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Media Bias In The Hate U Give By Angie Thomas

1129 Words5 Pages

Media has become an important part of our lives. It is all around us - essentially inescapable. But with that comes obliviousness to the power of the media. People are so accustomed to the regularity and commonality of media, they often forget the dangerous potential it holds. One substantial danger is bias - more specifically in news sources. Both The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas as well as news reports surrounding the murder of George Floyd are examples of the dangerous potential of media bias. The media presents a variety of versions of a story, some of which show obvious bias against the black community. Media bias is extremely difficult to detect, however, that does not mean it is non-existent. Understanding the ways by which different …show more content…

In One-Fifteen’s father’s interview, he mentions how his son was scared of Khalil and Starr because they were cursing and kept glancing at each other. (146-147) This, along with rumors that Khalil was in a gang and dealing drugs, paints Khalil as a dangerous, uncontrollable teenager who would put himself in the position where he would get killed by a police officer. In reality, however, Khalil was not doing anything wrong when he was pulled over. His personal situation has nothing to do with how or why he was killed, yet the media tends to highlight this piece of information more than anything …show more content…

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we observe that his death is tied to police brutality, racism, and protests - favoring and agreeing with the inequalities the public are protesting. Knowing that distortion and misdirection exists in the media is the first step in overcoming personal bias. Informing yourself of both sides of the story - even if the information may be disturbing - is important. If you tend to look to news sources favoring one side, read articles from the opposing perspective to compensate. Receiving your information from news sources that are deemed neutral (neither left nor right) is an alternative way you can ensure you are getting the whole story with minimal

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