Media Bias in “For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage”

Write an introduction that addresses the area of study, narrows the focus to the text from today’s lesson, and culminates in an insightful thesis statement that establishes an argument.

1.    How and why is a social group represented in a particular way? 

A social group is referred to people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and have a collective sense of unity. As such, in the New York Times article, “For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage,” the author demonstrates a sense of criticism to one particular social group, that being single mothers. This can be identified through the use of multiple media biases found in the text, such as bias through statistics, bias through use of names and titles,bias through selection, bias through statistics and diction and tone, in which the author is able to establish his/her particular ideology. In doing so, the author is able to marginalize the social group of single moms and simultaneously prioritize the group that reflects the author’s ideology, which are conservatives and traditionalist. Therefore, this results in an unfair outcome, as it is the duty of journalists to present an unbiased story, that is factual and refrains from partiality, since the effects of not doing so can be damaging.

2.    How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?

In the article, “For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage,” written in The New York Times, the author demonstrates various forms of media bias, that mirrors his/her conservative and traditionalist ideologies. As such, this restricts the audience of the reception, as their reading depends on the extent to which the article supports their own standpoint. The common trend amongst articles that contain media bias is that it could have 2 potential outcomes. The condescending tone of author of this particular article results in different interpretations, to an audience either being in opposition to what is being said, the response could be ignorance and disregard. On the other hand, media bias can tend to result in audiences challenging the perspective made, as it contradicts and/or condemns an idea.