User:Gryllida/NPOV/Examples

This is an essay by one or more individuals on using and contributing to Wikinews. It contains their advice or opinions, not necessarily those of the Wikinews community. Community essays can be found here; links to official policies can be found in the Wikinews introduction.

This is an user essay, suggested by its author(s). It's not a community essay, nor a policy or guideline.

This essay is under construction.

Bias is presentation of content that is not factual. Bias can mislead the reader. It needs to be avoided in news reports. See WN:NPOV.

There are a few types of bias.

Your opinion

Bias by including your opinion. (Do not include it. If it is something important, include the relevant facts.) Example:
On Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old University of Florida student who appealed an expulsion order, allowing her to remain in the country. Lara was a clever and persistent student who finally won the legal battle. Bravo Lara!

– Compare with the published version: Israeli Supreme Court overturns expulsion of US student

On Sunday, Ross Edgley, aged 33, completed his 157-day (five-month) staged swim around Great Britain mainland. He went ashore at Margate, Thanet, Kent, England at 8:40 a.m. local time. He was a adorable handsome pioneer swimming around the continent for the first time in history.
– Compare with the published version: Ross Edgley swims around Great Britain for first time in history

Someone else's opinion, no attribution

Bias by including other's opinions in Wikinews's voice. (Include them, with attribution, instead.) Example (this also plagiarises, but this is another issue)
On Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old University of Florida student who appealed an expulsion order, allowing her to remain in the country. The expulsion order was motivated by the student's previous participation in a student group supporting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. Denying entry to every person who has expressed support for a boycott was counterproductive.

– Compare with the published version: Israeli Supreme Court overturns expulsion of US student It says, "The director of the university, Barak Medina, stated: "To be clear, we strongly oppose the boycott campaign against Israel, and Israel has to fight it[...] But to deny entry to every person who has expressed support for a boycott is counterproductive"."

Balance bias

Balance bias - presenting views only from one party or group of parties who work closely together. (You should present views from another party as well, whenever possible.) Example:
On Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old University of Florida student who appealed an expulsion order, allowing her to remain in the country. She was refused entry upon arrival in Israel on October 2 at Ben Gurion Airport and threatened with deportation. The student was held in custody as she appealed the order.

On entry at Ben Gurion, Alqasem had a valid student visa to enrol in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

An Israeli lawyer representing the student called the allegation "egregious"; Alqasem studied Hebrew in Florida. The Hebrew Un:iversity asked to join her during the appeal process, in defence of Israel's academic freedom.

Alqasem appealed to the Israeli High Court after being rejected by a lower court. The ruling allows her to pursue further education in the country.

– Compare with the published version: Israeli Supreme Court overturns expulsion of US student
It provides information about the government's reasoning
behind the expulsion order, Lara's previous participation in
a 'boycott, divestment, and sanctions' student movement.

Bias by being vague

Bias by being vague or unspecific, which may cause confusion or brainwashing. Example:

On Sunday, Ross Edgley, aged 33, completed his 157-day (five-month) staged swim around Great Britain mainland. This was a great British swim.
– Compare with the published version: Ross Edgley swims around Great Britain for first time in history

Satellite photos show North Korean missile sites going strong" (in headline)
– Possible option: US agency discovers 13 North Korean ballistic missiles sites on satellite imagery

Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron step up war of words" or "Trump, Macron feud escalates" (two versions of headline by [1])
– Possibility: "On Twitter, Mr Trump suggested France to increase its military defense. He said, " ... (exact quote -- from Twitter not from News.com.au -- here) ... "

On Sunday, Ross Edgley, aged 33, completed his over four months staged swim around a massive island. He went ashore at Margate, Thanet, Kent, England, emerging from deadly cold water at an early time when the sun was barely raising, welcomed by many hundreds of spectators.
– Compare with the published version: Ross Edgley swims around Great Britain for first time in history

- A special kind of bias by being vague is not specifying where the information came from, making its source seem -- if the reader is OK with assuming that it is true (which the brain is inclined to do) instead of never assuming (which is what journalism and critical thinking requires) -- seemingly reputable:

Reports suggest at least one of the proposed manufacturing sites would be based in Germany, with a second potentially in Poland.
– Deutsche Welle, [2] Vague, unascribed.

- Another kind: attribute the information to seemingly everyone, only later in the next paragraph saying it was 'N% of responses to that survey"

Australians think it is the best time to buy a house since March 2015, led by a leap in NSW consumers thinking now is the time to snap up a property, according to Westpac economists.
– ABC (Australia); followed by the sentence "The bank's monthly consumer sentiment survey posted an 11.8 per cent surge in respondents thinking it is the right time to buy a dwelling — that is nearly 17 per cent higher than a year ago."

Bias by omission

Bias by omission. Important information is not included, or is included too late where the readers don't read.

Vet banned from Disney World after holding ‘Trump 2020’ sign (headline)
– NYPost [3] Undue weight, obscuring the facts (They do not mention until the 7th paragraph that this person repeatedly violated Disney rules against demonstrations/banners, and had been warned that any such repeated behaviour will result in a ban.)