Media Bias and Deception on Reporting the Weather

The local weatherman stood in front of the mapThe media also uses different facts to feed this
of the mid Atlantic region. The temperaturedeception.
graphic showed a massive cold air mass to theIt's the fall of 2007. The national weather map
north, and seasonal temperatures in the local area.shows two temperature extremes; the west
He stepped back and pointed to the high pressureunder a cold block, and the east under a warm air
coming in from the west.mass. The caption read: "The west goes through
"This high pressure system, rotating clockwise, iswintry weather while the East sees record
dragging cold Canadian air our way, dropping ourbreaking heat."
temperatures to well before normal!" TheBoth statements were factual, but this statement
weatherman motioned the clockwise rotation.would've also been true: "The west sees record
Then, with the length of his arm, swept throughbreaking cold and snows while the east goes
and motioned as if he was personally draggingthrough summer like weather."
cold air to our area.The country saw record breaking hot and record
"But you'll be waking up to a very mild start ofbreaking cold weather that day. In any given day,
the week come Monday!" Right then, a display ofsome weather station is reporting a record low, a
the upcoming week's weather came up. Therecord high, a record high minimum, and a record
weatherman forecasted above averagelow maximum. The caption left the fact out that
temperatures.the west was setting record low temperatures,
What the weatherman left out spoke volumes.and replaced it with another fact; it was going
This high pressure system tracked eastward.through wintry conditions.
Once it moved east and out to sea, its clockwiseThe media's goal was to bias the audience toward
rotation kicked warm air from the sub tropics intoman made global warming.
our area. The weatherman didn't project thisThe caption would've been bias free had it read
system, or its affects, to explain the followingas follows: "Record breaking cold in the west and
week's above average temperatures.record breaking heat in the east" or "Wintry
In another reporting, the weather graphic showedweather in the west and summer like weather in
a high pressure system to the east. Yet, thethe east."
weatherman offered no explanation to the highWeather isn't the only area where the media
pressure's clockwise rotation kicking subtropical airplays with words to influence public opinion. But it's
our way. We were going through another set ofeasier to show media bias when it comes to
mild weather days.talking weather. The facts are readily available,
The idea behind this was to bias the audience intopeople experience weather, and this topic unites
thinking that cooler than normal air were naturalpeople who'd normally be divided on other issues.
anomalies. Leaving the high pressure systemOnce you have their ears on media bias in this
effects out biased the audience toward manarea, it's easier to show them media bias in other
made global warming.media areas.