Journalism scholar Andrew Cline talks about nine structural biases. These, of course, are closely aligned with the news values and the way journalists do their jobs as discussed in Chapter 3. Choose a bias to explore. Look online, on your smartphone, or in a printed daily newspaper to find one or two examples of your bias. 

Additionally, find and discuss source’s discussion of independence: How forceful are journalists and news outlets at declaring their independence? Can you find statements about the organization’s stance on being objective or independent? How hard were these statements to find? What did they say? If you couldn’t find a statement of this type, what perception might that leave in the minds of the audience?

If this is your main activity, use a 300-word post to discuss your findings on both topics. Otherwise, comment on a classmate’s post or add a brief reflection on your own attempt to explore these ideas.