Coverage of violence in Nigeria has exposed sharp partisan divides in media sourcing and framing. How do newsrooms' decisions represent bias?
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The media has always played a critical role in how the world understands international conflicts
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When violence breaks out, the world turns to the news for information and for the truth
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But what happens when the news is selective in which information it gives and which data it ignores
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When outlets only rely on selective sources, facts can easily be construed into a narrative
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We're seeing that now in the media's coverage of what's happening in Nigeria
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Today's episode is going to feel a little bit different. I'm bringing in an outside perspective, Julie Mastrini, director of media bias ratings at
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all sides. Now, if you're familiar with this show, then you know how often I reference this media
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watchdog group. I shared with them the patterns of bias I found in the coverage of Nigeria and how it
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fits into a bigger global problem. How media can distort the truth in times of conflict
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This conversation is one I feel is really important. Not just for understanding this Nigeria story, but also for how we view media coverage of the war in Gaza, the Russia-Ukraine war, and any other conflict past or future
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Welcome back to Bias Breakdown. Last week we took you on the ground in Nigeria through the perspective of a Nigerian Christian journalist
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Christians in Nigeria are living under a big cloud of terror. While the world widely acknowledges the horrific violence happening in Nigeria
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where the world disagrees is why it's happening. Are Christians being targeted and killed because of their faith
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Or are terrorists indiscriminately killing anyone in their way of seizing mineral-rich territory
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These are very serious claims. And you might think this should be easy to prove
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Just show me the data. The data proves Christians are and are not disproportionately being killed
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It all depends on the source of information and the news source that you turn to
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Because we found left and right leaning media are citing completely different data sets, leaving their audiences with a distorted view of reality
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Here are the patterns among partisan news outlets. The Associated Press, NBC News, The Washington Post, CNN and ABC News
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All of these news outlets labeled by all sides and others as left-leaning either cite or quote from just one source of Nigerian Christian death numbers
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In their write-ups, they are citing the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project
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This U.S.-based nonprofit reports this. Between January 2020 and September 2025, there were 20,409 deaths
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317 of them were Christians who were targeted and killed because of their Christian identity
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During that same time frame, 417 Muslims were targeted and killed because of their faith
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All of the other deaths are deemed indiscriminate and not faith-based killings, according to the ACLED
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This data would suggest Christians are not often targeted by terrorists. Now here are the data patterns among news coverage deemed right-leaning
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The New York Post, Fox News, The Daily Wire, Blaze Media, and The Federalist
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These news outlets all cite other sources. The Nigerian-based non-profit InterSociety and a Christian non-profit Open Doors
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Open Doors' most recent data shows 3,100 Christians in Nigeria were targeted and killed between October 2023 and September 2024
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A recent inter report shows from January to July the first seven months of this year more than 7 Nigerians were killed for being Christians These figures would suggest Christians are being targeted over their religious beliefs The sort of clear pattern and divide in what sources news outlets
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selectively picked for their audience fits several forms of media bias. It's media slant
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and bias by omission of information. And this is where we bring Julie Mastrini from All Sides
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into the conversation because the media watchdog group helps define and identify these types of
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media bias. This is a really good example of slant because you have the news media choosing
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to present information from one source and not another instead of giving you both and saying
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you know, there's some disagreement over the numbers here. Here's what these two sources are
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saying and letting you decide. And when these news outlets choose just one data set over others
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even though multiple sources are easily found with a quick Google search on Christian deaths in Nigeria
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This reveals a clear bias by omission. The bias by omission serves the purpose to slant the story
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So we often see them kind of holding hands in news coverage. So bias by omission is exactly what it sounds like
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It's when information is omitted to slant the story. In this case, we have bias by omission of different data
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So the reader can't get the full story, is probably not going to understand that there's some dispute over the actual numbers if they only read news on one side of the political spectrum
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While news outlets on the left and right side were selective over their data sets
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news outlets rated as being center did offer multiple data sets that are critical to the heart of the issue over Nigeria violence
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The Hill, NewsNation, Newsweek, and in our own coverage from last week
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These outlets all cited more than just one data group. And some even cited more than just the groups we've talked about so far
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Some center write-ups also cite numbers from a Dutch-based non-profit, the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa
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The group reports 36,000 civilian deaths between 2019 and 2024. It says 2.4 Christians were killed for every Muslim during this period
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a rate more than five times higher than Muslims when population size is factored in
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This data subset would suggest Christians are disproportionately dying in terror attacks
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The common theme for center news outlets was citing more than just one data source
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By doing so, these news outlets offered a more balanced approach to telling the story
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It's very important for media outlets to give the full story, especially if there's conflict within that story
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If there's conflict about the facts, if there are different sources providing different facts, it is most noble for a journalist to provide all that information
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Because the goal of the journalist should really be not to slant your perception towards the conclusion that they want you to reach, but to provide you with all the information so that you can decide for yourself
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News outlets on the left and right also weaved their selective data talking points in a way to fit a left and right narrative
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The New York Times wrote there is no clear evidence to show that Christians are attacked more frequently than any other religious group in Nigeria
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citing unnamed ysts and not providing the data that would show Christians are attacked more frequently
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So for the journalist to come out and say there's no evidence or this is baseless
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somebody else could just as clearly say, but there is evidence. See, look at this data set, right
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While Fox News also inserted its own takeaway, stating as a matter of fact that the situation for Christians in Nigeria is reaching an alarming level
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Fox News is doing the opposite of the New York Times and coming right out and saying this is alarming I going to interpret the data for you I going to interpret what going on for you and present you with a subjective opinion And that is also straying from neutral journalism
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So both of these sides are just doing the same things, landing the story in different directions
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Something I think we do well here is identifying bias in the media and breaking down why a story
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is biased. What I want to get better at is helping viewers understand why left and right-leaning
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outlets frame stories the way they do. This part of the story is more of a political ysis
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We're bringing in all sides to help explain how the political left and right see an issue
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differently and how those different perspectives may shape the way left and right media cover a
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story. This is about interpreting the bias patterns and the media divide over Nigeria
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violence. And using their expertise in political narratives, All Sides offers one interpretation
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of why this media discourse over the issue exists. I said it before, the atrocities and horrific
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nature of these killings is not disputed. The difference is one side sees this as a serious
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systemic persecution of Christians and the other sees it as indiscriminate killings
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There's a very clear difference in the media coverage here with one side seeming to play up
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that there are a lot of Christian deaths and the other side sort of trying to throw cold water on
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that claim. So the reason for that is ideological and religious differences in the West. So
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progressive leaning audiences in the West feel less identification with global Christianity
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They tend to not be Christians and they see it as culturally dominant rather than vulnerable
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Whereas Christian conservatives in the West see Christianity as vulnerable domestically and globally
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Left-leaning journalists see Muslims as a marginalized or misunderstood group that doesn't hold entrenched power
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So they might unconsciously or consciously downplay what they see as an Islamophobic narrative
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So a story framed as Muslims are killing Christians risks in their mind reinforcing Western Christian dominance
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even if the facts are accurate. And then on the other hand, the conservative media is more
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Christian sympathetic. It probably even contains Christians. Same with the Trump administration
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So they're more willing to highlight Christian persecution. They are concerned about Christianity's
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decline in the West or the threat of Islamic dominance globally or domestically. So they
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would be more willing to select data sets that would reinforce that concern
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While this is one of the more recent examples of media malfeasance when it comes to presenting the full picture of data to its audience, this is far from the first time we've seen this
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We saw the same death toll discrepancy in the war on Gaza
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Nearly a year into the Israel-Hamas conflict, some revisions in the count made headlines
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All sides wrote the United Nations recently updated how it shows data on the Palestinian death toll in Gaza
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making some figures appear to decrease by nearly half. Days later, Israel released its first estimate of the death toll in Gaza as 16,000
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which is more than 50 percent lower than the toll kept by the Hamas-administered Ministry of Health in Gaza
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Media on the left tend to accept the numbers from the UN and Ministry of Health
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and in some cases criticized them as possibly underestimating the true toll
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Meanwhile, outlets on the right tend to suggest that Hamas may be intentionally inflating the death toll
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We see conflicting death tolls with international conflict all the time. And it makes total sense, right
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The entities that are meant to collect data they themselves might have loyalties to one side or another We would hope that they be neutral but that might not be the case Some of these are you know government entities that might
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have entrenched interests. It's a similar story in the Russia-Ukraine war. About a year and a half
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into that conflict, all sides wrote, there are no universally agreed upon statistics for casualties
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on either side, as both the Kremlin and Ukrainian government have been tight-lipped about reporting
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casualties of their own soldiers. While these are of our most recent wars, difficulties in covering
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death toll data, it's nothing new. A war studies researcher told the outlet Al Jazeera during World
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War II, each side under-reported their casualties by half and exaggerated enemy casualties by two to
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three times. And the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where estimates would later show 800,000 to 1 million
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Tutsis were killed over their ethnicity in a span of about 100 days. An International Press
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Institute piece reported early published death counts were gross underestimates. On April 16th
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The Guardian still reported only an estimated 20,000 deaths. Two days later, The New York Times
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repeated the same statistic, underestimating the actual carnage at that point by about tenfold
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Data is hard to verify, especially coming from conflict zones where news outlets have little to no presence
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When death count and data reports conflict, like the numbers from Nigeria, the media should just be transparent about that
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Journalists are always going to have to be overcoming their own bias and being truthful and honest about differences
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Instead of just avoiding or ignoring conflicting data or sources that they don't agree with
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the journalist's role is to kind of overcome their own bias, to be honest about differences, and to present both to the reader
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And when the media fails to do so, readers should recognize it as bias
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This is not new. It's unfortunate, but it's really just another way that bias and loyalties and different perspectives are shown in the media
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And it's really on the reader to always be approaching things with a critical eye
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And that's your bias breakdown. This is different than any of our other previous episodes, and I hope you were able to get a really good understanding of the subject matter
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I'm really happy with this collaboration that we did with All Sides, and I really hope that you have the same takeaway
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that it was refreshing to just hear some truth and maybe even a little educational
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as we expose some of the left-right media bias. A big thank you to Julie at All Sides
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She was so great to work with. Remember to find past episodes of Bias Breakdown
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All you got to do is search for us on any of your favorite podcast platforms
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and be sure to find us over on YouTube where I can join in on the conversation with you in the comment section of our posted episode
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I read through last week's comments, but I forgot to go back and respond to you
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so forgive me on that one. This week, I will for sure be seeking out your comments and feedback
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Say hi and let me know what you think of this sort of format. It is definitely time for me to go ahead and wrap up now, but I just want to say one thing
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I went down a rabbit hole researching this Rwanda genocide. It is a very interesting part of world history, especially reading about how the U.S. government later apologized for not intervening sooner and how using the term genocide was so widely debated for so long
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So I highly recommend researching that topic if you're looking for something historic to learn more about
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Okay, it's time to go. A big thank you to Ian and Allie for the edits and huge graphics lift this week
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Thanks again to Julie for her time and perspective on this story. Of course, thank you for watching, and I will see you next time
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