In the modern world Print media has assumed the impartial views about the national and international etc., issues, but what the reader very often does not recognize is the bias within the articles. Bias is not so easily recognize. Writers seem to have the gift to blend the bias in with their work. It is so well done, that in order to distinguish the bias, one must thoroughly analyze the article. A person must also know what the types of bias are and how they are used.
image source: abc.net.au/news/linkableblob/3652852/data/australian-newspapers-data.jpg
There exists many different types of bias that are used in health-related articles such as statistics and crowd counts, word choice and tone, and through omission. There are many methods to bias in the articles. One method of bias being used in print media is through statistics and crowd counts. A writer can influence the reader into thinking that the conclusion is genuine, by supporting it with statistics. In an article titled “Pregnancy biggest threat to women”, it uses statistics to give estimation, an estimated 5, 85,000 women do ever year”. These articles try to explain how pregnancy affects many women. By using this statistics, it gives the reader an approximation, hut not an exact number. This is used to make the reader think that the statistics is very high. In another article, titled “Tamil health crisis probed”, demonstrates bias by saying,” At least 70,000 people”. The article is talking about the Tamil community and how 70,000 people have been affected, but it does not give the total number of people in that community. This type of bias is often used in print media to make an article more important than it is.
Bias through word choice and tone is often used in print media sources. By choosing specific words, the writer can easily influence the reader’s opinion about the issue. Certain words give the reader a different meaning. In an article, “Health care to receive $3.8 billion injection”, the word “injection” portrays the health sector in poor health. This type of bias is shown in many print media sources to create an image of something that might not be there.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
One of the strongest types of bias is by omitting certain facts, which are very much relevant to the concerned incident. It often happens that the writer deliberately leave same facts which are otherwise very important. By leaving out certain facts in an article, it only gives the reader one side f the situation. A writer can either give the good side or the bad. Very rarely will a reader get both sides of the product or incident. An article titled “To your health”, show this bias by printing about how alcohol can “help repair liver damage”, but what it does not print are the negative effects alcohol can have on people. The readers read the good in drinking, but they do not see the other side-effects of doing so. In another article titles,” Chronic sleep debt may raise risk of diabetes”, also uses bias through omission. This article talks about how less sleep can harm a person’s health, especially the younger generation. When the actual study is done, the only people tested were young males, eliminating the females and the elders as it reads, “The study involved 11 healthy young men”. Although the study is done, the only results given are for young men. The body of a man and a woman are different; therefore, both need separate results, as well as elders.
Statistics and crowd counts give an estimates amount of people or things, but barely ever give an exact number. Word choice and tone can influence the reader’s opinion about the article. Omission only gives one thing or the other, leaving the reader unaware of the other side of the situation. By using bias in print media sources, a writer can manipulate the reader into believing something that might not be true. The writer has many methods to alter the truth with their article and it is often done so. The reason for bias is to catch the reader’s eye into reading certain articles that might be passed by. Articles should be read and analyzed thoroughly in order to get the full a precise meaning of what is being said.
But, often the fault not only lies with the media. It is truth that the people want to read the type of articles which conform to their thinking, not the articles which depict the reality. That is, people are also biased. So, the people also have same role in the print Medias biasing.