Trust Tips 49: Explain that some journalists are biased on purpose

Published on January 21, 2020 by Mollie Muchna | Reading Time: < 1 minute

Ask any opinion journalist this question: Do you get complaints from your audience that your work is biased? In our experience, the answer is almost certainly going to be yes. Accusations of bias are so ubiquitous that it’s no longer widely understood that some journalism is actually designed to persuade. See this comment, from a user survey one of our newsroom partners conducted: “Change the restaurant reviewer; she’s very biased.” You mean you noticed that the person hired to tell you what she thinks of restaurants is sharing her opinion? It’s easy to be frustrated by that misunderstanding, and it’s tempting to roll our eyes and move on with our day. But think about the fact that a significant subset of readers think opinions are accidentally creeping into your news coverage, rather than understanding that you’re paying journalists to share their opinion. The report highlights the experiences and advice of editors like Joel Christopher. More from this edition can be found here and to receive the tips in your inbox each week click here.

Mollie Muchna

mollie@trustingnews.org | + posts

Project manager Mollie Muchna (she/her) has spent the last 10 years working in audience and engagement journalism in local newsrooms across the Southwest. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, where she is also an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona’s School of Journalism. She can be reached at mollie@trustingnews.org and on Twitter @molliemuchna.