Polar Opposites
Nowadays, it seems like all we hear about the media is problems with trust and bias. Right or left-leaning papers are the norm, and they cause echo chambers of ideas within their audiences. It’s the inherent biases, such as what stories are deemed newsworthy and who reporters choose to interview, within these news organizations that causes the general public to mistrust them, causing a more-than-ever present divide between journalists and their audiences. Alongside this growing divide, heightened political tensions make bias even more present, and party-affiliated papers further split a politically torn nation. Market pressures also lead to sensationalized headlines that are often misleading. Even interviewing bias plays a role in mistrust, as a lack of representation in media causes many marginalized groups to feel othered by outlets that are supposed to be reliable sources of information. Media and journalism are at a tipping point, no longer able to carry the tension between political groups. The media has become a political battlefield, straying far from its initial purpose to provide information to the public. It is our goal and responsibility as new journalists to adapt to a new world and solve the issues of mistrust caused by bias in the news.
Problem: We have identified trust and bias as the problem that we would like to focus on in this project. We want to focus on solving the problem of mistrust caused by bias.
Polar Opposites, overall will have stories for most adult news readers. Targeting this specific group of people, being the majority of those who read and actively follow news and their platforms today, will have an overall impact on how society views journalistic practice. The idea is that when you prioritize a specific group that has a large effect on public opinion with a unique presentation of ideas, these ideas will hopefully begin to circulate. Polar Opposites aims to bridge the divide between partisan opinions, and we will do just that by hitting one audience group at a time.
Statement of Change:
Polar Opposites will allow for audiences to view different beliefs and ways of thinking. It will also allow for voters to have a balance of information that is less biased but will also allow for readers to view two stories that do have differing opinions on the same subject as the unbiased piece. The impact will be more informed citizens that are better informed.
Resources:
- Bailey, Issac J. “How Implicit Bias Works in Journalism.” Nieman Reports, 7 May 2019, niemanreports.org/articles/how-implicit-bias-works-in-journalism/.
- Gray, Katti. “Why Do So Many Americans Distrust the Media?” The Pulitzer Prizes, www.pulitzer.org/article/why-do-so-many-americans-distrust-media.
- Mitchell, Amy, and Mark Jurkowitz. “U.S. Media Polarization and the 2020 Election: A Nation Divided.” Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project, 28 Aug. 2020, www.journalism.org/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/.
- Performance by Baratunde Thurston, How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time | Baratunde Thurston, TED, 26 June 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgkjEdMbSw&feature=emb_logo.
- Schudson, Michael. “The Fall, Rise, and Fall of Media Trust.” Columbia Journalism Review, 2019, www.cjr.org/special_report/the-fall-rise-and-fall-of-media-trust.php.
Outtakes:
- A database that is designed to allow journalists to see how their backgrounds could potentially impact their biases with the main focus being on interview bias. This would allow journalists to know more about how they make choices and why. It would also allow for a journalist to be able to share the information they have found with the company they are applying for. The process begins at the time people apply for jobs and continues throughout the time they work at whichever news company they are a part of. The technology would be a designed database that journalists can put in their information and evaluate how it shapes their choices so that they can be transparent about their biases.
- A manual fact-checking installation that can be downloaded to your browser. Takes from credible sources and runs the site’s material through a database. Like download-able sources via the app store like Grammarly, this “app” type solution would be available through the app store and sit in one’s browser to fact check whatever website one is on through its database of resources, pulling from the internet through affiliated sentences and words in real-time.
- BIG IDEA: A service that pairs opposite-minded people in writing stories. For example, a political story would be co-written by a republican and democrat. This idea would force collaboration between different groups, and would ideally produce a more “neutrally” presented story. This might cause some problems, though, because it’s likely that pairing opposite people to work together would cause tension.
Authors:
Kevin Powers
