Do you have any idea what "normalization" means? Do you know anything about "media bias"? This blog will try to shed some light on the two subjects.
Normalization is well understood by Mathematician and Engineers as a means to "clean up" data so that it correctly represents the subject. Here is a simple example to show what I mean. You look at some data that shows the economy has grown by 4% over the past two years. Most people would conclude that people are 4% richer, but that is not exactly true. Here is why. Over the past two years the population of the USA has grown by 1.5% and that needs to be considered. To "normalize" the data you need to adjust for increase in the number of people over those two years. This is done by looking at how individual people did during the two year period. This is done by dividing the 104% by 101.5 and you get 102.463. The normalized data shows that people are now 2.463% richer, not the original 4%.
Now, how does this apply to Media Bias? Most of us judge the current situation and the future compared to our past experiences. To do that correctly given that the situation has changed, we need to adjust the data for related items that have changed and alone affect the data. Look at it this way. What would the survey data look like if the media today acted like they did in the past without the current bias. What we have to do is to estimate the degree of bias. The fact that the media is challenging President Trump 24/7, we all have to admit that this, rather than the true facts alone, are affecting the attitude of their viewers. Isn't this just like a company using advertising to promote their products that are equal to or better than the competitor's products?
What if the media bias has about a 10% impact on the numbers? If an honest survey about something showed a split of 55% against President Trump and 45% for President Trump? The media would jump on this that it was clear that President Trump was wrong or bad when if the bias was removed by "normalizing" the data it would be the other way around.
We all know that social pressures can have big influence on people's attitudes and salesmen and advertisers know this. A biased survey is a powerful tool used to enforce attitudes of people. People who, "go along to get along" often wake up when they are behind the curtain in the voting booth and ignore social pressure. Isn't this what happened with the Trump vs Clinton election?
When you are presented with data or survey information you may need to "normalize" the data before you jump to a simple minded conclusion. The fact that the USA has such a low literacy rate and low STEM participation support the fact that much of our population do not have the intellectual ability to not be taken in by the media bias that now prevails in the USA.
This is my warning to you and a way to get thru the smoke screen of media bias.
Normalization is well understood by Mathematician and Engineers as a means to "clean up" data so that it correctly represents the subject. Here is a simple example to show what I mean. You look at some data that shows the economy has grown by 4% over the past two years. Most people would conclude that people are 4% richer, but that is not exactly true. Here is why. Over the past two years the population of the USA has grown by 1.5% and that needs to be considered. To "normalize" the data you need to adjust for increase in the number of people over those two years. This is done by looking at how individual people did during the two year period. This is done by dividing the 104% by 101.5 and you get 102.463. The normalized data shows that people are now 2.463% richer, not the original 4%.
Now, how does this apply to Media Bias? Most of us judge the current situation and the future compared to our past experiences. To do that correctly given that the situation has changed, we need to adjust the data for related items that have changed and alone affect the data. Look at it this way. What would the survey data look like if the media today acted like they did in the past without the current bias. What we have to do is to estimate the degree of bias. The fact that the media is challenging President Trump 24/7, we all have to admit that this, rather than the true facts alone, are affecting the attitude of their viewers. Isn't this just like a company using advertising to promote their products that are equal to or better than the competitor's products?
What if the media bias has about a 10% impact on the numbers? If an honest survey about something showed a split of 55% against President Trump and 45% for President Trump? The media would jump on this that it was clear that President Trump was wrong or bad when if the bias was removed by "normalizing" the data it would be the other way around.
We all know that social pressures can have big influence on people's attitudes and salesmen and advertisers know this. A biased survey is a powerful tool used to enforce attitudes of people. People who, "go along to get along" often wake up when they are behind the curtain in the voting booth and ignore social pressure. Isn't this what happened with the Trump vs Clinton election?
When you are presented with data or survey information you may need to "normalize" the data before you jump to a simple minded conclusion. The fact that the USA has such a low literacy rate and low STEM participation support the fact that much of our population do not have the intellectual ability to not be taken in by the media bias that now prevails in the USA.
This is my warning to you and a way to get thru the smoke screen of media bias.
