Table Of ContentOvercoming Bias
In this practical and engaging new edition, experienced reporter and
teacher Sue Ellen Christian offers a fully updated and fresh take on
reporting without bias, examining the way that we categorize people,
filter information and default to rehearsed ways of thinking.
This book is about biases that affect journalism at every stage of
reporting and writing. Included throughout are stories and advice
from working reporters and editors, providing real-world voices
and experiences, and covering questions of culture, stereotyping,
sources, writing, editing, visuals and reflective practice. This advice
and guidance is coupled with practical exercises that give readers the
chance to apply what they learn. Christian provides a career-long
foundation for those looking to edit their thinking and to champion
a more inclusive and open-minded approach to coverage of our
multicultural society.
Offering a concise, readable and highly applicable guide to
managing coverage of contemporary social issues, this book is an
ideal resource for undergraduate and graduate students of journalism
and early career journalists.
Sue Ellen Christian is a Professor of Communication at Western
Michigan University. She was the 2016 Michigan Distinguished
Professor of the Year and has received the highest honor for teaching
from her institution. She is an award-winning former Chicago Tribune
staff writer and the author of Everyday Media Literacy: An Analog
Guide for Your Digital Life (2019).
Overcoming Bias
A Journalist’s Guide to
Culture & Context
Second Edition
Sue Ellen Christian
Second edition published 2021
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Sue Ellen Christian to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
First edition published by Holcomb Hathaway 2012
First edition republished by Routledge 2017
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Christian, Sue Ellen, 1966– author.
Title: Overcoming bias: a journalist’s guide to culture & context /
Sue Ellen Christian.
Description: Second edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021011836 (print) | LCCN 2021011837 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367404444 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367366957 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429356179 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Journalism—Objectivity—Handbooks, manuals, etc. |
Reporters and reporting.
Classification: LCC PN4784.O24 C47 2021 (print) |
LCC PN4784.O24 (ebook) | DDC 070.4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011836
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011837
ISBN: 978-0-367-40444-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-36695-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-35617-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Warnock Pro
by codeMantra
Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9780367366957
To the home team – Bob, Robert, Daniel & Amelia –
with love and gratitude. In memoriam to DKC, best
copy editor a daughter could ever hope for.
Contents
Preface ix
Audience xi
The Book’s Format and Features xi
Acknowledgments xv
1
Context, Culture and Cognition: Making the
Case for Reflective Practice in Journalism 1
2
Habits of Thought: How Cognitive Processes
Influence Journalistic Practice 25
3
Encountering the News: How the Mind
Organizes and Interprets Information – and
How Story Ideas Get Lost in the Process 47
4
Story without Stereotype: How Stereotypes
May Influence Reporting in Stealthy Ways –
and What to Do about It 71
vii
CONTENTS
5
Understanding Culture, Understanding
Sources: How Social Groups Serve as Lenses
for Looking at the World 97
6
Training the Reporter’s Eye: What Attracts
Journalists’ Attention Can Influence How They
Portray Events and Explain Behaviors 127
7
Critical Decisions before Deadline: Why Even
Experienced Journalists Neglect Certain Facts
and What to Do About It 151
8
The Power of Words and Tone: When Words
Suggest Unintended Meanings 177
9
Attribution, Images and Editing without
Bias: When to Include Data, What Images
Communicate and How to Determine Cause 207
10
Addressing Negativity: How to Manage Hate
Speech, Hostile Sources and Misinformation 237
11
Journalism and Reflective Practice: Cultivating
an Open Mind 261
Index 287
viii
Preface
Journalists are biased . . . Just not in the way that most American news
consumers think they are.
Media bias, or a purposeful slanting of the news, is a common
charge against journalists today. I believe the charge is overblown, and
that the majority of individual journalists go out of their way to be neu-
tral and independent in their coverage of people and events. Instead,
the biases that this book explores are far more real and pervasive – if
also less noticeable and loud. They are biases in the way that humans
think, the way that we naturally and instinctively categorize people,
filter information, ration our attention, rely on cultural norms and
default to rehearsed ways of thinking. These biases affect journalism
at every stage of the reporting and writing process.
Overcoming Bias shows journalists how they can examine and
know their habits of thought, allowing them to engage in more accu-
rate reporting and coverage of the cultures in their communities
and the world. Journalists need to know the biases they bring to a
reporting situation in order to avoid distorting news accounts and to
better serve their increasingly multicultural and diverse audiences.
This book provides specific advice, strategies and examples to help
journalists embrace a more inclusive and open-minded approach to
covering a dynamic society.
I wrote the first edition of this book after nearly a decade of report-
ing with my students on diversity issues in our Midwest community. I
needed a concise, practical resource to explain to a student why even
if his quotes are right the story may still be wrong; to teach a student
ix
