Bias in the News

Bias through Omission:
This means that some parts of what we are hearing or watching on the news will be left out to try and change our opinion to theirs. This is common when we hear stories about terrorist groups. We only hear about them causing terror or killing, but there might be a deeper meaning to this that we don't know about because the media are only reporting their side of the story and getting us to believe what they want. An example of this would be -

Bias through Placement Order:
Placement of the stories is important because what the reader or viewer believes will be the most important story will usually be on the front page of a news paper or a magazine, or first when we are watching the news. This gives the impression that the story must be the most important as it is the first thing we see.
Bias through Headlines:
Bias through headlines works as they are what draw our attention to the story. They are seen as the most important stories of the day. They can however be misleading depending on the article or story you read or hear. They can turn us against somebody or even make us give them support even though sometimes we know the stories are not necessarily true.
Bias through Photos:
Photos can be used to sway our opinion on somebody too, using angles that make somebody or something bad, ugly, sick or evil are used a lot in the media. They are typically used when a celebrity is in the news for something bad, such as drugs or alcohol. An example of this would be the Britney Spears story when she shaved her head just before a massive breakdown.

Bias through Names and Titles:
Using derogatory names or titles can cause the audience to have a bad opinion on somebody, such as 'ex drug abuser' or 'served time in jail'. These can often cause us to believe that the person is bad and not somebody you would want to meet, whereas they might have actually been wrongly accused. However, names and titles used with praise to make somebody seem better than they are are also used in the media a lot to sway our opinion. Both of these are often used around political debates and elections. An example of this would be Robert Downey Jr. Now he has quit drugs, he is known as a former drug addict.

Bias through Choice of Words:
Certain word choices can cause the audience to have a different opinion on something. Praising it will often give us a different opinion on something, praising it will often give us the view that this thing is good and will help us, whereas something that is talked down on will give us the opinion that it is bad for us and something that we as the audience will not like. This can also be used near political debates and elections by opposing parties to try and get our support.