Media Biasly

 As citizens living in a 21st century world, we are constantly surrounded by media in its various forms. Whether this be social media, news feeds, or other methods of media consumption, media is able to penetrate almost every realm of society. 

But how do we know what media is reliable? How can we tell what is “fake news” and what is real?

The answer to these questions is undeniably complicated but can be made easier through media literacy. 

So what is media literacy?

At its root, media literacy is simply the process of applying critical thinking to the media a person consumes.

What does this actually mean practically though?

Well, let's begin with an example.

Say you are scrolling through your social media feeds and come across a post saying that the President of the United States has just signed an executive order that will cost thousands of people their jobs. This piece of media, without applying media literacy, will be taken at face value and added to your vault of ideas and information, oftentimes reaffirming previously held beliefs.

This is called confirmation bias. This is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people see information that goes along with the ideas they already have, confirming their belief that the information is accurate. 

But what if I were to tell you that that post came from an article published by a right-leaning media organization known for its biases against Democrat presidents. This should seemingly change the consumption of this information, but without critical thinking, this often does not occur. 

Ok, so back to our scenario. You decide, instead of simply viewing this information, storing it, and continuing on with your life to dig a bit deeper. What's your next step?

One great approach is to explore the issue from as unbiased a perspective as possible. This is easier said than done though. It is nearly impossible for any news organization to be completely unbiased, so source selection is of the utmost importance. 

How do you evaluate an article’s leaning?

First, consider the source’s known media bias. Are they known for left-leaning viewpoints like MSNBC or right-wing biases like Fox News?  Assessing the news source will help you better understand the different biases within its articles. Keep in mind, not all articles from a biased source necessarily lean the same way, so be careful in your analysis.  Many articles will follow the traditional leaning of the news source, while others will be neutral and some even with an opposite leaning, depending on the topic.  If you are unsure what the bias is, it is often best to compare the article with an opposite viewpoint or with an article from a neutral source.  Biasly.com provides its Side by Side Bias View and article opposite viewpoints one very article page to help make this distinction more clear for its viewers.

Next, explore whether this story is replicated across multiple news organizations. Most of the time, if a story is only being reported by one source, especially with obvious leanings, there is a reason for this. Stories that are mostly factual are likely to appear in multiple popular media sources. 

Once you have established the source and accuracy of the story, another important factor is to think critically about the intentions of the media. What is the author (or organization) trying to say? What are their goals in producing this article?

So, back to our example. We know about the biases of the organization that this information is coming from. Imagine that we have now also discovered that this perspective is not being replicated across multiple news outlets and organizations. We now can think about the author's intentions in a very different way.

With this information, it is clear that the author might have the goal of shedding negative light on the President of the United States, as well as attempting to convince readers that he or she is an inadequate president. This makes the consumption of this media very different than what you initially thought when you saw it in your social media feed.

So what are the takeaways?

1. Media literacy is the process of thinking critically about the media and information we consume.

2. Being media literate requires digging deeper into the background of the information and organizations in order to identify biases.

3. It is crucial to explore how given media stands in comparison to other similar media.

4. A reader must consider how an author's intentions and biases can be woven into the media being consumed, often with subtlety and not immediately identifiable. 

Media literacy will by no means be the immediate cure for stopping misinformation and fake news, but it is definitely a good start.