased material, but then there’s also news media like Fox and CNN, which offer very biased viewpoints.

What I took from these readings is it is best to take each story with a grain of salt so that the reader can form their own opinion on certain issues, be it abortion rights or politics. The news may not always be objective, but it is up to us to learn from these stories and deliver these stories in the best, most objective way that we can as future journalists.

For more information on whether there's bias in the media, this website shows examples of stories which contain bias. It is a great source and is full of examples about recent stories which contain non-objective material.