Informational Bias

Newspaper Article: Skype Baby Death
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4046611/Skype-baby-death-suspects-revealed.html

Did your article follow the prescribed list of types of informational bias?

The article showed three out of the four types of informational bias. The three used were dramatization, fragmentation and personalization. Dramatization was used through the use of the headline ( “Skype baby death suspects revealed. Bucket drowning horror”). By using such a sensational headline, it was able to immediately grab the attention of readers. But, The Sun newspaper is notorious for their dramatization of events. Fragmentation was shown through the fact that the whole story was not shown. The Sun neglected to say why the baby was drowned. All it states is that the boyfriend of the woman suggested how to discipline a child. It didn’t say why she killed her own baby, but other newspapers reported it. Personalization was used by only talking about the boyfriend. The girlfriend, and killer, was only mentioned briefly. By repeatedly talking about the man, readers forget that he was only observing. It suggests that he was the evil mastermind behind the cruel killing of a child.

How did “informational bias” affect the way you perceived the news story?

The informational bias did affect the way I perceived the story. Before I read other articles of the same topic by different newspapers, I thought that the boyfriend was evil. I thought that he manipulated the woman into killing her child. It also made me wonder whether the woman was stable or not. The dramatization of the article was actually the reason I chose the article. It was so shocking that you just wanted to find out more. There wasn’t actually much information in the article, which shows how dramatized it is.

How do these parameters affect which stories make it into print and which don’t?

These parameters have a huge affect on which stories make it or not. Those that are sensational and grab people’s attention sell really well. The more shocking, the better they are. We have become a nation obsessed with scandals, which is quite unfortunate. Editors want to make as much money as possible, and because everyone knows how well a scandal sells; a story using all of these parameters would be one of the best selling stories. Yes, it’s not giving the whole pictured and it’s quite biased, but this is what people enjoy reading in the newspaper. We like to read shocking and controversial articles.