1. BIASTHROUGH OMISSION
New York Times (1/18/1986)
After the Shock, a Need to Share Grief and Loss
The nation came together yesterday in a moment of disaster and loss. Wherever
Americans were when they heard the news -- at work, at school or at home --
they shared their grief over the death of the seven astronauts, among them one
who had captured their imaginations, Christa McAuliffe, the teacher from
Concord, N.H., who was to have been the first ordinary citizen to go into space.
Shortly after noon, when the first word of the explosion came, daily events
seemed to stop as people awaited the details and asked the same questions:
"What happened? Are there any survivors?"
In offices, restaurants and stores, people gathered in front of television sets,
mesmerized by the terrible scene of the shuttle exploding, a scene that would
be replayed throughout the day and night. Children who had learned about
Mrs. McAuliffe were watching in classrooms across the country.
It seemed to be one of those moments, enlarged and frozen, that people would
remember and recount for the rest of their lives....
“It was like the Kennedy thing,” said John Hannan, who heard the news when
his sister called him at his office…. “Everyone was numb.”…
Columbia Journalism Review (March/April 2003)
It is January 28, 1986 – a bitterly cold morning at Cape Canaveral. The countdown clock is
ticking as seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger prepare for launch. Among
them is Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire high school teacher who is set to become
the first ordinary American in space.
Several hundred miles north, in Atlanta, a Federal Express messenger delivers an envelope
to the headquarters of the Cable News Network, the only TV network set to cover the
"routine" launch live. The countdown continues as shuttle commander Dick Scobee and
pilot Michael Smith run through their preflight checklist.
T minus 25 minutes and counting. CNN is broadcasting a live progress report from the
Cape when the anchorwoman in Atlanta suddenly breaks in: "We have an important
announcement about the space shuttle. A panel of engineers from Morton Thiokol, which
designed the craft’s solid-fuel rocket booster, has unanimously urged NASA to scrub this
morning’s launch. According to a company memo provided to CNN, the rocket experts are
afraid cold weather might cause problem-plagued rocket-booster parts call O-rings to
malfunction, allowing hot gases to burn a hole through the booster. This, the experts say,
could cause a catastrophic explosion. Incredibly, NASA is still going ahead with the
launch."
The wire services, monitoring CNN, filed urgent bulletins quoting the network report.
NASA is besieged with calls, including one from the White House. A T minus 15 minues,
NASA announces a "hold" in the countdown and shortly thereafter reports that the mission
has been scrubbed…
Monday, October 7, 13
5. KEY POINTS
•What question are historians trying to answer?
•What do historians rely on to answer this question?
Monday, October 7, 13
6. KEY POINTS
•What question are historians trying to answer?
•What do historians rely on to answer this question?
•Unfortunately, these sources are often biased and not
completely accurate.
Monday, October 7, 13
7. KEY POINTS
•What question are historians trying to answer?
•What do historians rely on to answer this question?
•Unfortunately, these sources are often biased and not
completely accurate.
•To get at the truth of “what really happened,” historians have
to learn how to detect bias in documents and filter it out (part
of “historical thinking!)
Monday, October 7, 13
8. WHAT IS BIAS?
Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group
compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
Monday, October 7, 13
9. WORD CHOICE
One way to detect and filter out bias is through the careful
scrutiny of a sources’ word choice.
Often, authors will use particular words to describe an event in
a manner intended to influence the reader’s view of that event.
This subtle “distortion” is a clear sign of bias.
We can learn how to detect bias through these slightly
distorted words and filter it out to get a more accurate view of
“what really happened.”
Monday, October 7, 13
11. CAN WORD CHOICE AND
PHRASING REVEAL BIAS?
Monday, October 7, 13
12. CAN WORD CHOICE AND
PHRASING REVEAL BIAS?
Monday, October 7, 13
13. BIASTHROUGH OMISSION
New York Times (1/18/1986)
After the Shock, a Need to Share Grief and Loss
The nation came together yesterday in a moment of disaster and loss. Wherever
Americans were when they heard the news -- at work, at school or at home --
they shared their grief over the death of the seven astronauts, among them one
who had captured their imaginations, Christa McAuliffe, the teacher from
Concord, N.H., who was to have been the first ordinary citizen to go into space.
Shortly after noon, when the first word of the explosion came, daily events
seemed to stop as people awaited the details and asked the same questions:
"What happened? Are there any survivors?"
In offices, restaurants and stores, people gathered in front of television sets,
mesmerized by the terrible scene of the shuttle exploding, a scene that would
be replayed throughout the day and night. Children who had learned about
Mrs. McAuliffe were watching in classrooms across the country.
It seemed to be one of those moments, enlarged and frozen, that people would
remember and recount for the rest of their lives....
“It was like the Kennedy thing,” said John Hannan, who heard the news when
his sister called him at his office…. “Everyone was numb.”…
Columbia Journalism Review (March/April 2003)
It is January 28, 1986 – a bitterly cold morning at Cape Canaveral. The countdown clock is
ticking as seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger prepare for launch. Among
them is Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire high school teacher who is set to become
the first ordinary American in space.
Several hundred miles north, in Atlanta, a Federal Express messenger delivers an envelope
to the headquarters of the Cable News Network, the only TV network set to cover the
"routine" launch live. The countdown continues as shuttle commander Dick Scobee and
pilot Michael Smith run through their preflight checklist.
T minus 25 minutes and counting. CNN is broadcasting a live progress report from the
Cape when the anchorwoman in Atlanta suddenly breaks in: "We have an important
announcement about the space shuttle. A panel of engineers from Morton Thiokol, which
designed the craft’s solid-fuel rocket booster, has unanimously urged NASA to scrub this
morning’s launch. According to a company memo provided to CNN, the rocket experts are
afraid cold weather might cause problem-plagued rocket-booster parts call O-rings to
malfunction, allowing hot gases to burn a hole through the booster. This, the experts say,
could cause a catastrophic explosion. Incredibly, NASA is still going ahead with the
launch."
The wire services, monitoring CNN, filed urgent bulletins quoting the network report.
NASA is besieged with calls, including one from the White House. A T minus 15 minues,
NASA announces a "hold" in the countdown and shortly thereafter reports that the mission
has been scrubbed…
Monday, October 7, 13
