BIAS

Issues Review

1st Amendment: Freedom of speech Censorship Invasion of privacy  Offensive content Plagiarism/Copyright

Bias Accuracy Conflict of interest Sensationalism

Newsworthiness

What is Bias?

Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

Accuracy and sensationalism/yellow journalism

Use the SPJ Code of Ethics!

The job of a journalist

Inform – Give facts or informationTruth and Accuracy – To back up information

with facts that are correctObjectivity – Free from personal opinionPluralism – Mutual respect between groupsBalanced – Unbiased and fairly judged

Journal

Write down a recent news story you have heard or read about.

What source did you get this from?

Where did the source get the information?

What is perspective?

Particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.

What bias and perspective do you think the source had?

Conflict of Interest

A situation in which a public official's decisions are influenced by the official's personal interests

Accuracy

News report should be truthful and have correct details

SPJ Code of Ethics: Seek Truth and Report It Journalists should be honest, fair and

courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information

Sensationalism

Yellow journalism is biased opinion masquerading as objective fact.

The practice of yellow journalism involved sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales and exciting public opinion.

It was particularly indicative of two papers founded and popularized in the late 19th century- The New York World, run by Joseph Pulitzer and The New York Journal, run by William Randolph Hearst.

Where did this term come from?

The term was derived, through a series of peculiar circumstances, from a cartoon by the famous 19th century cartoonist, Robert Outcault called "The Yellow Kid.” The cartoon was first published in The World, until Hearst hired him away to produce the strip in his newspaper. Pulitzer then hired another artist to produce the same strip in his newspaper. This comic strip happened to use a new special, non-smear yellow ink, and because of the significance of the comic strip, the term "yellow journalism" was coined by critics.

Examples

Scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news

Lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawingsUse of faked interviews, misleading

headlines, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts

Emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips

Dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system

How do we prevent yellow journalism?

Simply double- and triple-checking one's sources and reading between the lines.

If one disregards the obvious marketing that is used to hook readers, newspapers may actually prove to be reliable sources of information.

Article – Amy Fisher

http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/amy-fisher-sentenced-prison-buttafuoco-long-island-10043699

Story dominated media for months and a made for TV movie was produced

Outfoxed

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism is a 2004 documentary film that says the Fox News Channel, and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, use the channel to promote and advocate right-wing views

 The film says this bias opposes the channel's motto of being "Fair and Balanced”

Fox News obviously did not think this documentary portrayed the channel in a good light

Outfoxed

Give two examples of how Fox news is not fair, balanced or accurate

How are opinions formed in the news? Based on the film, how does Fox form its

opinions?What are techniques Fox uses to get viewers

to watch?