Question

In modern times, news outlets have no shortage of stories about violence, a theme prevalent in Animal Farm. Read the following excerpt from another mock news article, then write an extended paragraph response of up to 250 words to the prompt that follows.
On April 19th, seven US soldiers were killed in an air strike that blew apart a terrorist hideout in Iraq. Various transmissions were sent from the hideout detailing the capture, torture, and murder of several American citizens. The location of the hideout was determined through drone surveillance. The footage obtained by the drone did not show any current hostages, and an airstrike was ordered for the following day. However, ground troops received a contradictory order to enter the building on a search and rescue mission to ensure that no hostages remained on the premises. A lack of communication led to the attack on the premises at the precise time the soldiers were there on their mission.

When asked about the miscommunication, the general that ordered the airstrike claimed to have never issued any order for the troops on the ground, and claimed that he was never informed about any contradictory order. Meanwhile, the commander for the ground unit that was sent in to the hideout claims he received an order directly from the US Department of Defense.

A mother of one of the soldiers killed in the attack has repeatedly spoken with the press, making known her intentions to launch a full investigation of the fatal error.

In what ways could bias play a role in the reporting of this story? How might the author of the text be biased? How might that affect his/her representation of the facts? What personal biases do you have that might affect your response or reaction to this news? Include one cited quote from the text to support your answer.

Doesnt have to be 250 words just need something to get me started

Answer 1

Bias could play a key role on reporting this story depending on the perspective of the author.

An author that is pro intervention and support the war effort - commonly known a a hawk - could report the incident as something isolated that does not reflect the true competence of the army neither the overall sucess of the war effort.

An anti-war author, on the other hand, could report the same fact as one in a line of horrible accidents that demonstrate how wrong and futile is to engage in modern warfare and how lives are considered to be disposable by the leads of the army and government.

Personally, I am biased against the so called hawk and their choice for "clean and effective" use of airstrikes and drones, I don't think they are truly committed in preserving the lives of the innocents neither the lives of the soldiers if some extra deaths lead to a desirable accomplishment of their goals.

The quote below clearly shows that there is a lot yet to be uncovered regarding the incident.

"A mother of one of the soldiers killed in the attack has repeatedly spoken with the press, making known her intentions to launch a full investigation of the fatal error. "