Skip to Main Content

Fact Checking, Fake News and Evaluating Resources: Understanding Bias

Tools and tips for good search and information practices.

"Media bias could be defined as the unjust favoritism and reporting of a certain ideas or standpoint. In the news, social media, and entertainment, such as movies or television, we see media bias through the information these forms of media choose to pay attention to or report" (Source: Introduction to Media Studies, chapter 6)

 

Source: Allsides.com

5 Questions to Ask About Media

  1. Who created this message? Was it created by an individual, a group, an organisation, or a company?
  2. Why was the message made? Is the message's purpose to inform? To entertain? To persuade? (Or some combination? Who's the message's intended audience?
  3. Who paid (or is paying) for this message? Money motivates a lot of media—who paid to have this message made? What else have they paid for? What other agendas might they have?
  4. How is the message trying to get your attention? What techniques are being used to grab people's attention? What techniques are being used to keep people's attention?
  5. Who's represented in the message? And who's missing? Whose points of view and values are represented (or being appealed to)? Whose points of view and values are missing?

From CommonSense.org