Bias In Articles example essay topic

There is quite a lot of bias in news articles and it is very effective in stimulating our response to an issue. In the article "Rich, famous unite in grief:" (West Australian 5 September, 1998) bias is included to sympathise our response to the victim or victims and to be angry at the people responsible. Reporters can use headlines, Figure of Authority language and the six questions to create a effective slant on an article. All these factors play a huge role in the impact of the bias. The headline is the first place in an article where the bias first starts. The size of the headline varies on the importance of the article and various poetic 'tools' in a headline give the article a impact and a extremely strong determining point for the bias.

The headline "Rich, famous unite in grief" uses strong words and alliteration and is typed in big, bold, black letters. This and the journalists impacting words make us feel angry at the people responsible for the Swiss a disaster. The way a headline is written and displayed aids in impacting the readers reactions to the article. A Figure of Authority is used quite often in a article to help convey the bias. All direct quotes from these people are added in with the article to give the reader some proof. As an audience or readers we tend to believe and agree with what these people are saying because they are important and we as readers trust them.

In the article "Rich, famous unite in grief" there is a direct quote from Mr La Motta "I had four daughters but only two sons, and I lost them both in just seven months" It shows how much pain and loss has happened to one man but then there are many others like him who have lost just as much. This quote makes us feel very sorry for the victims parents and love ones and extremly angry at the people responsible. The quotes in articles influence us to believe things about the people in the article. Every journalist chooses his / her different style of language to influence the reader in many various ways. Persuasive, descriptive, factual, emotive and poetic are the different language styles used by journalists.

Each of theses styles has a different impact on the readers thoughts and responses to an article. In "Rich, famous unite in grief" an example of this is "As grief counsellors helped the families of those killed". This is showing us that the families are helpless and shat erd at the loss of their loved ones. The uses of these writing techniques the journalist is able to create an impacting bias. As the six questions are mostly factual but they however do contain some bias. They are normally in the introductory paragraph and are very simple the answers to the questions who?

, What? , When? , Where? , Why? and How? In the "Rich, famous unite in grief" the answers are in the first whew paragraphs which say that no survivors survived the Swissair disaster and that the families are under great grief. This however doesn't have a great impact on the bias but is factual in the article.

Therefore the bias in articles has a great influence on the readers response to the issues in articles. Headline and font, figure of authority and finally the six questions make up the bias in newspaper articles. As each factor plays a different role in impacting the bias. There is definitely a lot of bias in news articles and news just wouldn't be good if it didn't make you feel something for the story.