Audience Bias
Lesson 7:3
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In any conversation about media bias, we also have to keep in mind that media products, like news, are not just products of the people who produce them, but are also impacted by the interpretation of the messages by audiences that consume them. When we see or read a particular message, we also react to them in ways that are the products of our upbringings and experiences, our education, and others who influence our thinking.
From that, we develop our own viewpoints and dispositions, which can in some cases, manifest into certain biases. They in turn, shape our understandings of the world, and the messages that we decide to take up and those that we decide to discard.
With this in mind, sometimes it's not the news media that is biased, but the consumer.
People in general, tend to seek harmony when encountering viewpoints and choosing what kinds of messages that they choose to engage with. This harmony manifests in an individual's choosing to engage more often with messages and media that aligns with their own viewpoints, especially on issues that they hold dear. One of those types of viewpoints that can be difficult to shake are those associated with politics. Because it determines how we govern ourselves in a democracy, they're very difficult to disassociate from, because they provide us a group to belong to and associate with. However, the views are constantly being debated. In one way, this is key to our democracy -- but it can also drive divisions and polarization.
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
When we choose messages that align with our existing viewpoints, and choose to ignore those that do not, we exhibit a sort of mental tactic known as the avoidance of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the holding of contradictory beliefs or attitudes, and in the process of trying to process both, they can cause pain or psychological stress in the individual trying to reason between the two.
In the context of news media literacy, cognitive dissonance can manifest in a few ways.
Selective Distortion & Retention
Selective Distortion & Retention
Psychology has shown that although we draw on personal memories in understanding the world around us, they aren't terribly reliable. Studies have shown the tendency of memory to be modified to meet certain goals, instead of being used to accurately recall something seen, heard, or experienced.
That said, we can selectively retain and distort recalled information in order to reduce cognitive dissonance, leading us to remember or believe what we want to believe.
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias
Along these same lines, we tend to also seek out information that supports our pre-existing beliefs instead of those that challenge them. Allowing for the avoidance of cognitive dissonance.
This is also one of the reasons that polarized talk media works so well -- it provides its audience not so much with information, but affirmation of their beliefs, and a group to belong to.
That said, we challenge our students to actively seek out columns, news outlets, and reports that challenge their existing views, in order to exercise their news media literacy skills, not to only support their views, but to put them through their paces and examine them closely. We encourage you to do the same!
If you're a fan of the New York Times opinion section, we'd suggest taking a look at the Wall Street Journal, or National Review, or vice versa. When there, utilize the tools of V.I.A. and fairness and balance to determine the reliability of the arguments being made -- not only of the outlets that you may not agree with, but also of those that you do.
It can help you get a much broader sense of the arguments of the day.
One of the other ways that we suggest for students to challenge their assumptions and biases is to become more aware of them. One of the ways we suggest is through Harvard University's Project Implicit test. It can help you find where you may have implicit viewpoints on things that you may not have even thought of.
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