A new spin on spin

My Father constantly urged me to put my writing ability to use by become a journalist. What's strange about this typical parental persuasion is that my Dad hates journalists with a passion, but I know for a fact he loves me.

Why does Joe O'Connell hate journalists so much? Because he thinks they're all bias.

To be honest, there are times where I can sympathize with my Father's perspective. Being a man with high political interests, although I won't say which way, Joe O'Connell has the ability to point out bias in pretty much any piece of journalism. Sometimes I think he sees journalists as Mel Gibson sees the government in "Conspiracy Theory," but then there are the times when his arguments are justified.

Luckily, Joe O'Connell might have a partner in bias-spotting. A self-proclaimed political progressive and conservative had melded minds to create spinspotter.com, a Web site geared at detecting bias both ways in a story. According to their home page, "We have tremendous respect for journalists, but who would argue that the media circus isn't out of control? A full 66% of Americans think the press is one-sided."

Obviously this is cause for alarm. An article on BusinessWeek. com said that the site uses the Society of Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics to find bias through examples of "...reporter's voice (adjectives used by a journalist that go beyond the supporting evidence in the article); passive voice (example: a story says "bombs land" without stating which party is responsible for them); a biased source (a quoted source's partisanship is not clearly identified); disregarded context (a political rally's attendance is reported to be "massive," but would it have been so huge had the surviving members of the Beatles not played?); and lack of balance (a news story on a controversial topic gives much more credence to one side's claims)."

So what does this mean for journalists? Honestly, the site is not guaranteed to work, so it could mean very little. Cynicism about the mechanics of the site aside, I think this is both bad and good for the world of journalism. It's bad that the opinion of the media has sunk to the point where people are so enraged and feel the need to track bias in reporting rather than reading a variety of sources to gain a full perspective.

However, this may be a tool that journalists can use to benefit. As evident by the remarks of a fellow student in lecture today, some journalists may have a difficult time distinguishing fact from opinion. If journalists used this Web site to examine anywhere there may be bias in their articles that they were unaware of and didn't intend to include. Journalists using this site enough may help to eliminate unintentional bias, as well as the 66 percent of Americans view us as being bias.

Article Link: Media Bias? Not if this Web site can help it.