By: Diane Benjamin
Read this story ONLY after you read what Grok said when I asked it to: Say how much bias is in this story. Below is a lot of what it reported. Type it in yourself is you want to see what else was reported.
If you think the McLean County Clerk forum is going to be fair, you aren’t fair. (Tuesday 7-8 Bone Student Center)
Should we celebrate they have ISU students on staff learning how to be bias?
Is defacing your opponents signs okay Buck?
.
Farley is supporting Crockett for clerk supposedly because of his time on the Heartland Board. RAISING property taxes is a requirement for democrat office evidently. Crockett did.
Grok report:
Where bias shows up
1. Space and depth allocation
Farley receives more total quote space and more developed discussion on secondary issues. The public-safety section is almost entirely Farley’s concerns about Flock cameras and potential ICE access, with only a short, general reply from Lord about the sheriff’s office and “don’t fix what isn’t broke.” Lord’s views on other priorities get less development.
2. Framing and loaded self-description
- Farley is introduced with his preferred self-label (“New Deal” style Democrat focused on the middle class) and given room to expand on values language (“we should not live in a society where we value the dollar over the human,” judging society by how the poorest live).
- Lord’s framing is more functional (bank-board analogy for protecting taxpayers). The contrast is real, but the emotional/values language is allowed more room for the Democrat.
3. Unchallenged partisan claim
Farley states that Republicans controlled the board “since forever, 1950s,” and that only under Democratic control has mental-health funding been used properly instead of “just sitting there.” This is presented as fact without pushback, historical context, or a response from Lord. That is a classic selection omission.
4. Endorsement and critique linkage
Farley’s endorsement of the Democratic clerk challenger (Josh Crockett) and criticism of the current clerk and auditor are given significant space and framed around accessibility of voting and fiscal responsibility. Lord’s related comments are shorter and more carefully caveated by the reporter.
5. Institutional context
WGLT is a university public radio station. Local public-media outlets often lean left-of-center in story selection and emphasis even when individual pieces avoid overt editorializing. The piece stays within the bounds of “both sides quoted,” but the cumulative effect tilts toward validating Farley’s priorities (social services funding, progressive concerns about surveillance/immigration enforcement) more than Lord’s (tax restraint, tighter financial oversight).
One glaring bias I notice in WGLT is that when a Republican is the Incumbent they write they are challenging the Democrat. When a Democrat is the incumbent the Republican is challenging the current elected Democrat. Their favoritism for particular candidates is obvious.
To say WGLT is biased is giving them too much credit. They’re actually political zealots.
Last time I was interviewed by WGLT when I was running for town council, I went back and listened to both my interview and that of the person I considered my most direct opponent.
One major issue at the time was the council’s intention to tear down the mural off the circle despite overwhelming public support for keeping it. The moderator sought to throw me off topic with ‘but they didn’t did they?’, purposely ignoring the fact that the only reason it didn’t happen wasn’t any public-responsiveness of the council, but simply that the developer realized it was not financially viable even with however many millions of taxpayer dollars the council was willing to throw at it.
I don’t remember what the topic was, but at some point my opponent made a poor statement – a miswording, an “I don’t know” to something they should knows, etc. The moderator didn’t push back, but rather offered something akin to ‘surely you meant this better answer I’m providing for you’, so they could agree and save face before moving on to whatever the next topic was.
Just like the League of Woke Voters, WGLT nearly always has ‘a dog in the hunt’ when it comes to coverage of any political topic, especially political races.
AI has bias too….
Yes, AI is biased toward your prompt. So if you tell AI to “show me the bias in this WGLT article,” it’s going to find answers that support your prompt. A lot of older AI users cannot grasp this and really think AI is feeding them organic answers, not simply responding in the affirmative to a query.
I didn’t tell it bias for or against anyone. It came up with that independently
@Marc Felt – (sorry this is long)
I don’t think age has anything to do with understanding prompting. Are you good at asking clarifying questions? You can use SI. But you are right Marc, the ability to safeguard against SI giving you just the data that you want to see can be a problem if you don’t consider it.
To those who are new to it (maybe not you Marc) :
Giving your chosen SI ‘skills’ (instructions) that it will use every time it does work for you helps to safeguard against bias.
Some instructions for outputting things like politically charged research –
Confirm all references that you use and double check the validity all links that you give.
Do not use known biased sources. Or give opposing viewpoints.
List all references used.
Do not hallucinate (make things up).
Review all output and confirm that all viewpoints are considered.
You will likely have to pay for a subscription to use this and other features, but I can tell you that for me it has been well worth the cost.
For example – I set up an MCP link btw Claude SI and my CAD design software. (I asked Claude to help me do this by the way). After the link was made, I asked it to look at one of my designs, evaluate it, ask me questions about it, and provide an updated design. In a matter of minutes of computation time Claude output a complete design that I had spent 3 months on previously. It also made improvements and I had it convert the design to a parametric (fully modifiable) set of instructions. Every time I change the design (by moving sliders) the design, with part numbers and cost, are updated immediately. All I have to do is type in my requests or changes and wait for a few minutes to see the new design. This is just one example.
If you have a product and you want a website that rivals any professionally made one.
If you want to do a patent search.
If you want financial advice given your particular financial situation.
If you need legal advice. This one is big.
If you want a comprehensive FOIA written.
Do you want to write a book?
Do you want unbiased news reporting on your desktop every morning?
The list is only limited by your creativity or personal needs and abilties.
It is a mind-blowing tool that can do so much more than give political opinions. Get on board now. Don’t be fooled, it isn’t that hard to use. It will even teach you how to use it if you want. I use it every day.
Sadly, there are too many people that would rather stew in catastrophizing about SI than try to really understand what it is and how to use it. Mainly because there are forces out there that feed on fear. You are not too old to use it if you know how to use a computer and can ask a clarifying question. Common sense helps too.
WGLT is full of self-important, arrogant people who believe they know better than you do. It has become more so this way with certain leadership changes. What is perhaps more concerning is all of the people who are willing to believe those at WGLT know better, as evidenced by the continuing successes of their seasonal fund drives. Adam Kinzinger is a blowhard, but this “community” event was their choice because they believe you need to hear from him. The day they invite a conservative will be the day some other place freezes over.