Be The Editor | Checkology

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Word Wall

Bias

Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

Opinion journalism

Pieces of journalism that, unlike news reports, do not seek to avoid bias but rather are intended to share an opinion or perspective and, often, to try to persuade the audience to embrace a point of view about an issue or subject. They include op-eds, columns, editorials and editorial or political cartoons. At reputable news organizations, pieces of opinion journalism are still expected to be based on accurate information and should be clearly marked to help the public avoid confusing them with straight news reports.

Media

The plural form of the word “medium,” which is anything that acts as a channel for information. “Media” refers to anything that can convey information from one person or place to another. Though people often use the term “the media” to refer to mass media organizations collectively, it does not refer to a single coherent entity.

Fact

A statement that can be verified or shown to be true. Facts are the basis for credible news reports.

Truth

In journalism, the process that begins with collecting facts and putting them in an order and context that is proven to be true and that clarifies reality. Truth is often not known when a story first “breaks,” but takes time to come out after all the facts are known and many news reports have been produced.

Newsworthiness

The measure of how much a given subject deserves to be covered as news — in other words, how “worthy” of news coverage it is. Newsworthiness is a necessarily subjective determination made by newsroom leaders. They generally use multiple factors — timeliness, importance to the public, urgency and interest — to decide which issues and events merit news coverage and how much coverage is appropriate. Newsworthiness also determines what stories are featured in each news cycle.