Media Bias Chart-click to enlarge
Bias of Media Outlets and How They Align
External Variables and Discussions
Throughout this experiment, we found some external variables that could contribute to the bias felt among students at WWU. We took these contributing factors from out google document survey question results.
A notable result from this survey was the distribution of those that share the same political views as their parents. We figure this is answer could contribute to the form of media students have become accustomed to, as they most likely consume the same news sources as their parents if they share the same views. What we found was striking.
Just as we theorized, but not really…
Our generation is a visual one, regardless of political party. We prefer to see what is happening as it is happening in the palm of our hands and there is no denying this fact. From our results we found that students prefer the internet over other forms of information outlets. This was as we had predicted, since the internet can be easily accessible with the proper resources available to those looking for the latest news updates.
Although, we found some surprises in our results that we had not planned on receiving. When starting this research, we expected students to prefer large news outlets, as they are convenient and accessible through phones and online. Yet, the results we got back told another story. Students prefer and trust their local news for updates and tracking coverage over national platform outlets such as MSNBC or Fox News.
Overall, most students felt they let bias influence how they pick and choose their news. The majority of Democratic students feel they let bias control where they receive their news from. Almost all the subjects felt they share in the bias they feel towards opposing parties beliefs.
How we got here and the hiccups along the way
The initial study on media propaganda and politics was going to be conducted in this manner :
We had planned to gather about 25 students into a classroom and have them watch the same news story covered by a more conservative channel and a more liberal channel one after the other, then to get in groups to discuss if they detected any bias. After that, we would have them login online to take a survey with space at the end to divulge some of their own personal opinions and what the project is about.
Due to the issues of not having concise results and time management, we just sent out an online survey like many others along with some face to face interviews primarily from our roommates and nearby housing residences on campus to record responses. The main catch to this study was to try and have as little bias as possible so we had to edit questions carefully. It would be hypocritical or ironic for us not to.
The road to results and the process to products
To gather data on WWU campus about media bias, propaganda, and what types of news coverage coincides to all this, project partners Sam Rogers and Erin Glynn made a post to an English 101 Wix site calling for participants to respond to a google forums survey. We then gathered those responses through a google document, which formulates different types of charts based on the data it collects and from there.
Some of the questions asked of subjects were included to measure the general consensus among students and the variables related to the original question. For example, it was measured what students believe is the most prevalent political party presence on campus and the majority of responses confirmed students believe there are mostly Democratic students on campus.
Pie chart of question responses-click to enlarge
Moreover, it was also measured how subjects felt about their own bias. The question, “Would you say that you’re biased towards opposing political parties?” was asked of the subjects. The response was nearly 2/3 of students feeling they are biased toward other parties as seen on the pie chart below.
Pie chart of responses-click to enlarge
Ted Talk about “Fake News” with Sharyl Attkinson
The opening to our question and quest
Welcome to the web page of Sam Rogers and Erin Glynn!
We have conducted a survey via the Internet to gain insight into political identities in relation to news media consumption on campus at WWU. This web page is the result of our findings. Your job as a reader is to engage with the multimedia design and findings that we will post on here in order to gather facts and form an opinion about the political happenings of the world of students. We welcome open discussion and free speech, curious minds and questions. We will include the link of the survey we posted and a page describing our personal experiences of perpetuating this study and our political journeys. Please take a look at the interesting videos, pictures, articles and other resources we will try to update on our blog as time progresses.
THANK YOU,
SAM AND ERIN