Weekly Example of Media Bias - April 17, 2019
1. What type of bias does the excerpt above illustrate?
2. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held hearings this week, charging Google, Facebook and Twitter with being biased against conservatives – a charge they deny. Google said in a written statement that it works to ensure “our products serve users of all viewpoints and remain politically neutral” but it acknowledged that “sometimes our content moderation systems do make mistakes.” What do you think? Did Google make an honest mistake by labeling a pro-life movie as propaganda, while not giving that label to any other movies? Explain your answer.
3. Do a Google search for movies that conservatives would disagree with: e.g. any Michael Moore movie; Al Gore’s global warming movie “An Inconvenient Truth”... How are these labeled by Google?
4. Why do you think Google labeled an actual propaganda movie - the Nazi propaganda film “The Triumph of the Will” - as 'history/war' but labeled a pro-life story as propaganda?
CHALLENGE: If you are 18, watch the movie. Is this true story of a Planned Parenthood executive’s experience propaganda?