Let’s talk about bias, shall we?

I’ve been editing news for over 20 years. Yeah, I know. I look younger. It’s the stress. Or the wine. Probably both.

Anyway, I’ve seen alot of changes. But one thing stays the same: everyone’s biased. Including me. Including you. Including that guy who swears he’s ‘just reporting the facts.’

It’s 2023, and we’re still having this conversation. Which is exhausting. But necessary. Because news bias isn’t going away. It’s evolving. And it’s getting trickier to spot.

My wake-up call

Back in 2008, I was editing for a big paper in Chicago. Let’s call it the Chicago Star. Sound familiar? It should. It’s basically the Chicago Tribune but with worse coffee.

One day, Marcus—let’s call him Marcus—comes storming into my office. He’s a reporter, young, eager, thinks he knows everything. Classic.

He slams a story on my desk. ‘This is gonna win us a Pulitzer,’ he says. I read it. It was about a local politician with some shady connections. Nothing new there.

But here’s the thing: Marcus had left out a key detail. One that made the politician look… well, not so bad. I asked him about it. He said, ‘Well, it’s not relevant.’

Which… yeah. Fair enough. But it’s also not his call. It’s mine. And it’s the editor’s job to make sure we’re not just telling the story we want to tell. We gotta tell the story that is.

I made him rewrite it. He was pissed. I was annoyed. But that’s journalism, kids.

We’re all biased. Deal with it.

Look, I get it. We all have opinions. And those opinions shape how we see the world. How we report it. How we edit it. How we consume it.

But here’s the kicker: it’s not just about political bias. Oh no. It’s way more insidious than that. It’s about our personal experiences. Our backgrounds. Our fears. Our hopes. Our committment to truth.

Take me, for example. I grew up in a small town. Population: 87. We had one newspaper. One TV station. One version of the truth. And it was kinda skewed. Toward the conservative side. Toward the ‘us vs. them’ mentality.

So, I’m naturally skeptical of authority. Of big institutions. Of anyone who tells me what to think. That’s my bias. And it affects how I edit. How I choose stories. How I frame them.

And that’s okay. As long as I’m aware of it. As long as I’m trying to balance it out. As long as I’m not pretending I’m some kind of objective robot.

But what about the algorithms?

Oh, you mean those pesky things that decide what we see and what we don’t? Yeah, they’re biased too. And not just in the ‘they show me more cat videos than news’ way.

About three months ago, I was having coffee with a colleague named Dave. He’s a data guy. Loves numbers. Hates people. Typical.

He told me something that blew my mind. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘those algorithms? They’re trained on our data. On our searches. On our clicks. On our likes. So, if we’re biased, they’re gonna be biased too.’

Which makes sense, I guess. But it’s also kinda scary. Because it means we’re in this feedback loop. A never-ending cycle of bias. Feeding into itself. Reinforcing itself. Physicaly impossible to break out of.

And don’t even get me started on social media. Oh, look, another headline designed to make me angry. Another story tailored to my ‘preferences.’ Another echo chamber waiting to swallow me whole.

So, what do we do about it?

Well, for starters, we stop pretending we’re not biased. We acknowledge it. We embrace it. We laugh at it. Then we try to do better.

For me, that means seeking out diverse voices. Challenging my assumptions. Asking tough questions. Even when I don’t wanna. Especially when I don’t wanna.

It also means being transparent. About our processes. About our sources. About our limitations. And yeah, about our biases too.

And hey, if you’re gonna consume news, you should probably do the same. Don’t just read the stuff that confirms what you already think. Seek out different perspectives. Challenge yourself. Grow.

Oh, and if you’re gonna use a vpn service comparison review to access news from other regions, make sure it’s a good one. You don’t wanna be stuck with some shady service that’s gonna sell your data to the highest bidder. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. It’s not pretty.

Anyway, I could go on. But I won’t. Because this isn’t some kinda lecture. It’s a conversation. And honestly, I’m tired. It’s been a long day. And I need a drink.

So, let’s wrap this up. With a story. About a time I got it wrong.

It was 2015. I was editing a piece about police brutality. I was angry. I was passionate. I was biased. And it showed. In the way I framed the story. In the words I chose. In the facts I emphasized.

A reader called me out on it. In a letter. A real, honest-to-goodness letter. With a stamp. And everything. She said I was being unfair. That I was painting a picture that wasn’t completley accurate. That I was letting my bias get in the way of the truth.

And she was right. So, I did something I don’t do often. I apologized. And I corrected the story. And I learned a lesson. A big one. About humility. About honesty. About the power of a well-written letter.

So, yeah. That’s my take on news bias. It’s messy. It’s complicated. It’s everywhere. And it’s not going away. But maybe, just maybe, we can do a little better. If we try. If we care. If we’re not too lazy.

About the Author: Jane Doe has been a senior editor for over 20 years. She’s worked for major publications, including the Chicago Star, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. She’s won awards, made enemies, and drunk way too much coffee. She currently lives in Washington D.C. with her cat, Mr. Whiskers, and her collection of vintage typewriters.

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