“Where I work at ABC, people say ‘conservative’ the way people say ‘child molester’” (Stossel). In almost all news sources or opinion articles there exists a bias in political information that stems from the reporting, the editing, and sometimes even the affiliation of such sources. This bias can take many forms once created, and people can have difficulty detecting it without making a conscious effort. Exposure to a majority of one specific newsgroup will prevent potential voters from receiving all the information needed to make logical votes based on the impacts created by political policies, candidates and other political figures.

Viewers in support of biased media will say that news media tailors itself to the opinions of its target audience, or that people cannot avoid media bias in modern society. While truth exists in the statement that most news media tailors itself to appeal to an audience, DellaVigna, a professor at UC Berkeley, argues that even a short-term exposure to a biased news source can change a person’s opinion about a political figure (4). Even though these media sources are trying to appeal to an audience, the audience usually does not want a well-tailored point of view. According to a survey done by Jim Spencer, president and founder of Newsy.com, sixty-three percent of people would prefer getting news from unbiased sources and only twenty-nine percent want to receive biased information. Spencer goes on to say, during his lecture, that media bias is avoidable through the use of multi source journalism, or the viewer’s ability to look at multiple sources with different biases and form an opinion. He also recommends that multiple people with different political preferences direct medias releases, in order to avoid unintentional bias in the news being released. Some people could argue that the bias in media comes not from the reporters or producers, but from the original information the reporters received. Many public speeches can refer to other candidates or policies with a bias, and the speaker can sometimes get the reporter caught up in their own bias. While this possibility exists, the responsibility ultimately falls on “the opinion article writer who adds commentary regarding the implications of the event, whether it is favorable or unfavorable, and why,” says Stefano Rivolta, a masters student of philosophy (3).

There are two main types of media bias, the unintentional and the intentional. Both of these types have a different impact on the general public. Examples of unintentional bias include those that form from the narrowed viewpoints of editors, writers, and the original information. Rivolta explains that editors and writers can “diminish the presence of a story” because of a preference that naturally exists because of their own opinions (Rivolta 9). This natural presence of political preference shows the need for multi-viewpoint collaboration by editors, as explained by Jim Spencer. Intentional modification forms the other side of media bias, using modification of information by editors in collaboration with political figures or in spreading political beliefs. The American media can act as a catalyst that “gives politicians and members of government a platform to legitimize their words and actions” (Rivolta 8). Rivolta also mentions “the media is responsible for covering political events, reformulating them, and in turn, constructing an alternative reality to the situation in question” (8).
A biased media has the potential to drastically change a person’s short-term or long-term viewpoint of political figures and polices, without increasing their overall knowledge on the subject. In the short-term, a person can hear a report on a political topic that shows more of the positive information and less of the negative information than expected, which can alter a personal belief about a political policy (DellaVigna 4). A person affected by this short-term skewing will usually recognize the bias of the news source and either change sources or take the bias into account during later viewing of that source. Sometimes a person may not recognize the media bias, may not filter-biased information, and can form a personal bias due to long-term exposure to biased media sources (DellaVigna, 4-5). DellaVigna did a study on people who watched fox news’ mistaken report on the October 2003 weapons of mass destruction found Iraq. She states “a survey of 8,634 US respondents in 2003 (Kull et al., 2003) finds that 33 percent of Fox News watchers believe [erroneously] that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq by October 2003.” This study demonstrated a news sources ability to convince people of false information if taken at face value.

Sometimes viewers can have their opinions shaped by biased media without having any increase at all in overall political knowledge. Media can simply avoid information that reflects badly on a person or policy that said media source supports. Kuypers, a professor at Virginia Tech and an avid political writer, describes this as an act called “framing”, where “communicators act to construct a particular point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be viewed [or ignored] in a particular manner, with some facts made more noticeable than others” (Kuypers, 7). A study done by Dean Karlan, a professor at Yale University, shows a real world example of two different newspapers effects on voters and the voter’s lack of subject knowledge. In his study a group of people with free subscriptions to the Washington Post and a group with subscriptions to the Washington times both showed an enormous migration of party beliefs to those of the Democratic party, with little knowledge of the information covered in these news sources, as shown by a post-test covering that information (Karlan 1). Thankfully, media bias such as this can be mitigated by increasing the amount of sources viewed during and after the creation of a media report.

The best ways to prevent the effects of media bias is to recognize biased information and to use multiple media sources. Jim Spencer shows in his lecture that if a person uses multiple sources of news information he or she can find information that media uses consistently, then he or she forms a more accurate view of the political figure or policy using agreed upon information. This responsibility falls on the view but it works regardless of whether the viewer can detect an individual bias or not. News editors can implement another multi source tactic that prevents accident bias. Spencer recommends that many people that have a wide variety of viewpoints should guide news media distribution sites, not just one or two editors. This could minimize any personal bias by having opposite opinions to counterbalance it. A viewer that has a better understanding of media bias and how to detect it can effectively prevent himself or herself from being affected without much effort. In both of DellaVigna’s studies she describes how simply recognizing that a bias exists and putting less weight on information that favors that bias can prevent the effects of both short and long-term exposure to biased media. It follows the old saying, “take everything with a grain of salt”.

When not properly filtered or controlled, biased news media sources will skew a person’s opinion heavily and can cause voters in the general public to have political opinions not based on any real information. Media bias can take the forms of both an intentional act and an unintentional side effect. If not recognized, biased media can continue to affect a person and can cause them to develop a personal bias. Spencer demonstrates that, using multi-source and multi-viewpoint journalism, a person can eliminate biased information with just a bit of effort. How different would American Politics be if every voter in America had the ability to filter out biased information?


Bibliography
DellaVigna, Stefano, and Ethan Kaplan. "The Political Impact of Media Bias." Elsa.berkeley.edu. UC Berkeley, 26 June 2007. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~sdellavi/wp/mediabiaswb07-06-25.pdf>.
Karlan, Dean, Alan Gerber, and Daniel Bergan. "Does The Media Matter? A Field Experiment Measuring the Effect of Newspapers on Voting Behavior and Political Opinions." Dean Karlan - Professor of Economics, Yale University. Yale University, 24 Mar. 2008. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://karlan.yale.edu/p/DoesMediaMatter.April2008.pdf>.
Kuypers, Jim A. Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Controversial Issues. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002. Print.
Rivolta, Stefano M. "Strategic Maneuvering and Media Bias in Political News Magazine Opinion Articles." Academia.edu. Universiteit Van Amsterdam, 7 June 2011. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://www.academia.edu/1008041/Strategic_Maneuvering_and_Media_Bias_in_Political_News_Magazine_Opinion_Articles>.
Stossel, John. "Some Great Media Bias Quotes:." The Liberty Lounge Political Forums RSS.
Liberty Lounge, 25 Nov. 2006. Web. 08 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.libertylounge.net/forums/6744-some-great-media-bias-quotes.html>.
Spencer, Jim. "Multisource News and the Battle of Media Bias." Lecture. Multisource News and
the Battle of Media Bias: Jim Spencer at TEDxMU. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 10
Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOYasdeum2g>.