BIAS IS ALL AROUND YOU

A guide focuses on detecting bias in social media posts and news stories.

Dedicating this book to “a more productive, civil discourse,” Bean provides readers with essential tools to assess the validity and bias of social media offerings and news reports. With a doctorate in education, the author is well equipped to teach readers the critical thinking skills required to navigate the labyrinth of social media and fake news and does so in an approachable, easy-to-read format. In under 60 pages, this concise manual teaches readers how to identify bias, differentiate between types of publications, and “test journalistic sources.” As Tim Vos, director of Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, notes in the guide’s foreword, “Biases…are baked into the information we encounter nearly every moment of every day.” The book also contextualizes dangerous trends that discerning readers should be familiar with, such as the role of social media algorithms in promoting disinformation and the disturbing fact that six corporations control 90% of all media outlets in America. The manual’s final chapters introduce readers to common logical fallacies, such as false dichotomies and straw-man arguments, and deliver best practices for maintaining a personal social media account. The author advises readers to avoid sharing information online without utilizing the book’s “reliability tests.” Designed to be a reference tool that readers peruse periodically, the manual eschews long narrative discursions for succinct lists and easy-to-remember acronyms. Also found in the guide is a nine-question “Bias Assessment Form” that readers can use to rate the objectivity of virtually any source they encounter. Accompanied by the colorful, engaging paper artwork of Gorske, this is an important book, ideal for dissemination in libraries, high schools, and other venues with vested interests in promoting information literacy. While targeting the victims of disinformation campaigns in its mission to empower readers who are vulnerable to fake news, the manual unfortunately supplies limited answers on how to deal with those who know better yet still promote falsehoods for their own ideological or financial benefit.

A timely and valuable primer on how to assess sources.