Section Goals:

1. Have a basic understanding of science in the media.

Media Bias

A common concern in the modern era, where information is very accessible via the internet, is the bias in the information that individuals see. Part of the rise in the bias in the media in the USA is attributed to the fairness doctrine, which was abolished in 1987.

The fairness doctrine had two basic elements: It required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters. Stations were given wide latitude as to how to provide contrasting views: It could be done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials. The doctrine did not require equal time for opposing views but required that contrasting viewpoints be presented. The 1987 repeal of the fairness doctrine enabled the rise of talk radio that has been described as “unfiltered” divisive and/or vicious. Prior to 1987, people who used much less controversial verbiage than the notable example of Rush Limbaugh (who received a nationwide syndication contract in 1988) had been taken off the air due to violations of the fairness doctrine.

The abolishment of the fairness doctrine may not entirely explain the complexity of the news industry today, which also has been undermined by funding issues^[1] and competition between traditional news providers and internet sources. Clickbait, where revenue is generated based on the number of clicks an article receives^[2], is an example of how repercussions of the challenges facing the media industry affect the individual reader.

Finding Reliable References

The first step to understanding if an internet resource is reliable it to look at the publishing information including the author, the organization that owns or hosts the website, the organization that sponsored the content (which may be different than the website host). There are websites that obscure this information, which should be a warning that the website might be untrustworthy.

A common occurrence in science media is to summarize other articles, or even repost the original article on a secondary website. Reposted articles should be identified in the header or the footer of the article, and the original article should be linked. Summary articles may link to the relevant original resource in hyperlinks in the text, but usually have them listed at the end. Find the relevant reference link for the fact or story of interest, go to that resource and see if it says the same thing and if there are any additional and relevant details. When citing facts in your own work, use the original articles instead of a summary article.

Attribution

Wikipedia. “FCC fairness doctrine”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine. Accessed December 25, 2022. Licensed by CCA-SA 3.0. Modified by Joni Baumgarten.

References

1. Grieco, Elizabeth. “Fast facts about the newspaper industry’s financial struggles as McClatchy files for bankruptcy”. Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (February 14, 2020) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/14/fast-facts-about-the-newspaper-industrys-financial-struggles/ 
2. Wikipedia. “Clickbait”. Accessed December 26, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickbait#cite_note-18 

Further reading

Interactive Media Bias Chart®. Interactive Chart | Ad Fontes Media