What Is Media Bias?

Every day from the moment we wake up, while at work until we go to sleep we are surrounded by news.

Often, the same news is presented in different ways by different news outlets. Sometimes wordings differ. Other times only a certain part of the information is presented. Depending on wording and selection, news can carry more than just factual information – for example, opinions or ideologies.

Slanted news coverage that does not only report in a factual way is called media bias. Sometimes there are clearly two sides to a story. And other times the bias can be much more subtle. Different than, for example, intentionally spreading harmful fake news, media bias itself does not have to be intentional – or even bad.

On the other hand, news spreading untrue information does not have to be biased. But being able to detect media bias is important because it can impact your perception of the reported topics.

Remember to read news critically.