In a vast and ever growing world, communication is becoming more important than ever. This has especially become true of social media, which has seen a significant increase in use over the years. According to Chaffey (2018), social media users have increased by 13%, especially in Northern Europe and North America. In addition, Chaffey (2018) also pointed out that Facebook has remained the most popular social media site on a global basis. However, with the rise in communication also rises the risk for bias. “Since the existence of online social media, citizens around the world use it to communicate beyond mass media blackouts…While social media are clearly relevant for news and culture, there are still many open questions about the potential, role, limitations, and biases of online social media. Social media overcome some limitations of traditional mass media that are commonly attributed as sources of biases (Carrascosa, Cuevas, Gonzalez, Azcorra, and Garcia, 2015).” As bias continues to make itself more prevalent, it’s important to avoid becoming biased as often as possible. To understand how much of a negative impact bias has on a global context, it requires an understanding of the very definition of bias itself, the role it plays in the basic communication model, and the consequences that bias can have on society.
Pannucci and Wilkins (2011) define bias as “[A]ny tendency which prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question. In research, bias occurs when ‘systematic error [is] introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or encouraging one outcome or answer over others.'” In other words, bias is a personal belief one has that prevents them from accepting other viewpoints because they believe that their viewpoint is correct. Over the years, bias has become an increasing problem, especially in the media. According to Elejalde, Ferres, and Herder (2015), Bias in the media is a global phenomenon, not exclusive to one kind of economy or particular political system. As such, there is now a quickly growing body of empirical evidence on its existence.” Multiple news outlets, especially Fox News and MSNBC, have been accused of altering their reporting to tailor the messages towards their preferred political party of choice.
Beyond the news, bias can prove to be a problem in day-to-day communication. The basic communication model, as described by Nordquist (2018), involves a messenger and a receiver. The messenger codes a message to send to the receiver via a channel (i.e. email, text, face-to-face), where the receiver then decodes the message and tries to understand its context. They then have the option to provide feedback as an acknowledgement. However, both the messenger and the receiver can be biased in their messaging. For example, if two people are discussing a political subject, there is a good chance that both sides have an opinion on the subject, and both of them believe their opinions are right. When they talk about it, their messages will be coded to favor their opinions, and the feedback both will have towards the others opinion will be prejudiced since they may be the exact opposite of how the other feels. More than likely will the conversation leave both parties feeling that the other is being unfair and stubborn in their own opinions, leaving a negative perception. On a bigger scale, this could seem far worse. If the leaders of two different countries countries weren’t able to cooperate because of their biases in how things should be run, the relationship between the two would sour, and neither leader would view the other as a friend. Biases are more than just an obstacle to communication; they are an obstacle to having proper relationships.
Perhaps the most drastic consequences that biases can have is that it leaves a very negative impact on others. As Carrascosa, Cuevas, Gonzalez, Azcorra, and Garcia (2015) pointed out, “With respect to social media, previous works focused either on individual biases in news sharing, or on social and geographical factors or content sharing relevant to viral marketing and information technologies.” Over the past several years, I have noticed strong levels of bias in the media that have typically tended to portray “fans” as being in the right whenever a controversy over a film, television show, cartoon, video game, or novel erupted. Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, DC Comics, the Disney live action remakes, and many other projects have all had controversies erupt over their more recent installments. While these would vary in terms of what the controversies were over (i.e. story, character writing, casting decisions), many of the opinions were posted long before any of the installments came out, and remained firm in their negativity even after the projects were released. They had deemed the projects “failures” straight off the bat, and remained biased about the final version even if their thoughts about it were unwarranted. As a result of this bias, I have seen the media primarily focus on the negativity of these fans more so than the positive, and this in turn gives way to a permanent public perception that these fandoms are highly toxic.
No matter what the circumstance is, bias does nothing but create a bad situation. At its roots, bias leads others to believe their thinking is right and everything else is wrong, be it a person or a news network’s viewpoint. Because of this perceived stubbornness and close-mindedness, it leaves a negative perception that only grows bigger as time goes on. This leaves fanbases of media franchises being viewed as toxic, and the leaders of countries as the subject of mockery from the international community. While bias will never go away, it can be reduced when one acknowledges their own biases. With that said, they can work to overcome that bias and learn to keep an open mind when having conversation.
References:
Chaffey, D. (November 23, 2018). Global Social Media Research Summary 2018. SmartInsights. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
Carrascosa, J.M., Cuevas, R., Gonzalez, R., Azcorra, A., and Garcia, D. (July 31, 2015). Quantifying the Economic and Cultural Biases of Social Media through Trending Topics. PLOS|ONE. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0134407
Pannucci, C., and Wilkins, E.G. (August 1, 2011). Identifying and Avoiding Bias in Research. PMC. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917255/
Elejalde, E., Ferres, L., and Herder, E. (March 23, 2018). On the Nature of Real and Perceived Bias in the Mainstream Media. PLOS|ONE. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193765
Nordquist, R (October 18, 2018). The Basic Elements of the Communication Process. Bizfluent. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-communication-process-1689767
Kristen Leigh Orozco says
I have started to hear more about bias in social media after the last election. It is always something that I have known to play a major role in media and communication, but I had not thought of it in the global context. I thought your example of bias influencing the relationship between two countries. I feel this is relevant to our foreign policy today and our culture. Bias has infiltrated our lives in almost every way. I wonder if this is because individuals are willing to give their opinions more freely. This automatic need we feel to give our opinion has allowed for more bias in media. I agree that that we must acknowledge our won biases to learn to overcome the negativity that can be associated with media, and communication. Great post!