Everyone has a bias towards at least everything in their life. It is natural and only human to do so. However, bias is not needed in the news because it does not reflect different opinions fairly for the public. Every story has multiple sides and it is only right that all sides be heard. My discipline is accounting and finance, which receives little to no media attention whatsoever. Accountants lay back and do the financial work for businesses that tend to receive most of the publicity. Once in a while, accountants get their chance to be recognized on the news or in the paper. Most times it happens when a business is going under or a business has had a bad month of sales. I believe that commercial bias and bad news bias both play a part that is harmful to accountants.
News sources always need to find out what is going on in the world at a constant rate. They need to have the next best story, or their news company will suffer. When word gets around that a business or company might go bankrupt, they are the first ones to report on it. They use information from multiple sources, and accounting financial sheets are one way. They get all of their data and information about the financial well-being of a business through accountants. I feel that this is harmful to my discipline because they look right over all of the hard work done to record the information, and just report on what they’ve found. No credit is given to the accountants for analyzing the data and reporting it so the business can find ways to do better. Reporters just want to tell the public the news of a business closing because it is more catching and interesting. No one wants to hear about the dedicated accountants that figured out the business is not doing too well.
I also believe that the bad news bias is harmful to my discipline. This goes hand-in-hand with commercial bias. The media will always want to report on the bad things happening in the world because it is genuinely more interesting to the public. For example, when tax season comes around accountants are in full-gear. They work multiple hours of overtime and stress themselves out to the max. Reporters do not focus on how hard they are working, and rather why they do not get the work done fast enough. In the news, the media tends to pose the question: “Why are accountants taking longer than usual?” They do not take the time to explain that accountants are being worked to the max, and are trying their best. This is why this bias is harmful to my discipline because they never take the time to report on how much hard work accountants put in.
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