How Bias Works
4th September 2011
Megan McArdle looks at her own profession.
While it’s undoubtedly true that some reporters consciously repress facts which threaten their ideological priors, I don’t think that’s really the issue in most cases. What bias does–in science, in media, in any situation where information is gathered–is affect what questions you ask.
I think it was Napoleon who said ‘Never ascribe to malevolence what can adequately be explained by stupidity.’ (Well, if it wasn’t, it ought to have been.)