Assessing the Partiality of Online Content

Think

Have you ever heard of the 'Big 6' in reference to media conglomerates?
- Yes, I have heard of them
- No, I have never heard of them
Being aware of media concentration is an important aspect of staying aware of the political economy of the producers of information you consume.
It is important not only to verify whether or not the information you are consuming is true or not, but also to examine the environment that surrounds the production of information you consume. This is referred to as analysis of the political economy of information production. Find out about the concentration of media concentration in countries around the world.
Which of these techniques do you employ when consuming information?
- checking other sources to see if the facts are correct
- only consuming sources that are widely known
- being cognizant of the financial and political relationships of the source of information
Fact checking is a great way to confirm whether the information presented by a source is truthful or not. Websites such as Media Bias Fact and Snopes are good starting points to check the claims presented in information you consume.
the strategy of consuming information from only sources that are widely known may appear to be a sound strategy, but unless it is paired with sources that present diverse conclusions on the same information.
being cognizant of the financial and political biases of a source of information is a powerful defense against careless or impulsive consumption of information. Being aware of the political and financial background of an information producer can help you look for partiality in stories you read.
What sources of information do you use to gather news about your environment?
- Newspapers
- Television
- News Websites
- Social Media
Compared to other information sources, newspapers may be slower to provide information about an event. However, newspapers have the benefit of taking the time to get the facts of a story straight, and have stories that are written by professional journalists and looked over by an editorial team.
In terms of speed, TV news is about as fast as news websites. It is faster than printed news and slower than news that spreads on social media. Paul Weaver writes about whether or not television news is biased in the online journal National Affairs. A benefit of television news is that it is easy to understand, as it is presented in an auditory and visual form instead of a textual one.
Online news sources can be an easily-accessible, and quickly updated source of information. However, a danger of receiving information from websites is in comparison to printed news and news sites, the cost of information production and distribution is much lower for online content. Anyone can create their own website and distribute information under the premise of 'news articles'. Read in the 'Explore' section to find out how to guard against false and misleading news not just online, but in all sources of information you consume. For online sources, you can look for lists such as this one, authored by others to determine if a news site is credible or not.
You may have experienced the speed of information on news and events on social media yourself, especially for larger stories such as the Boston Marathon Incident, where journalists used Twitter as one of the first platforms in which the story broke. Social media can be the fastest way to get information, as tweets and posts can be read by others within seconds of sharing. However, with speed comes uncertainty in what are facts and what statements are opinions. The benefit of social media's speed is packaged with the risk of speculation and misinformation of unsourced information. Of course, not all information from social media should be disregarded, as information may arise that is truthful, sourced, and supported by others.

Explore

How do we know that the information we are receiving through the newspaper, television, computer, or smartphone is telling us the most important things we need to know? In another tutorial article by Bryan Short, we covered how to check whether the facts presented to you are true or not [1]. It is important to make sure to check that the facts presented in an article are true, and in addition, it is also important to make sure that the information you choose to consume is worthy of consuming in the first place. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps you should take to assess the information sources you use to make sense of the world.

Listing out your information sources

What are your information sources? Do you read the newspaper? What websites do you visit to consume information regularly?
List out all of the resources you use to consume information regularly on a worksheet similar to the one below:

You can use this template to get started, or customize your own!

Checking for Financial Partiality

Now that we are aware of the sources of information that make up the input of information in our lives, we can assess whether or not these sources are impartial or not. Oxford defines impartiality as “Equal treatment of all rivals or disputants; fairness.” [2].

The first step in checking whether or not a source is acknowledging whether or not the information source is financially independent, or is subservient to the shareholders of another organization. This article by Vox’s Recode [3] shows the incredible consolidation of information producing companies held by very few parent, or holding, companies. Here is a small sample of the subsidiaries of each of the big parent companies in media:

A sample of the holdings of each of the ‘Big 6’ Media companies from WebpageFX

Thankfully, not every information source in existence is owned by one of these six companies. As a result, you should check the financial dependency of each news source to see if a holding company, and the interests of their shareholders have an effect on the kind of information content they produce.

A good starting point to uncover the financial dependencies that an information source may have is to check its Wikipedia page. In the information box on the right hand side of its entry, look for a row listing ‘Parent Company’ or ‘Owned by’ to find out if another organization has financial influence over the news source you are exploring.

Checking for Partiality in Content

After checking for the financial interests that may lie behind an information source, it is time to check for the existence of political or non-public interest in the content produced by an information source. Here are two tools to help you check the media bias of information sources in print and on the web.

Media Bias Fact Check is an independent organization that states their mission as “dedicated to educating the public on media bias and deceptive news practices”. You can search traditional information sources such as your local newspaper or television studio.

Heuristic Analysis for Partiality in Content

Here are some heuristic analysis questions you can ask yourself to determine, and justify, if a information source is partial or impartial:

1.) Check the news story with other information sources. Does the information source present all perspectives of a story? Do other information sources reveal additional details that this one did not?
2.) What interests does the publisher of this story hold? Is this publisher financially dependent on another organization?
3.) Check what other people are saying about the publisher. Are they politically neutral? Do they have a political bias?
4.) Does the article use loaded words to make an appeal to emotion?
5.) Does the headline of the story intended to provoke an emotional response, rather than delivering the information in a neutral tone of voice? Beware of sensationalized headlines!

Checking the Facts: Fact-Checking Websites

In an increasingly Postmodern [4][5] world, truth seems to be characterized as an elusive subject. Information obtained from any source should be verified with reputable sources of facts, such as fact-checking websites.
Several popular sources of fact-checking information are found on these websites:

Discuss

The Digital Tattoo Project encourages critical discussion on topics surrounding digital citizenship and online identity. Please feel free to post your thought in the comments section below! There are no correct answers and every person will view these topics from a different perspective. Be sure to complete the previous sections before answering the questions.

What are some of the strategies that you use to make sure the news you read or watch is not biased?
What news source do you trust and why?
What is the political economy of the sources of information you use?
How do you verify the facts presented to you in a news story?
What strategies do you employ to ask if information sources may be presenting information in ways are suggesting certain conclusions?
Have you ever clicked on a news story because of its headline? What part of the headline made you want to read more?