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Otero analyzed news sources for bias and reliability, and then charted her results. Junk news is like junk food, and just like junk food has caused massive health epidemics in our country, junk news is causing a massive polarization epidemic,” Otero writes. “e have a big problem in our news media landscape: too much junk news. In 2016, amid chants of “lock her up!” and reprimands of that “basket of deplorables,” patent attorney Vanessa Otero decided there was a real problem with how we consume news.
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(Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Creating the Media Bias Chart The extreme bias and partisanship of the 2016 election led Vanessa Otero to create the first Media Bias Chart. How do we reach a consensus on which sources prioritize facts and which are designed as filter bubbles of confirmation bias and self-righteousness?Īd Fontes Media‘s answer: research, analysis, and one interactive chart. Such a state is pernicious at the best of times, but in dire times, such as the coronavirus pandemic, the spread of unreliable information can be of fatal concern. When news content begins to prioritize opinions and tribalistic tendencies over journalistic integrity, it clouds the entire media landscape with suspicion, deepens political polarization, and allows readers to sidestep unwelcome evidence with alternative narratives. We as a society require a consensus of truth to make sound social decisions, and the news is one of the gatekeepers to the facts required to build those truths. While a mere annoyance in that moment, such mindsets have become a widespread social ill. Their main grievance is, of course, how biased and unfair those news sources are when compared to their reliable, fact-based preferences. If you’ve spent any time on social media, or in the inescapable presence of extended family, you’ve heard someone slagging on the news sources they disagree with. CNN should be renamed the “Know-Nothing Network.” Info Wars‘ listeners are freakin’ certifiable. Fox News had to drop its “Fair and Balanced” motto because that’s false advertising. The New York Times was a failing newspaper before changing its business model to muckraking on Trump.