How Media Bias and Social Media Bias Mess with Our Minds

Right, left, red, blue — how citizens choose to consume news will make or break any nation. The US is ramping up to another US Presidential Election. The type and origin of the news we consume will significantly impact what happens on Election Day. It can also knock us off our own principals and values.

I offer you essential tools to navigate the volume and quality of media news so we can all remain calm, keep our sanity, and vote intelligently. That is what we, collectively, want to achieve.

We’re good people, even when our political philosophies don’t match up. We find ourselves in dire situations if we allow unscrupulous organizations, people, and objectives to drive us. I’m advocating for a purposeful, informed, and rational electorate — which means all of us. Let’s look at how hidden media bias can move us in directions we might not want to embrace.

What is media bias?

Bias goes beyond obvious political leanings. News reports, indeed, any information, can be skewed to a particular partisan bent, but demographic preference also plays in.

A news source can play to its constituents, too — women, seniors, professionals, or the wealthy.

Neutrality bias happens when a report tries so hard to seem neutral that it leaves out important facts that relate to a particular set of ideas.

Social bias relates to gender, income levels, lifestyle, and so forth.

No human is capable of being 100% unbiased. Therefore, not all media bias is unethical or harmful. However, concealed bias misleads readers, aiming to sway us without our awareness. Such leaning is intentional, often motivated by profit or power. We become manipulated and divided with hostility.

Writers and reporters would be more trustworthy if they eliminated obvious bias from their work. Show of hands — who thinks that’s going to happen? The massive media industry will not eschew profit, power, and influence any time soon; we know that. Their sponsors and owners like how things are.

We consumers can’t eliminate news media bias, but we can become aware of it, understand it, and use it to our advantage if we make it transparent. It’s up to us to embrace multiple perspectives to get a balanced view of the news.

Multiple perspectives can combat bias, so that we explore and decide for ourselves instead of being manipulated into one way of thinking, one worldview, or support for a specific political policy.

What you see may not be what you get

Spin is a type of media bias that uses vague, dramatic, or sensational language. Writers spin stories to move away from or color objective, measurable facts. Unsubstantiated opinion masquerades as truth. You’ll see spin in devices like slant, flawed logic, lack of source attribution, and subjective adjectives.

The Washington Post, for example, relies heavily on spin to get their bent across. In one paragraph, I found “ornery outburst,” “churlish temper,” and eight other non-objective modifiers applied to one particular politician. Readers may decide, with no evidence, to characterize that person negatively.

Unsubstantiated claims may seem compelling but are worded vaguely and can’t be fact-checked. The Daily Wire said a Congressional Representative “continued her long-standing pattern of not understanding how things work.” No source, no quotes, just subjective description. That rhetoric is acceptable in an opinion piece but not in a news report.

Word choice bias is rampant. You’d be hard-pressed to find reporting that doesn’t succumb to this device. A writer can choose objective modifiers that can be verified. Words like “blue,” “old,” “single-handedly,” “statistically,” or “domestic” can be seen, quantified, or otherwise proven.

On the other hand, subjective adjectives and adverbs are opinions, not facts. You can’t measure or demonstrate descriptors like these — seemingly, extreme, may mean, could, apparently, a well-known fact, dangerous, and brilliant.

Images, like words, are carefully selected to move a reader in a specific direction. As you peruse the news, notice the photographs. One magazine may print a photo of a politician looking well-groomed with a pleasant or neutral facial expression. An opposing publication will choose a photo caught in an awkward moment — hair in disarray, clothes askew, facial expression angry, shocked, or fearful.

Slant is telling only part of a story. They may highlight, focus on, or play up one particular story angle or piece of information. Writers cherry-pick information or data to support one side and ignore opposing perspectives. Slant seeks to control the narrative and narrow the scope of understanding. If I tell you, “Studies show sugary drinks are unhealthy,” I should point to other studies showing health problems from artificially sweetened drinks.

Flawed logic, faulty reasoning. Suppose, on your morning stroll, you walk under a ladder and later drop your phone in a puddle. Does that prove walking under the ladder is bad luck? The two events are unrelated, so the conclusion is faulty. Flawed logic attempts to validate an unproven premise by citing facts that don’t logically follow each other. Like this: My lawn mower went missing after a new neighbor moved in — he must have taken it.

You'll see bias everywhere when you think about how and why a writer chooses their phrasing. Be suspicious when you read vague phrases like sources say, studies show, critics believe without citation or opposing views.

You experience bias when a publication regularly publishes stories on Second Amendment rights for conservative readers but ignores topics like human-related climate change for more liberal readers. Similarly, leaning all over reproductive rights stories but failing to represent more traditional issues is a form of bias. A news source can manipulate your thinking by running specific reports in prominent positions (once called “above the fold”). At the same time, they typically place other viewpoints in less prominent positions.

How to get balanced perspectives

You are in control of what you read and how you read it. You can be comfortable in an echo chamber, reading only news that conforms to your preconceived notions, or seek opposing ideas to determine what’s out there. There are practical tools to help you do that.

AllSides offers a balanced newsfeed comparing headlines from media outlets that stand left, center, and right. Reading stories from each position makes you more likely to get the whole picture. AllSides's mission is to “Free people from filter bubbles so they can better understand the world — and each other.”

Adfonte Media Bias Chart is a more condensed, graphic way to compare outlets. The chart aligns publications like The New York Times on the left, NewsNation and Newsweek at center, and Fox News on the right. They show various other outlets in the chart, explain their evaluation mechanics, and have a robust search function.

Poynter Institute’s Media Wise is a sweeping catalog of information and resources to help real people navigate modern news reporting and separate the pearls from the pebbles.

VerifyThis aims to help the public distinguish between genuine and fake news. The site’s team tracks the spread of stories or claims that need clarification or correction. They use questions submitted by the audience to trigger their quests. When you doubt something you’ve read, VerifyThis can help you spot scams.

Reverse image lookup is my favorite fact-checking tool. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn about a picture’s history, origins, and authenticity. Do it on Google by right-clicking an image and selecting search image with Google. Or use images.google.com from any browser, click the camera, upload an image you’ve saved to your drive, and see the results. The browser extension is RevEye. Android and iPhones also have Google image analyzers.

TinEye takes any image you upload from your computer and determines where it has appeared online.

Mediabiasfactcheck.com is a decent place to begin if you decide to investigate media integrity. It tells you about political, demographic, social, and other kinds of bias. You can search the database for almost any news source and get a comprehensive idea of attitudes and accuracy. Here’s their take on Medium if you’re interested--I couldn't find a report about Vocal..

How to evaluate news

Read a lot of different publications, and be sure you realize and recognize their bias. Reliability is critical, so whatever tools you employ, checking accuracy and editorial standards is a good idea. Aided by these tools, you can consider news from several different angles.

Who is behind the report? Think about the writer, the publisher, the advertisers, the sources. Make sure references are cited or listed for objective facts. Can you easily see and evaluate biases and styles? Are you reading a serious news outlet, or do they specialize in spoofing and satire? Check the URL to be sure it is the real deal.

Read beyond headlines. If you read just a headline, you will almost certainly fill in the rest of the story with your opinions and biases. Try reading reports from all sides — right, left, and center. Don’t forget to look at the date — often, we see news that looks current but isn’t. If a story has no date, you’ll want to find out why that is.

Pick apart what you’re reading. Most of us want to feel we’re in the know and have a good grasp of what’s going on. But it’s crucial to analyze what you read before you take it as truth. Even if the story doesn’t align with your point of view, it may still have merit. Be brave — open your thinking to new ideas.

As we move ahead to the growing onslaught of real and fake US election news, we don’t have to go it alone. In past elections, unrest, distrust, and anger grew rampant because of the high degree of media and social media manipulation. We have been bamboozled with more lies than truth, more fiction than fact — and we’re still reeling.

Change is needed. We all know that. If we change how we consume information, we can change how we react to each other and our world. Safety, prosperity, opportunity, and justice are respectable goals for us to share, no matter which side we align with. Be particular about what you accept as fact so when you vote in any election, you can vote as a member of an informed electorate.