All Sides: August 2020 Blind Bias Survey

How do they define ideology?

- Click here for basic info about their methodology.

- Click here for All Sides.



What does a “Left” media bias rating mean?

Sources with a Left media bias rating are most likely to show favor for:

- Generous government services (food stamps, social security, Medicare, student-loans, unemployment benefits, healthcare, education, etc.)
- A rejection of social and economic inequality
- A belief in systemic oppression and a need for the government to step in and rectify the wrongs it has committed
- Federal laws to protect consumers and the environment
- Federal laws against discrimination
- Federal laws protecting equal rights
- Tax increases on the wealthy
- Government regulation of corporations
- Keeping abortion legal and accessible
- A belief that some groups of people suffer disproportionately greater amounts in society due to identity - characteristics, including race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion



What does a “Lean Left” media bias rating mean?

Sources with a Lean Left rating may moderately show favor for at least some of the following:

- Government services (food stamps, social security, Medicare, student-loans, unemployment benefits, healthcare, education, etc.)
- Federal laws to protect consumers and the environment
- Federal laws protecting equal rights
- Tax increases on the wealthy
- Government regulation of corporations
- Keeping abortion legal and accessible
- A belief in identity politics, i.e., that some groups of people suffer disproportionately greater amounts in society due to identity characteristics, including race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion
- A belief in systemic oppression and a need for the government to step in and rectify the wrongs it has committed
- Decreasing military spending and intervention


What does a "Center" media bias rating mean?

Sources with a Center AllSides Media Bias Rating™ either do not show much political bias or display a balance of articles with left and right perspectives.

What does a “Lean Right” media bias rating mean?

Sources with a Lean Right rating may moderately show favor for at least some of the following:

- Freedom of speech
- Traditional family values
- Decreasing taxes
- Preserving the rights of gun owners
- Outlawing or restricting abortion
- Reliance on personal responsibility rather than government fiat
- Decreasing federal regulations, giving more power to state laws
- Decreasing government spending and involvement in economic issues
- Preserving the philosophy and rules enshrined in the U.S. Constitution
- Rejection of total equality or equity as an organizing principle of society



What does a Right media bias rating mean?

Sources with a Right media bias rating are simply most likely to show favor for:

- Freedom of speech
- Traditional family values
- Decreasing taxes
- Preserving the rights of gun owners
- Outlawing or restricting abortion
- Reliance on personal responsibility rather than government fiat
- Decreasing federal regulations, giving more power to state laws
- Decreasing government spending and involvement in economic issues
- Preserving the philosophy and rules enshrined in the U.S. Constitution
- Rejection of total equality or equity as an organizing principle of society

Section Eight - The Media and Public Opinion

The Media: various forms of communication channels and platforms that transmit information, news, entertainment, and other content to a large audience. It plays a crucial role in society by informing the public, shaping public opinion, and facilitating public discourse. The media landscape encompasses a wide range of outlets and formats, each serving different purposes and audiences.

Public Opinion: the collective attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments of the general population on various matters of interest or concern. It represents the views held by a significant portion of the public regarding political, social, economic, and cultural issues. Public opinion is important in democratic societies because it influences decision-making processes and policy outcomes.

Information: 

Agents of Socialization:

Schemas: 

Confirmation Bias: 

Social Media: 





Terminology

The Media
- the media
- the press
- access to information
- marketplace of ideas
- sources
- firms
- technologies
- print 
- setting the agenda
- broadcast
- digital
- social media
- freedom of the press
- reporting
- journalists
- bias
- citizen journalism
- reporters
- news leaks
- press releases
- hiring reporters
- consumers
- affluence
- conflict
- informed consumers
- regulations
- content regulations
- print
- broadcast
- prior restraint
- ownership
- loud signal
- public watchdog
- journalism
- policy agenda
- priming
- framing
- mass media
- personal presidency
- radio
- television
- cable
- infotainment
- 24 hour news
- new media
- fake news
- bias
- - political
- - sensational
- - confirmation
- - investigative
- - fairness
- private ownership
- profits
- Watergate scandal
- public ownership
- regulations
- Federal Communications Commission
- agency capture
- fairness doctrine
- consolidation
- Telecommunications Act of 1996
- horserace journalism
- sound bite

Public Opinion
- public opinion
- preferences
- beliefs
- choices
- evaluations
- assessments
- political orientations
- polarization
- origins of opinion
- self-interest
- values
- social groups
- socialization
- political ideology
- liberal
- conservative
- identity politics
- party identification
- race
- gender
- religion
- geography
- outgroups
- political knowledge
- preference stability
- shaping public opinion
- agenda-setting 
- priming
- framing
- measurement
- public opinion polls
- selection bias
- influence
- electoral accountability
- building coalitions
- rulemaking
- legal decisions
- will of the people




Lecture Topics

- Freedom of the Press.
- Sedition.
- Information, Misinformation, Disinformation.
- Social Media.
- Media Bias Chart. 
- freedom of the press.
- the printing press.
- media technology. 
- Army Signal Corp.
- radio and the modern presidency.
- sedition.
- Alien and Sedition Acts.
- propaganda.
- disinformation.
- The business of the media.
- media conglomerate.
- the partisan press.
- media bias.
- The Telecommunications Act of 1996.
- the internet.
- social media as a news source.
- fragmentation.
- political socialization.
- confirmation bias.
- political polarization.
- access journalism.
- Public Opinion
- Free Speech / permissible limits.
- Press Press / permissible limits.
- Sedition
- LII: Sedition.
- First Amendment Encyclopedia: Seditions Libel.
- Dangerous Talk: Scandalous, Seditious, and Treasonable Speech in Pre-Modern England.
- Jamestown.
- The Trial of John Peter Zenger.
- Philadelphia Aurora.
- Benjamin Franklin Bache.
- Alien and Sedition Acts.
- Matthew Lyon.
- Sedition Act of 1918.
- Sedition and the Development of Political Parties.
- Sedition Act of 1798.

The Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart

Perhaps you've seen it. 

- Click here for Ad Fontes Media.

How reliable is it?

- Should you trust media bias charts?

About 30 paid analysts rate articles for Ad Fontes. Listed on the company’s website, they represent a range of experience — current and former journalists, educators, librarians and similar professionals. The company recruits analysts through its email list and references and vets them through a traditional application process. Hired analysts are then trained by Otero and other Ad Fontes staff.

To start review sessions, a group of coordinators composed of senior analysts and the company’s nine staffers pulls articles from the sites being reviewed. They look for articles listed as most popular or displayed most prominently.

Part of the Ad Fontes analyst political bias test. The test asks analysts to rank their political bias on 18 different policy issues.

Ad Fontes administers an internal political bias test to analysts, asking them to rank their left-to-right position on about 20 policy positions. That information allows the company to attempt to create ideological balance by including one centrist, one left-leaning and one right-leaning analyst on each review panel. The panels review at least three articles for each source, but they may review as many as 30 for particularly prominent outlets, like The Washington Post, Otero said. More on their methodology, including how they choose which articles to review to create a bias rating, can be found here on the Ad Fontes website.

When they review the articles, the analysts see them as they appear online, “because that’s how people encounter all content. No one encounters content blind,” Otero said. The review process recently changed so that paired analysts discuss their ratings over video chat, where they are pushed to be more specific as they form ratings, Otero said.

Individual scores for an article’s accuracy, the use of fact or opinion, and the appropriateness of its headline and image combine to create a reliability score. The bias score is determined by the article’s degree of advocacy for a left-to-right political position, topic selection and omission, and use of language.

To create an overall bias and reliability score for an outlet, the individual scores for each reviewed article are averaged, with added importance given to more popular articles. That average determines where sources show up on the chart.

From Bruce Bartlett: How Fox News Changed American Media and Political Dynamics

A good walk through changes in the media over the past few decades.

- How Fox News Changed American Media and Political Dynamics.

The creation of Fox News in 1996 was an event of deep, yet unappreciated, political and historical importance. For the first time, there was a news source available virtually everywhere in the United States, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a conservative tilt. Finally, conservatives did not have to seek out bits of news favorable to their point of view in liberal publications or in small magazines and newsletters. Like someone dying of thirst in the desert, conservatives drank heavily from the Fox waters. Soon, it became the dominant – and in many cases, virtually the only – major news source for millions of Americans. This has had profound political implications that are only starting to be appreciated. Indeed, it can almost be called self-brainwashing – many conservatives now refuse to even listen to any news or opinion not vetted through Fox, and to believe whatever appears on it as the gospel truth.

When Fox News went on the air in 1996, it advertised itself as “fair and balanced,” which implied that its competitors were neither. At the time, there was unquestionably a liberal bias in the major media; not a huge one, but it was pretty consistent across the three major networks, the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the rest of the elite media. As Dartmouth communications professor Jim Kuypers put it in a 2002 study, “There is a demonstrable liberal bias to the mainstream press in America.”[1]

Surveys regularly showed that very few reporters were Republicans; the bulk said they were independents, with a large percentage belonging to the Democratic Party.[2] Journalists argued that their professionalism kept bias out of their reporting and that, insofar as there was apparent bias, it was due to the nature of the news itself and the discipline of fact-based reportage. But even if the reporting itself was free of bias, there is no question that the issues that most interested reporters tended to be ones more likely to be liberal in nature than conservative. As the late journalist Michael Kelly once explained, “What journalists choose and how journalists frame inescapably arises out of what journalists believe. And, as a group, journalists believe in liberalism and in electing Democrats.”[3] In any event, the view that the media was generally liberal was widespread among the public.[4]

For more:

- How Information Became Ideological.
- The rise of American authoritarianism.
- “They Don’t Give a Damn about Governing” Conservative Media’s Influence on the Republican Party.

Review for 2301 Test Four

The following should help you on the next test. Please try to be familiar with these terms and concepts prior to our upcoming classes.

freedom of speech
public opinion
values
opinions
political ideology
liberalism
conservatism
common fundamental values
equality of opportunity
individual freedom
democracy
political socialization
agents of socialization
the family
social groups
gender gap
education
political conditions
political knowledge
how government shapes public opinion
how private groups shape public opinion
public opinion polling
sample
population
probability sampling
selectivity bias
1936 Literary Digest Poll
margin of error
push polling
illusion of saliency
bandwagon effect
interest groups
freedom of association
NAACP v Alabama
lobbies
factions
pluralism
decentralization of government
economic interests
business organizations
professional organizations
public interest
The Christian Coalition
leadership
political entrepreneur
membership
the upper class bias
the prisoner’s dilemma
the free rider problem
selective benefits
lobbying
grassroot organizations
microsofted
access
electioneering
1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act
using the courts (test cases)
amicus curiae
going public
political action committees
bribery
Texas Ethics Commission
issue advocacy groups
initiative
the media
broadcast media
print media
online media
changes in technology
regulations of broadcast media
FCC
Telecommunications Act of 1996
equal time rule
right of rebuttal
fairness doctrine
freedom of the press
prior restraint
Pentagon Papers
Near v. Minnesota
ownership of media
homogenization of the news
nationalization of the news
journalism
reporting
interpreting
selection bias
names of major newspapers
political influence on news
sound bites
media consumers
encouraging conflict
media impact on politics
agenda setting
priming
framing
media impact on elections
adversarial journalism

A Study of Media Bias

My apologies for forgetting how I stumbled across this report. It's just over a year old from UCLA and purports to be the first to find a truly objective way to assess media bias. Bias is line of study that is difficult to explore in an unbiased manner, so the researchers deserve applause for making the attempt, though I'm sure there are other ways to over come it--possibly yielding different results.

They looked at the citation patterns of major news sources (whether they referred to interest groups and think tanks that tend to lean to the left) and compared these patterns to members of Congress that also referred to those groups. They then assigned the ADA score given to the member of Congress to the media source.

What is an ADA score you ask? It's the score that the Americans for Democratic Action assign to members of Congress based on an analysis of their voting record. 100 means most liberal, 0 means most conservative. Many groups do similar studies. It can often be used as guide for whom to support and whom to oppose in an election.

That's (roughly) the methodology, here are some results. The results, as should be expected, confirm some hunches and disprove others.

- 18 of 20 media outlets leaned to the left, but
- the Wall Street Journal news pages (not the editorial pages) were most liberal, followed by
#2 - CBS' "Evening News"
#3 - The New York Times
#4 - The Los Angeles Times

The most conservative source of news were:
- Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume"
- The Washington Times

The most centrist sources were
- the "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer"
- CNN's "NewsNight With Aaron Brown"
- ABC's "Good Morning America"

A huge surprise was that the Drudge Report, an online news source, scored liberal but the authors believe that that has less to do with Matt Drudge's own positions than with those of the stories he links to.

The authors suggest that: "If viewers spent an equal amount of time watching Fox's 'Special Report' as ABC's 'World News' and NBC's 'Nightly News,' then they would receive a nearly perfectly balanced version of the news."

Fine, but what's the fun in that?

For UH - terms and concepts from US Chapter: The Media

Media Journalism
Profit Motive
Media Ownership
Media Monopoly
Internet / Social Media
Television
Radio
Newspaper
Broadcast Media
Age Differences in Use of Media
Digital Media
penny press
news aggregators
digital citizen
digital divide
social media
Facebook
Twitter
citizen journalism
pros and cons of online news
fake news
fact checking
media influence
agenda setting
gatekeeping
selection bias
framing
priming
media leaks
adversarial journalism
Federal Communication Commission
regulated media
equal time rule
right of rebuttal

The Press

Information

- how to get it

- how to process it

Acquisition of Information

Access to Information

- Freedom of Information.



Jefferson: Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes

Jefferson: The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro’ the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them.


Common Terms

the printing press
literacy
evolution of media rights
censorship
sedition
propaganda
John Peter Zenger
the business of media
Benjamin Franklin
radio
television
cable
internet
social media
infotainment 
traditional media
new media
social media
mass media
information
loud signal
political watchdog
policy agenda
fireside chats
personal presidency
fake news
media bias
reporters
journalism
- skepticism
- fairness
editors 
producers
owners
consumers
public relations
Watergate scandal
- others
objectivity
fairness
government impact
private / public ownership
First Amendment 
promotion
post offices and post roads
FRC / FCC
regulations
fairness doctrine
Telecommunications Act
consolidation

UH - terminology module 3

- Fed Chapter 5: Civil Rights.

discrimination
civil rights
equal protection clause
civil rights movement
civil rights amendments
Jim Crow laws
separate but equal rule
NAACP
NAWSA
Brown v Board
de facto segregation
de jure segregation
Civil Rights Act of 1964
public accommodations.
- Know  Your  Rights: Title  II  of  the  Civil  Rights  Act  of  1964.
employment.
- employment discrimination.
housing 
- housing discrimination.
- Fair Housing Act.
- 
marriage.
mass incarceration.
rational basis test
intermediate scrutiny
suspect classifications
strict scrutiny
affirmative action
valid government purpose

- Fed Chapter 6: Public Opinion

public opinion 
values
beliefs
liberty
equality of opportunity
political ideology
attitudes
opinion
liberal 
conservative
libertarian
socialist
political socialization
agents of socialization
gender gap
political leaders
marketplace of ideas
responsiveness
polls
random sample
social desirability effect
selection bias
push polls
bandwagon effect

- Fed Chapter 7: The Media

media
journalism
the profit motive
public media
political news
mass media
media conglomerates
online news
social media
digital media
digital divide
newspapers
advertising revenue
television
broadcast media
narrowcasting
radio
partisan press
penny press
citizen journalism
quality
fake news
misinformation
disinformation
propaganda
impact
trust
agenda setting
gatekeeping
framing
priming
leaks
adversarial journalism
regulations
FCC
Telecommunications Act
equal time rule
right of rebuttal

- Fed Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting

protest
voting
suffrage
turnout
traditional political participation
digital political participation
expressive politics
who votes?
socioeconomic status
age
race and ethnicity
African Americans
Whites
Latinos / Latinas
Asian Americans
Gender
Religion
mobilization
electoral competition
ballot measures
registration
felony convictions
absentee ballots
early voting

From AI Overview: What is Propaganda?

Propaganda is the strategic spread of biased or misleading information to manipulate public opinion and achieve a specific goal. While the term often has a negative connotation in Western countries, referring to deceptive tactics, the core concept is the purposeful dissemination of information to influence people's thoughts and actions. Propaganda is distinct from general persuasion because it relies on emotional manipulation and appeals rather than rational debate.


Types and techniques of propaganda

Modern propaganda uses many different techniques, often in combination, to achieve its objectives. - Name-calling: Discredits an opponent by associating them with negative symbols or derogatory words.
Glittering generalities: Uses vague, emotionally appealing phrases or slogans that lack specific detail, such as "Make America Great Again" or "Build Back Better".
- Bandwagon: Creates a sense of widespread support to pressure people into conforming with the majority opinion out of a fear of missing out.
- Testimonial: Uses a celebrity, expert, or respected figure to endorse a particular product, person, or idea.
- Plain folks: Aims to persuade an audience by projecting the image that the communicator is a "regular person" who shares their values.
- Transfer: Associates the positive or negative qualities of one thing (like a respected symbol or a disliked group) with another.
- Card stacking: Selectively presents information to emphasize positive aspects while omitting any negative or contradictory facts.
- Appeal to fear: Exploits existing fears and anxieties to persuade an audience.
- Ad nauseam: Repeats an idea or slogan so frequently that the audience becomes accustomed to it and begins to accept it.
- Scapegoating: Blames a particular person or group for complex problems to divert public attention and outrage.


Modern propaganda in the digital age

New technologies have enabled more sophisticated and rapid dissemination of propaganda.
- Bots and algorithms: Social media bots are used to automatically spread biased information, create fake news, and manipulate online discussions.
- Deepfakes: Highly realistic manipulated videos and audio blur the line between reality and fiction, making it difficult to distinguish real content from falsehoods.
- Micro-targeting: Algorithms and big data allow propagandists to target individuals with tailored messages based on their personal information, beliefs, and online behavior.
- Echo chambers: Personalized content and social media algorithms can reinforce existing beliefs by showing users only content that aligns with their views, limiting their exposure to opposing perspectives.
- Computational propaganda: This strategy involves broadcasting a massive number of messages rapidly and repetitively over multiple channels to overwhelm people with one-sided information.


Examples of modern propaganda

Propaganda exists in many forms, from political messaging to commercial advertising.
- Political advertising: Campaigns use emotional appeals, slogans, and targeted ads to sway voters. For example, the 2016 U.S. presidential election saw disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Russia to spread political rumors on social media.
- State-sponsored campaigns: Governments use propaganda to shape public opinion both domestically and abroad. Examples include the Chinese government's use of media to promote its ideology and terrorist organizations like ISIS using social media to recruit and promote their message.
- Corporate "greenwashing": Companies engage in a form of corporate propaganda by presenting themselves as environmentally friendly through public relations campaigns, despite unsustainable business practices.
- Public health campaigns: Some propaganda can be used for positive ends, such as the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign, which uses emotional appeals to promote a responsible public good.
- Media bias: Paid articles or broadcast segments disguised as objective news are a form of covert propaganda designed to persuade rather than inform.

From the Christian Science Monitor: Pope Francis calls out journalists: Does the media needlessly foster fear?

The media can shape opinions about current events, does it so proper;y?

For our look at media bias.

- Click here for the article.

The Vatican’s Pope Francis has strived to be a voice of peace and unity on a continent struggling to deal with a refugee crisis. On Thursday he spoke out once again, this time against mass media, which he says has the power to shape the public’s response to that challenge.

During an address to Italy’s national journalism guild, Pope Francis told leaders of the industry that the press has the power to act like “terrorists” when it relies on gossip and rumors, particularly while covering humanitarian crises such as Europe’s influx of migrants. Yet while studies show that the press can help shape public dialogue, some experts say that the public opinion also plays a major role in shaping the tone that is reflected in the press.

“The bottom line is that there is a complex interaction between media, public opinion, and policymaking. To some extent, they’re indistinguishable from one another,” says Oxford University media analyst Robert McNeil. “They all drive one another.”

. . . As Europe struggles to understand and manage its uneasy new role as social support provider to thousands of migrants and refugees, the press plays a major role in educating existing citizens about their new neighbors.

And while some news providers have done an excellent job maintaining balance and showing humanity, according to Georgetown University refugee expert Rochelle Davis, others are showcasing Europe’s worst fears.

In 2013, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, in Britain, combed through hundreds of news articles to quantitatively examine press coverage of the surge of refugees pouring into Europe by analyzing the frequency of words used in articles about the subject.

The resulting report found that the word “illegal” was most frequently used to modify the word “immigrants” in British publications, whereas “failed” was most often used to describe asylum seekers. “Jobs” and “economic” were also high-frequency words, perhaps speaking to British concerns about the job market due to high rates of immigration.

Thoughts on Media Bias

If you have the stamina, this is a terrific analysis of a book which purports to measure liberal bias among journalists. It also touches on the ideological bias of various other institutions and professions, and perhaps most important, how we determine whether they are in fact biased. How does one measure bias?

Levels of media reliability according the Ad Fortes media bias chart.

1 - Facts

2 - Analysis

3 - Opinion

4 - Propaganda

5 - Misinformation 

___________

1 - Facts

A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true/false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means. For example, "This sentence contains words." accurately describes a linguistic fact, and "The sun is a star" accurately describes an astronomical fact. Further, "Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States" and "Abraham Lincoln was assassinated" both accurately describe historical facts. Generally speaking, facts are independent of belief and of knowledge and opinion.

2 - Analysis

Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development. The converse of analysis is synthesis: putting the pieces back together again in new or different whole.

3 - Opinion

An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements. A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with facts which are sought to be disputed by the logical fallacy that one is entitled to their opinions. Distinguishing fact from opinion is that facts are verifiable, i.e. can be agreed to by the consensus of experts. An example is: "United States of America was involved in the Vietnam War," versus "United States of America was right to get involved in the Vietnam War". An opinion may be supported by facts and principles, in which case it becomes an argument. Different people may draw opposing conclusions (opinions) even if they agree on the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented. It can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another, by analyzing the supporting arguments.

4 - Propaganda

. . . communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented. Propaganda can be found in news and journalism, government, advertising, entertainment, education, and activism and is often associated with material which is prepared by governments as part of war efforts, political campaigns, health campaigns, revolutionaries, big businesses, ultra-religious organizations, the media, and certain individuals such as soapboxers.

In the 20th century, the English term propaganda was often associated with a manipulative approach, but historically, propaganda has been a neutral descriptive term of any material that promotes certain opinions or ideologies. Equivalent non-English terms have also largely retained the original neutral connotation.

5 - Misinformation 

Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. It is differentiated from disinformation, which is deliberately deceptive. Rumors are information not attributed to any particular source, and so are unreliable and often unverified, but can turn out to be either true or false. Even if later retracted, misinformation can continue to influence actions and memory. People may be more prone to believe misinformation because they are emotionally connected to what they are hearing or reading. The role of social media has made information readily available to us at anytime, and it connects vast groups of people along with their information at one time. Advances in technology has impacted the way we communicate information and the way misinformation is spread. Misinformation has impacts on our societies' ability to receive information which then influences our communities, politics, and medical field.

About Ad Fontes - to the source - Media

Since I use their media bias chart, it's useful to dig into their methodology. How do they determine if something is on the left or right? And how to they determine the quality of the a media source.

- For a full look at it, click here.  

These are the issues used to decide ideology: 

Question: which position is left and which position is right?

- Abortion-related policy
- Race-related policy
- Campaign finance
- Climate-related policy
- Criminal justice reform
- Defense/military budget
- Subsidized food and housing
- Gun-related policy
- Higher education policy
- Immigration
- International affairs
- K-12 education policy
- LGBTQ-related policies
- Marijuana policy
- Private/public health care funding
- Regulation of corporations
- Social security
- Tax-related policies

For each of the issues above, we request that each analyst identify their perspective as:

“Decidedly to the left”
“Moderately to the left”
“Centrist or undecided”
“Moderately to the right”
“Decidedly to the right”

UH - terms 3/28

Strict scrutiny
intermediate scrutiny
rational basis test
political socialization
agents of socialization
party machines
voter turnout – demographics
expansion of suffrage
minimum drinking age
gender gap
media conglomerates
media industry
quid pro quo harassment
citizenship
native Americans
gerrymandering
- racial
- partisan
agenda setting
political values
framing
priming
FCC
information literacy
United Farm Workers
self-selection bias
confirmation bias
political ideology
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Civil Rights Act of 1964
14th Amendment
Telecommunications Act of 1996
voter mobilization
democracy
whistle blowers
social media
digital political participation
ADA
Title IX

House Committee Hearing: “Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story”

 An example of oversight, as well as civil liberties in the age of social media.

- Click here for it. 

- Opening statement.

- Video.

Some random graphics pulled from social media

Dear ChatGPT: Describe the health care system of the United States.

Dear ChatGPT: Describe the United States budgeting process.

Dear ChatGPT: What is media bias?

Dear ChatGPT: Outline the history of American public health policy.

 

Key Terms - Week 7

The Media

Terms: 

- the media
- loud signal
- public watchdog
- journalism
- policy agenda
- priming 
- framing
- mass media
- personal presidency
- radio
- television
- cable
- infotainment
- 24 hour news
- new media
- fake news
- bias
- - political
- - sensational
- - confirmation
- - investigative
- - fairness
- private ownership
- profits
- Watergate scandal
- public ownership
- regulations
- Federal Communications Commission
- agency capture
- fairness doctrine
- consolidation
- Telecommunications Act of 1996
- horserace journalism
- sound bite

Media Bias Chart

 

- Click here for the source.

Media Bias