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1. Task 2
Should factual writing contain bias?
There are currently a lot of questions about whether factual writing should contain
bias content or not. With factual writing, it’s difficult to get away from bias content
because in things such as newspapers, there is always going to be something that
somebody doesn’t agree on. It is important to have your own opinion but I think that
it should be monitored when being introduced to the public. There is a major
difference between fact and opinion and I think that under certain circumstances, it
should be portrayed very carefully.
There are various types of factual writing and I think that each one has different
values, which can or can’t portray bias opinions. Documents such as leaflets are
usually one sided as they try to get their own opinion across to you as the public
which may or may not end up changing our opinion the subject in the leaflets. I think
that in these circumstances, bias is allowed because as long as they include facts,
which would help back up their opinions, it makes the subject more believable and
may help to sway their opinion in another direction.
In other forms of media, I think bias opinions should be monitored such as the news
on television. The newsreaders are there to read out the facts for the city or country
news, which is what they get paid to do, in this case, I don’t think that they should
have an opinion on a news story because this could influence people watching. If the
news programme has a guest who is there specifically to give their opinion across, I
think that this is acceptable because they have made an appearance for that
purpose. Although, I do think that they should have a fair balance of opinion so
should have 2 people as this means that it is fair to the public to hear as they can
decide which opinion they agree with most. Sometimes being bias is good because
this actually allows you to have an opinion on something that could be very close to
you.
In the news currently are articles about someone who goes by the name of Dapper
Laughs. There has been a lot of conflict over what he has been doing online and in
the public eye. He has been classed as a ‘comedian’ yet a lot of people in the UK
highly dispute that. There are a lot of people who find his acts horrific and abusive,
yet some say he is a ‘genius’. This is a large matter of opinions being thrown around
and it’s these opinions that have members of the public and critics being abused
online by other members of the public. In this incident, I think that everyone is
entitled to his or her own opinion but when the people who make those opinions get
sent threats is when it goes too far. On the Mirror website, they specifically talk
about his ‘charity album’ and how it has been criticised. The article includes a picture
of Dapper Laughs and certain tweets that were sent out by members of the public.
This shows that The Mirror was very interested in doing a story on him. It just shows
what social media can do these days. You simply can’t have an opinion without being
criticized in some way.

2. Being bias is sometimes part of your job and in the case of a newspaper/magazine
columnist, they are supposed to be biased as they are writing about their opinion on
a certain subject. I think this is good because it would offer some debate amongst
people that read it, without causing any harmful conflict. Russell Brand has his own
column in The Guardian newspaper since 2006 and he writes about his own
thoughts on current events as well as pop culture. As he is a well-known celebrity, a
lot of people would want to read his column.