News content has a powerful impact on society and politics. Nowadays, a vast amount of information is available through the internet, which could reduce its transparency and increase the opportunity for news slant. People consume a lot of different kinds of media and rely on them as news source while often simply assuming that it is reliable. Slant is defined as the more or less favourable news coverage of an individual or group, which can be due to reality and bias. Slant can be explicit if people are aware of it, but implicit or unconscious if it is something they don’t realize. People have to recognize slants to tackle them fully. News slants can affect the selection of events and stories published, the perspective from which they are written, and can affect newspaper readers. We hypothesize that these slants manifest not only in what news describes but where they place emphasis, how they frame events, and what they keep silent about.
The press is commonly referred to as the fourth estate. The term can be traced back to the traditional division of state power into three separate branches. This designation refers to the significant role that the media plays in the functioning of modern states. At first glance, it may seem peculiar to equate it with the executive, legislative, and judicial powers, but it is worth considering that except for the least developed countries, most citizens everywhere obtain their information about politics and state affairs from the press in one way or another. Considering this, it is easy to see the crucial role that the media plays in the functioning of the state, as it determines when, how, and what information people can receive. Consequently, accurate and fact-based reporting is in everyone’s interest. More…