Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Complex or clickbait?: The problematic Media Bias Chart

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I have discussed the Media Bias Chart in the past, offering the criticism that it normalized far-right sites and depicted the conservitive corporate press as 'neutral'. Here are my comments. This article offers a far more comprehensive critique, describing its origins and many of the criticisms that have been offered over the years. It notes quite accurately that the chart confirms a false equivalence between the radical right and the moderate left, and that it elevates some very questionable publications to the status of viable alternatives to (say) CNN or the BBC. The problem of misinformation is undermining not only democracy, but science and education in general, and charts like this are a part of it. We can help by providing the tools and skills people need to ferrit out scams in the news media and take a reality-based path forward. Pictured is the current Media Bias Chart with my commentary overlaid.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 21, 2024 1:33 p.m.

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