Taking bias seriously

“Why does the country think you’re biased?”

In her first few days as editor-in-chief of CBS News, Bari Weiss asked this very question of 60 Minutes senior staff members. The question “was met,” according to reporting from The New York Times, “with stunned awkwardness.”

Yet what is truly stunning is that this question isn’t being asked by every newsroom every day. My prediction is that 2026 will be the year that newsrooms take the question seriously.

In many ways, they have to. As newsfluencers — individuals with large digital followings who discuss current events, many of them not affiliated with traditional media — gain traction, newsrooms must grapple with how to compete.

Former Fox News host and current newsfluencer Megyn Kelly suggests that acknowledging bias is key to gaining trust and followers. In a New York Times interview, Kelly describes: “What typically happens in journalism is they say they have no bias, and then they just work it out in the printed word or on their shows without owning it, but the audience knows is and it creates a distrust and a divide.” Her alternate form of journalism, she explains, makes clear where she stands and allows people to “filter everything I say through the appropriate lens.”

Kelly seems to suggest that newsrooms should simply give in to the inevitability of bias.

Thankfully, newsrooms will push back. This is not to say that there isn’t merit to Kelly’s view: biases are inherent to human experience and acknowledging them could allow people to take them into account. Unfortunately, people aren’t good at doing this. We aren’t equally skeptical of someone sharing our views and someone with opposing views. We tend to seek out and accept facts, opinions, and arguments that align with our beliefs.

Instead of succumbing to bias, newsrooms will double down their mission to rise above it. This requires new approaches. It is one thing to proclaim that news is not biased. It is another to actively think about and evaluate whether reporting is biased.

Newsrooms could, and in my view should, routinely solicit feedback on their reporting from diverse audiences, discuss the results, and seek ways of improving in response to legitimate criticism. The Center for Media Engagement has been exploring this idea, and interested newsrooms should feel welcome to reach out.

Here’s to 2026 being the year to tackle bias head-on.