Determining bias
It is crucially important to recognize bias in sources we use. To some degree, there will be at least a slight amount of bias in every message; the real question is whether the author/speaker acknowledges their bias and takes steps to minimize it through fair and respectful language, balanced argument, etc. Below is a set of questions we can ask to detect bias in messages, adapted from rhetorica.net:
- Does the author/speaker acknowledge their political or social perspectives on the subject matter?
- Does the publisher indicate a political or social bias? For example, a piece from Fox News is going to have a conservative bias because that is the nature of the organization.
- Does the author's/speaker's language seem to be slanted towards a particular perspective? For example, do they use noticeably negative language when discussing the topic itself or to they "trash" alternative perspectives?
- Does the author/speaker even acknowledge other perspectives or is their message one-sided?
- Does the author/speaker stand to gain or lose anything from our accepting their perspective or following their suggestions?
- Who is sponsoring the message? Do they have anything to gain or lose?
- Does the author/speaker cite their sources of information, sources of statistics, etc.? Are those sources credible themselves? Are they timely or possibly too old?
