Media bias extends beyond politics

Several examples of major non-political news stories recently show that collective bias by the mainstream media goes beyond politics, seeping into issues of race, climate, and terrorism. The financial pressures being put on newsrooms often push journalists to cover what they think will get a lot of pickup, argues Jennifer Grygiel, assistant professor of communications at Syracuse University. And tools that help journalists discover what's trending, like CrowdTangle and Tweetdeck, could be a part of that problem. Collective media bias can be hard to detect and address in real time, but the consequences are significant. At best, it can dramatically skew coverage for the majority of the population; at worst, it can distort the truth by inflating or downplaying significant aspects of some news stories.