What is bias?
January 31, 2008
Paul Krugman put this funny up on his weblog the other day:
A little while back I learned from various sources that the reason I criticize Barack Obama is that my son works for Hillary. This was news to me, since I wasn’t aware that I have any children.
Now I learn that it’s important that I disclose that I was Bill Clinton’s chief economic adviser in 1992. This is also news to me, since I wasn’t aware that I worked for the campaign at all. [ My Evil Ways ]
Even though what he’s really talking about is conflict of interest, that got me wondering about bias. See, Talking Points Memo is apparently alternatively accused by Hillary supporters of being biased towards Obama and Obama supporters as being biased towards Hillary. I know how that feels; I wrote an article once for my university newspaper and received precisely two complaints, one accusing me of liberal bias and the other accusing me of conservative bias. What am I supposed to do with that?
It seems that some people think drawing any sort of conclusion is evidence of bias. That’s large part of the reason political coverage sucks. News media report what Democrats and Republicans are saying about each other, but shy away from actually investigating whether or not any of that is actually true. Actually fact-checking people means drawing a conclusion and therefore being “biased.”
So that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m not saying being “biased” doesn’t exist. But I am saying I think it’s possible to make a perfectly valid, reasonable conclusion based on available information and have that be qualitatively distinct from your standard knee-jerk reaction. But what’s the difference between the two? Where do you think thoughtful opinion ends and bias begins?
Posted in Politics
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February 2nd, 2008 at 6:47 am
I think the Krugman quotes, as well as your own anecdotal experience, show that the bias is in the perceptions of the person who is examining the works in question in making the determination that the writings are biased. And they generally seem to find what they’re looking for, too.
I also think that, if you try to be as unbiased as possible when you come to conclusions (and “show your work”), it will show up in the details. And yet still be questioned and examined for evidence of bias. Which, if there is any reasoned and reasonable discussion involved, may alter the bias yet again.
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Bias is an opinion—thoughtful or not is not particularly relevant—that’s stuck in a rut. New information does not concern it: it does not actively or passively accept new input.
And that’s my borderline-thoughtful opinion on the subject. :)