Can You Spot the Bias?

“This is propaganda!”

“Virtually everything this outlet says is a lie.”

“This newspaper is a brainwasher!”

Check the comments section on almost any news outlet’s website or social media page, and you’ll see a common theme. Many people believe news coverage is biased, or unfairly slanted to benefit one side of an issue over another.

Young people are no exception. According to a 2024 report from the News Literacy Project, nearly 7 in 10 teens believe that news organizations add bias to their coverage on purpose. And nearly half of teens believe the media does more to harm democracy than to protect it.

Those perceptions not only give the media a bad rap. They can make it harder for people to trust the news. That can be dangerous because journalists give citizens information to understand what’s going on in the world, from new laws to ongoing wars. (The nation’s founders considered that work so essential that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom of the press.)

Is bias really that widespread in the media? Can we trust what we read, hear, and see?

There’s no definitive way to measure media bias, but experts agree that it exists to some degree. Sometimes it’s small things—like a reporter using a biased adjective to describe a celebrity. Other times, it’s bigger—like a journalist selectively choosing which facts to present in order to promote a certain perspective.

Beth Heldebrandt is the director of communications at Ad Fontes Media, a media watchdog group that analyzes political bias in news reports. She says there is only one media outlet that is nearly perfectly unbiased: C-SPAN, the nonprofit news network that covers the U.S. Congress.

“It’s a camera sitting in the hall of Congress recording what they do every day—there’s no commentary being made, no decisions about what to include, what not to include,” Heldebrandt says. This makes for unbiased television—but it’s also pretty boring, she admits. “Most people aren’t going to sit and watch this for hours and hours. They rely on the media to do that for them.”

Journalists interpret and report on what’s happening, including in the government and other institutions. That’s where bias can creep in, experts say. Their reporting is shaped by the issues they choose to focus on, the people they interview, and the questions they ask.

For instance, say a school newspaper is covering a field trip. A teacher writing about it might focus on the educational value, while a student might write about the fun activities the students got to do. Both stories might be factually correct, but they would be framed differently.

Journalists also use different words to convey the same information, which can affect the way a story comes across. One article might emphasize problems. Another might emphasize solutions.

But those differences don’t necessarily mean a news organization has a hidden agenda, says Brittney Smith. She works with the News Literacy Project. Most media outlets want to be seen as trustworthy, so journalists try to report the news in a fair and balanced way, she says. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) even has a code of ethics to help journalists navigate thorny issues (see “How Journalists Stick to the Facts,” below).

But journalists are human, after all, and they aren’t perfect. Even when reporters try to cover an issue fairly, bias can creep in.

Experts say it can be helpful to picture media bias as a spectrum, where each piece of news is more biased or less biased, rather than completely biased or unbiased. With that in mind, they say, think critically about the media you consume.

First, look at the headline: Does it use sensational or opinionated language? Words like bombshell, brutal, expose, or humiliate often indicate bias, media experts say.

Exclamation points and a lot of capital letters are another clue. “They do that to appeal to your emotions and make you click,” Heldebrandt of Ad Fontes Media explains.

Photos are important too. For example, articles about a politician often include a photo of that politician. But is the photo flattering or unflattering? Does the politician look kind or angry? That can sway your perspective.

In terms of the article itself, be on the lookout for any words that spark a strong reaction. And consider who is being quoted, suggests Janine Jackson. She is the program director of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watchdog group. “Whose voices am I hearing in this story? And whose voices am I not hearing?” she advises asking yourself. “That will affect your understanding of events and issues that you don’t have personal experience with.” 

It’s also important to consider your media habits, Heldebrandt says. Established news sources often have fact-checking teams to verify information. Your favorite news influencers on TikTok might not, but some include links confirming their reports.

There’s a quick way to tell whether a source is trustworthy, says Michael Koretzky, the chair of the ethics committee at the SPJ. “Search for the words correction or clarification,” he says. “If that publication, that website, that social media outlet, that TikTok account, has never corrected anything they’ve gotten wrong, they’re not reputable, because everyone makes some mistakes eventually. And if they’re trustworthy, they’ll own up to it.”

That doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to traditional news sources like newspapers and TV news—as long as you vary it up, Heldebrandt advises. “Everyone has their favorite influencers and platforms, but you should seek out other voices.” That way, you can compare perspectives, she adds.

Finally, don’t forget that some feelings of bias could come from you. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and interpret information in a way that confirms what you already believe. It can make you more likely to question an article that challenges your opinion—and less likely to question one that doesn’t.

Smith of the News Literacy Project says you can double-check your reaction by asking yourself what an unbiased piece of news on the subject would look like. If the piece is biased, you should be able to think of ways to make it better.

“By being aware of bias and knowing what to look for, we can work together to help make sure that journalism is the very best that it can be,” Smith says.