Bill Cosby — On Trial or Politics?
This past week Bill Cosby, American stand-up comedian and actor, has charges against him for sexual assault. There appears to be a conflict since Bill Cosby was just recently been classified as being ‘legally blind’ and his memory has ‘substantially declined.’ So, the confusion is if this is a fair trial and should it even proceed? Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bill-cosby-trial-20161102-story.html, and Daily New, http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/cosby-lawyers-sex-assault-trial-based-politics-article-1.2855371 , wrote article about this news. With just reading either the Daily News, you would get this the impression of the accusers are lying versus Los Angeles Times saying Bill Cosby’s lawyers are being unprofessional. The perception of the charges against Bill Cosby would either seem a waste of time or disgusted against Bill Cosby if only read one article.
From the source of Los Angeles Times, they are various ways were this appears to be biased through the way the news is displayed for the readers. Right from the beginning, the heading use words such as “Intimidate 13 women.” Those words come off very negatively while saying that Bill Cosby’s lawyers are being unprofessional about this whole situation by controlling these sexually assault women. In addition, the article uses facts about previous claims and other instances were Bill Cosby, ‘entertainer,’ also ‘attacked’ women. It continues to use biased word choice by using ‘attacked’ making Bill Cosby and this trail cruel and wrong. One of the first people quoted is the prosecutor, Montgomery County District Atty. Kevin Steele. With having this be the first person to speak shows that the Los Angeles Times is in favor and biased towards of the prosecutor side. Throughout this entire article you really get the sense that Los Angeles Times thinks that Bill Cosby should go on trial and be punished for wrong doing. They believe that if even though Cosby might not be in the best conditions he deserves to be on trial for his actions. The perception of this news from just simply this article is Bill Cosby is a weird, inappropriate man.
In the other source, Daily News, the perception was quite opposite. This article is defending Bill Cosby that comedian’s sex assaults charges are ‘based on politics.’ His lawyers think that this is irrelevant trial. In the heading, they also continue you use bias word choice such as ‘disgraced.’ It also shows that they believe this s not important trial or Bill Cosby needs to be charged for. This is article is one of the only one out that is supporting Bill Cosby sexual assault. As you continue to read the article, it talks about Bill Cosby in a tone that you feel sorry for him since now he is legally blind, and his memory is disappearing. It gives details of Cosby saying what he promises at his trial if it goes through. The first person quoted is the Cosby’s lawyer, Angela Agrusa. The writer used quotes saying, “Stating publicity that his opponent had not been aggressive enough, had not done his job . . . he’s got to act on it.” Through this, it appears that Cosby and his lawyers have this under control and have confident that Bill Cosby will not be getting any charges for sexual assault. Towards the end of the article, the author begins to talk about all the times Cosby has been involved with the police or the law. Therefore, it shows that they don’t want the necessarily read that section of the article. This entire news in this specific article showed the sorrow and guilt towards Cosby. The writer wanted it to be the facts with a bit more understanding of Bill Cosby compared to the other articles were saying this is crime.
As I read both of the articles about Bill Cosby’s new charges of sexually assault women, it really surprises me on how much bias there is in each article. In both of the articles, they were selective on the word choice in the heading and throughout the article. Also, the choice of the first person who was quoted in the article tended to be very bias with the argument they were making in. Especially, through reading both articles I truly get a better understanding on the way articles/media can affect the way I perceive and how I might few things. Perception is everything, you must be careful on where you get your information from. The best way to calculate and know if your perception is more accurate is do some research and read a couple of articles to really get the concept. Not all of the time, the news will be displayed on multiple sources so as a whole, we, need to be smart about where we get our sources and how much is biased versus the truth. Our perception can be easily affected so we need to make sure the information we provide for ourselves is.
