Examining Bias through The 60 Minutes Mailbag

September 30, 2012

CBS News' program 60 Minutes aired a piece which profiled presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. While the interviews were conducted seperately by two different reporters, both were asked about relevant issues of the campaign. The program received numerous letters that tried to paint the reporter and the producers as too hard on one candidate or the other. The CBS mailbag clip, which featured some of the viewers responses to the piece, was aired the week following the original piece.

Media Clips

News Literacy Lesson 7: Balance, Fairness, and Bias

Concept: There is a difference between having the perception that a news outlet is biased, and actually proving a pattern of bias.

Sample Guiding Questions

1. What are some of the differences between the comments of both viewers that were shown in the video?
2. Why might these two viewers have had such different views?
3. What would you need in order to make a decision on whether or not the producers had some type of bias against one of the candidates?

Share your comments and thoughts on how you used this piece in your own classroom below.