NEWS BIASNESS

News Biasness

News Biasness

Introduction

What do we really get from the news today? The news, whether it is written or visual, has been criticized for its biases and lack of objectivity. Although still providing information on happenings worldwide, sometimes opinions on the issue are also conveyed in the report. Recently, a major attack, which will be taking place in Falluja, Iraq soon has been all over the news, ranging from Fox News to The New York Times. Fox news has been known for its unprecedented conservative bias and favoring of the right. Through their coverage of events in Iraq that bias is obvious, providing us only footage that supports our troops and our mission. Written news, such as The Mercury News and The New York Times, is generally more objective than right wing visual news by providing the viewer a more complete coverage of the war. The Mercury News and The New York Times allow the reader to make up their own minds regarding what they feel about the war (although a little guided by the word choice of the authors), while Fox news leads the viewer to feel the same way (the right winged point of view) they do about the war.

Analysis

The first article that I chose from The New York Times on October the 28th describes as mentioned in its title on front page of the paper, "Provincial Capital Near Falluja Is Rapidly Slipping into Chaos." An image of marines pointing guns at Iraqis strewn on the floor can be seen on the front page. Within the article, two more photographs are shown depicting Marines and their guns in Iraq. These images convey to the reader a feeling of a strong American military presence within Iraq. The fact they show so many marines also bring a sense of mounting violence within Iraq, which is proven true within the article.

The article is balanced showing both how the marines feel and what Governor Awad from Iraq had to say. The article describes events within the area near Falluja from the beginning of the attack to nowadays to provide the reader with the series of events, which led to the situation in Falluja now. A Marine who was interviewed about Falluja stated, "We [marines] used to go to civilian areas in one or two Humvees to look at hospitals and other places. Now it's too dangerous, and we need four Humvees for a convey, and we don't have the resources." (Wong, A12) The Marines describe the need for an attack both on Ramadi and Falluja. The situation in Ramadi is said to be difficult to work with because "the insurgent activity is everywhere. It's at our [Marines] firm bases here. It's among the women and children, those cowards."(Wong, A12) The last two words of the quote show an obvious distaste for the insurgent. The Marine seems to believe in the need for protected women and children. The insurgents in Falluja are still within the general population and refuse to ...