Table Of Content

Overcoming Bias In this practical and engaging new edition, experienced reporter and teacher Sue Ellen Christian offers a fully updated and fresh take on reporting without bias, examining the way that we categorize people, filter information and default to rehearsed ways of thinking. This book is about biases that affect journalism at every stage of reporting and writing. Included throughout are stories and advice from working reporters and editors, providing real-world voices and experiences, and covering questions of culture, stereotyping, sources, writing, editing, visuals and reflective practice. This advice and guidance is coupled with practical exercises that give readers the chance to apply what they learn. Christian provides a career-long foundation for those looking to edit their thinking and to champion a more inclusive and open-minded approach to coverage of our multicultural society. Offering a concise, readable and highly applicable guide to managing coverage of contemporary social issues, this book is an ideal resource for undergraduate and graduate students of journalism and early career journalists. Sue Ellen Christian is a Professor of Communication at Western Michigan University. She was the 2016 Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year and has received the highest honor for teaching from her institution. She is an award-winning former Chicago Tribune staff writer and the author of Everyday Media Literacy: An Analog Guide for Your Digital Life (2019). Overcoming Bias A Journalist’s Guide to Culture & Context Second Edition Sue Ellen Christian Second edition published 2021 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Taylor & Francis The right of Sue Ellen Christian to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Holcomb Hathaway 2012 First edition republished by Routledge 2017 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Christian, Sue Ellen, 1966– author. Title: Overcoming bias: a journalist’s guide to culture & context / Sue Ellen Christian. Description: Second edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021011836 (print) | LCCN 2021011837 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367404444 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367366957 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429356179 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Journalism—Objectivity—Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Reporters and reporting. Classification: LCC PN4784.O24 C47 2021 (print) | LCC PN4784.O24 (ebook) | DDC 070.4—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011836 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011837 ISBN: 978-0-367-40444-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-36695-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-35617-9 (ebk) Typeset in Warnock Pro by codeMantra Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9780367366957 To the home team – Bob, Robert, Daniel & Amelia – with love and gratitude. In memoriam to DKC, best copy editor a daughter could ever hope for. Contents Preface ix Audience xi The Book’s Format and Features xi Acknowledgments xv 1 Context, Culture and Cognition: Making the Case for Reflective Practice in Journalism 1 2 Habits of Thought: How Cognitive Processes Influence Journalistic Practice 25 3 Encountering the News: How the Mind Organizes and Interprets Information – and How Story Ideas Get Lost in the Process 47 4 Story without Stereotype: How Stereotypes May Influence Reporting in Stealthy Ways – and What to Do about It 71 vii CONTENTS 5 Understanding Culture, Understanding Sources: How Social Groups Serve as Lenses for Looking at the World 97 6 Training the Reporter’s Eye: What Attracts Journalists’ Attention Can Influence How They Portray Events and Explain Behaviors 127 7 Critical Decisions before Deadline: Why Even Experienced Journalists Neglect Certain Facts and What to Do About It 151 8 The Power of Words and Tone: When Words Suggest Unintended Meanings 177 9 Attribution, Images and Editing without Bias: When to Include Data, What Images Communicate and How to Determine Cause 207 10 Addressing Negativity: How to Manage Hate Speech, Hostile Sources and Misinformation 237 11 Journalism and Reflective Practice: Cultivating an Open Mind 261 Index 287 viii Preface Journalists are biased . . . Just not in the way that most American news consumers think they are. Media bias, or a purposeful slanting of the news, is a common charge against journalists today. I believe the charge is overblown, and that the majority of individual journalists go out of their way to be neu- tral and independent in their coverage of people and events. Instead, the biases that this book explores are far more real and pervasive – if also less noticeable and loud. They are biases in the way that humans think, the way that we naturally and instinctively categorize people, filter information, ration our attention, rely on cultural norms and default to rehearsed ways of thinking. These biases affect journalism at every stage of the reporting and writing process. Overcoming Bias shows journalists how they can examine and know their habits of thought, allowing them to engage in more accu- rate reporting and coverage of the cultures in their communities and the world. Journalists need to know the biases they bring to a reporting situation in order to avoid distorting news accounts and to better serve their increasingly multicultural and diverse audiences. This book provides specific advice, strategies and examples to help journalists embrace a more inclusive and open-minded approach to covering a dynamic society. I wrote the first edition of this book after nearly a decade of reporting with my students on diversity issues in our Midwest community. I needed a concise, practical resource to explain to a student why even if his quotes are right the story may still be wrong; to teach a student ix