Blog#1 YATW: US Media Bias

Posted by Tomas Arango in English 1 - Dunn - X on

Hello, my name is Tomas Arango. For this year’s You and The World project I decided to focus on U.S media bias. To me this is a very important topic because it’s something that always stands out to me when I read and watch the news. I also feel that it’s an issue many people don’t know about, especially younger audiences like me.


U.S media shows bias in many different ways, but some very repetitive ones I have noticed are only showing one side of the story and sometimes completely telling the story incorrectly. But what bothers me most is that these bias opinions are mostly present when news stations talk about the Middle East. They try to make them look bad and deliver a strong stereotype whenever the topic is brought up.


I started researching and expanding more on my idea for YATW and found many articles focusing on Western Media Bias. I also found examples on media bias towards the middle east and Islam. Many studies showed that most of this started after the 9/11 bombings in 2001. Media began to blame killings and random attacks on Islam and Muslims. Many times news can tend to focus on the bad side of the story like only on the extremist when it comes to Islam.


A great example would be the shooting in Norway  in 2011, killing 85 people according to police. When this massacre happened there was little information on the background the perpetuator. Giving the opportunity to the media, especially conservatives an opportunity to make assumptions and blame it on Islam.  




This picture shows the meaning of Islam and how it’s a symbol of support, love, and peace.


My goal is to inform readers about these bias opinions that news stations make and educate them on how to avoid falling into to medias traps. I plan making an activity for my advisory where they have to identify what type of bias a news article contain. I want to make an interactive experience so my peers can learn about this issue. I really enjoyed writing this and be sure to watch out for my next blog post!






Another picture displaying Islam is not an icon of terrorism and violence


These are some type of media bias I want people to be able to identify through my blog posts:


  • Omission

  • Selection of Sources

  • Story Selection

  • Placement

  • Labeling

  • Spin


For definitions of words, click here!


You can view my bibliography here!


























Comments (3)

Chhievling Seng (Student 2017)
Chhievling Seng

I agree with your point. I think the media is such a big part of our lives, informing us about whats going on around the world, but then we tend to forget to hold onto our own outlook and like you said, we fall into the medias' trap

Quinn Grzywinski (Student 2017)
Quinn Grzywinski

You had strong vocabulary and sturdy examples for all your points, as well as shown how much of a problem bias actually is. It's an interesting topic and one that doesn't get as much publicity as it really should.