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Looks like at least two people defined fairness bias with their general knowledge instead of using the text. As discussed in Chapter Eight, Fairness Bias is one of the nine structural news biases identified by Andrew Cline (p. 219). It’s detailed extensively in the chapter, but is summarized when the text first introduces it: The bias “shows up in the news in a couple different ways. It refers to that common journalistic practice of offering one ‘side’ a chance to comment on news generated by the other ‘side. Seems fair, hence the name ‘fairness bias.'”

This is a structural bias because it treats all opinions/sides as “equal.” Doing so may appear objective, but it can mislead the public. Trying to give equal time to each side can suggest that each side is equally legitimate. And, that is simply not always true. One side often is trying to manipulate the truth for the sake of a larger agenda. The text uses an investigation of the red cross as one example (see pp. 223-227).

If you want to review all nine types of structural biases, they are listed just after the term is defined in a text box on p. 219.