Six Sly Tricks of Biased Media

The secret tactics you're exposed to everyday

Bias is a slippery foe, no doubt about it. Luckily, you can train yourself to spot the ways it shapes public narratives.

By unpacking the six telltale “horsemen” of bias, we can better understand how misinformation, lies, and propoganda seep into the public sphere.

Let’s explore the six common ways bias rears its ugly head:

1. Framing Bias

Framing bias is when media emphasises facts, opinions, or interpretations to further a favorable narrative.

A timely example is the abortion debate. Reason Magazine (a libertarian outlet) uses the term “abortion law” in headlines to frame it as a legal issue. Alternatively, CNN often opts for “abortion rights”, casting it instaed as a question of autonomy and human rights.

Another prime example is the January 6 Capitol incident. Is it a “protest that got out of hand” as Fox News suggests or the “deadly insurrection” described by CNN?

If abortion is a legal issue, then the discussion centres on legal scholars. If January 6 is framed as an insurrection, we discuss barring Donald Trump from the presidency under the 14th amendment.

Framing bias is a way to limit or shift the scope of a topic.

Metaphor: Framing bias is choosing the perfect battlefield and setting favorable rules of engagement (legal issue vs human rights issue, protest vs insurrection).

2. Story Selection Bias

Story selection bias occurs before a single word is written. The act of deciding to write a certain article is indicative of story selection bias—constructing or reinforcing narratives by determining what gets covered.

Some argue that all media is gripped with story selection bias as they inherently favor negative stories. This is potentially true but nothing new. Fear and anger are the most effective levers to drive engagement.

There are less nebulous examples of story selection bias too. In crime reporting, NBC highlights systemic issues like gun control, police misconduct, and racial injustice.

Conversely, Fox News emphasises rising crime rates in Democrat-led cities or the role of undocumented immigrants.

Metaphor: Story selection bias is deciding which battle to fight in the first place. It’s about finding the weak point and hammering it.

3. Language Bias

Similar to framing bias, but on a smaller, more specific scale, language bias lies in the careful choice of words.

Consider terms like “pro-life” versus “anti-abortion.” Both label the same group but frame the debate differently. Are you having a debate about the sanctity of life or bodily autonomy?

Another classic example is criminal justice reform. Are you dealing with a “crime wave” (Fox News) or “racial disparities in sentencing” (New York Times).

Metaphor: Language bias is the weaponry of the fight. Words are crafted to cut, elicit emotions, and shape perception.

4. Contextual Omission

Contextual omission is the sneakiest of them all as it is a crime of omission and not action. There is nothing in the article you can point to as biased. Rather, it is the lack of critical information that creates this bias.

What do I mean? Take Donald Trump’s comment during the 2024 campaign that there would be a “bloodbath” if he lost. Both CNN and NBC connected this to January 6 and used our old friend framing bias to call it a threat of further insurrection.

However, the quote (spanning a single word) cannot truly be extrapolated in that matter.

In reality, Trump was discussing the economic impacts of foreign companies with regard to the American automative industry. He argued there would be a “bloodbath” within domestic manufacturing industries should he lose.

But the NBC headline was simply “Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he loses the election”.

Factual, sure. But contextual omission like this purposefully leads readers to unfounded conclusions.

Metaphor: Contextual Omission is challenging someone to a duel only to hide their weapons beforehand.

5. Visual Bias

Visual bias is a fairly simple trick and generally the most obvious. Essentially, it’s a means of means of manipulating perception and evoking emotional reponses through imagery.

Let’s use illegal immigration debates as our example. Fox News often uses sweeping shots of large groups at the border and long snaking lines to imply an overwhelming crisis.

Meanwhile, the New York Times features close-ups of distressed families, eliciting audience sympathy for the individual plights.

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

At its most basic level, visual bias can just mean an unflattering image of a politician. It can also mean image cropping, graph manipulation, photo composition, visual focus, strategic symbols and body language depiction.

That’s a long way of saying visuals are uniquely effective in crafting narratives.

Metaphor: Visual bias is the decorative uniform you wear and the flashy parades you put on.

6. Source Bias

Source bias is insidious in its subtlety. It’s all about who gets quoted and the dynamic between differing sources.

Let’s use COVID as the example. Fox News regularly interviewed doctors that were critical of lockdown measures while CNN prioritised pro-lockdown scientists.

Listening to either sources in isolation could falsely convince you that the medical community was united in one direction or another.

Even when both sides were presented, false balance often skewed perception—for instance, pitting CDC scientists against state-level Republican officials. There is an immediate power imbalance as one source (the scientist) has far more credibility on the topic.

“Great is the power of steady misreprsentation” - Charles Darwin

Same if you quote a socialist to represent the Democrat Party or an extreme protester to represent environment causes. You use your source to position a group or issue in an unfair manner.

The Hunter Biden pardon is another prime example. Fox News coverage featured Democratic voices for the sake of balance but disproportionately emphasised those who were critical of the pardon.

Metaphor: Source bias is leveraging every ally and partner in a particular fight while viewing the enemy only through their worst spokesperson.

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Spotting Bias in This Article

Reckon you can spot bias in your everyday media? Feel savvy enough to see through it? Think again.

This article, like most, seems objective but leaks plenty of conjecture and opinion. Here’s a quick rundown of how bias crept into this piece:

• Language bias: I called January 6 an “incident” (downplaying its severity) and said that conservative outlets “highlight high levels of crime in Democrat-led cities” (implying crime is disproportionately high in Democrat areas without evidence).

• Source Bias: I cited major outlets (Fox News, CNN, NBC, etc.), implying bias is exclusive to traditional media. I also referred to Fox News the most, implying both conservative media dominance and a higher level of bias.

• Contextual Omission: Examples focused on a few familiar topics (crime, abortion, COVID), ignoring bias in other areas like environmental policy or international affairs.

• Framing Bias: By describing bias as “potent” and “insidious,” I justified my own importance in revealing it. The battle metaphors throughout also romanticised the whole concept of bias analysis.

• Story Selection Bias: Highlighting these forms of media bias aligns with my own expertise and bolsters my credibility as someone who writes about bias regularly.

Overall, this article reminded me just how easy it is to push narratives (even accidentally!). Objective news is incredibly hard to achieve—some even argue impossible.

The best we can hope for is that more journalists recognise their own bias and work to overcome it.

Here’s a an absolutely brilliant example of a biased article I recently wrote (not being biased for once).

It’s only a short read but a great way to test your bias-spotting abilities.

Until next time, stay sharp and stay critical—don’t let biased media fool you too much.