October 22, 2009 Special Issue

Importing headlines

The effects of bias in international reporting

by Vivien Leung

The beauty of modern media is its ability to compress space and time; you can pick up a newspaper and read up on things like the China-Tibet conflict happening halfway across the world.

And once you’re done consuming said information, you sit back smugly satisfied at the new knowledge of the world your reading afforded you. Now when someone refers to said situation at a dinner party, you can confidently regurgitate the same information you ingested from reading that one article.

Think twice before doing that.

As a first-generation Canadian born to Chinese immigrant parents, political discussions between my parents and I often surround the slant the Canadian press takes on policies of the Chinese government. My opinions are often met with strong objection from my parents, who mostly read sources from mainland China and Hong Kong. The most memorable headbutt resulting from our varying news media interpretations was a dinner conversation about the Chinese government’s treatment of Tibetans, which I denounced.

I was astounded to learn that my parents had a drastically different perspective on the issue. It made me realize that even though I might think they were bigoted, they could easily think the same thing of me.

Intrigued, I began comparing news generated by the North American media industry to Asian news sources, especially on issues surrounding the China-Tibet conflict. It was at that point that I realized it is socially irresponsible to rely on one publication for information.

We cannot claim to truly understand all angles of any situation by simply reading
a brief, condensed news article. This is true especially when complex political issues are
concerned. Oversimplifying the issues surrounding conflicting viewpoints only widens rifts based on political opinion, and disallows truly critical and “balanced” assessment.

The journalist who writes the article that we rely on to give an accurate account of world issues has the best intentions, but they only serve to add another layer of potential bias.

Doubtlessly, the vast majority of reporters are working under strict deadlines to research and write on a topic they might not have had any prior exposure to. Though they mean well, it’s impossible for reporters to publish a perfectly objective article.

Furthermore, as much as we all might try to remain objective, the reality is everyone has personal agendas and experiences that influence their judgment. We can never be one hundred per cent sure that our facts are straight. Newspapers are a valuable source of inspiration and our window to the rest of the world, but their potential to do more good than harm relies on the responsibility of media’s consumers to be critical when reading the news.