Sheltering-in-Place: Day 81

Sheltering-in-Place: Day 81

A woman on the bottom of the image holds her hands wide with question marks and news media logos over her head. BLACK LIVES MATTER Where do you get your news?  The news service logos spread out over my head in no particular order are  Newsy ABC News Associated Press Reuters (My fave!) NPR The Wall Street Journal

The text on the image reads

BLACK LIVES MATTER
Where do you get your news?

The news service logos spread out over my head in no particular order are:

  • Newsy
  • ABC News
  • Associated Press
  • Reuters (My fave!)
  • NPR
  • The Wall Street Journal

I chose these because they are shown by Ad Fontes Media's Media Bias Chart® to be the most neutral and most reliable for news information. These sources are more balanced in what and how they report. They are less opinion based and more fact based. 

If you have questions about how Ad Fontes Media figures out what is neutral and what is not, check out their website. It's very informative. They can explain themselves much better than I can summarize them.

This post came about because I did a little experiment over the weekend. I varied my news sources for the protests. I usually prefer to read my news or, in the case of the protests, watch them happen via livestreams. I tried watching some broadcast-style news. It was weird for me, but it helped me understand how people who don't eat the news the same way I do are experiencing this very tumultuous year. It also helped me understand why things are getting phrased or talked about or focused on in some ways by people who, again, don't consume the news the same way I do. 

I'm not a journalist or an expert in news media or political science, so I'm going to give you a link to an article by people more qualified than me rather than try to explain this alone. The article is called, "What the Protests Look Like on Twitter Versus Cable News." Two people participated and reported back. One hung out on Twitter for a period of time. The other sat back and watched a few cable news stations over the same period of time. Feel free to use the Media Bias Chart® if you aren't familiar with Slate.

I'm going to wrap my striped shirt around me now, and head off for dinner. May all your news be accurate!

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