Introductory Post – International Media Bias
Hi guys, I’m Keshav. My research area focuses on bias in international media ecosystems. Specifically, I’m going to be exploring the bias that a developed country, Australia, has when reporting events in developing countries. I’ll examine whether or not a major Australian news outlet, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), has an artificially pessimistic view of events in certain developing countries, or if the view is optimistic. In order to do so, I’ll compare the overall levels of bias that ABC Australia has when reporting events in developed countries (ex: U.S., U.K.) with the overall levels of bias that ABC Australia has when reporting events in developing countries (ex: Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan).
A factor that prompted me to do my research is that media bias is almost omnipresent throughout the world. Almost no major news outlet in the world is truly objective, undermining standards of journalistic integrity. Additionally, previous literature on this subject has shown that oftentimes, media outlets often report on underrepresented or structurally oppressed groups in artificially pessimistic mannerisms. This trend stays true on the global scale as well, in that countries that are more advanced (developed) report on less advanced countries (developing) in artificially negative ways when compared to an instance where a developed country is reporting on another developed country.
Another major factor that prompted my research has to do with the audience’s perception of the countries in question. There is a concept called “fatigued compassion”, which is essentially the idea that as consumers of news “consume” large amounts of pessimistic or artificially negative news, then those consumers are less inclined to take action against such issues discussed in the media. In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, it would mean that as a country reports more and more on the war in a pessimistic way, then their consumers wouldn’t feel the need to take action because the conflict is either past the point of no return or the conflict is too horrendous to even confront. It’s important to understand the audience’s perception of certain issues in the status quo, meaning it’s imperative to be able to understand how certain consumers of the media actually react to their news and learn the adverse effects that it could have.