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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are not that of Daily Maverick.....

Understanding the media: the importance of critical thinking and separating fact from bias

Fran Beighton
By Fran Beighton
26 Feb 2025
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You don’t have to like Daily Maverick or what you read in it, but there are some hard truths that you need to be aware of.

How sad it must be — believing that scientists, scholars, historians, economists and journalists have devoted their entire lives to deceiving you, while a reality TV star with decades of fraud and exhaustively documented lying is your only beacon of truth and honesty.

— Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist

The vast majority of the public use social media as their primary source of information. You may be unconsciously scrolling on X or Instagram as you wait in line or steal a couple of minutes between meetings. 

You may think you’re well informed or even well read, but have you stopped to analyse where the majority of your information comes from? If you did you would be surprised to see that it’s from unverified sources — influencers on social media with no context, podcasters masquerading as journalists or directly from a politician themselves with no interrogation of fact. 

Making it all so much worse, is that most people don’t read to the end of an article, limiting their understanding to the headline and first couple of lines. Our research has shown that almost half of our readers will have already stopped reading this article. 

For those of you still here, let’s try a bias experiment: 

Think of a president. He’s been accused of bribery and fraud. He’s faced obstruction of justice charges. He was the central figure that resulted in a devastating riot. He’s a master of using legal and political delay tactics in charges against him. He’s faced accusations of rape. He has fiercely loyal supporters who believe the charges against him are politically motivated. 

His name is Jacob Zuma. 

His name is also Donald Trump.

This is not bias. This is fact.

Depending on how you personally feel about former president Zuma or President Trump directly influences how you feel when you read these facts. That is bias. 

Fact vs Bias


Every day we at Daily Maverick and other legitimate news sites globally are accused of bias. 

“The media is receiving back-handed funding”; these were the words sent to us recently from a long-term Daily Maverick reader. Where did the idea come from? Probably here: 



“Looks like” “could be” are the tells. There is absolutely no evidence of US media receiving funding from the previous administration. Instead, the previous administration had its subscriptions to legitimate news sites so that they would have access to verified news and information. There is a HUGE difference. 

As for USAid news funding; USAid supported some independent news publishers globally in an effort to “strengthen independent media” in the face of the increasing levels of mis- and disinformation circulating on social media. This funding has now been stopped by the current administration. 

What is extraordinary is the leap that the general public have taken — that funding for independent media from any organisation, grant, advertiser or member of the public equates to editorial interference or influence. 

As someone whose daily job is to find revenue for Daily Maverick so our journalism can continue, here are the facts: 

  • No grant, donation, advertising or member contribution is received in exchange for editorial influence. In fact, it is stipulated in all contracts that the funds are accepted with the understanding that no editorial interference or influence can happen.

  • We have diversified revenue streams (reader contributions, grant funding, donations and advertising) precisely for this reason. Should one organisation not like what they’re reading and decide to pull their funding, the sustainability of the organisation doesn’t hang in the balance.

  • We have never received USAid funding. We do apply for funding from multiple sources, with only a small percentage being successful.

  • We don’t have a billionaire owner. If we did, we wouldn’t appeal to our readers daily to support us and we wouldn’t have had to retrench staff as we did last September.


So you think we are biased?


We have been accused of bias against the ANC, the EFF, the DA, Trump, Palestine, Israel, Afriforum, Putin… you name it. Which, in itself, proves that we’re not. 

However, it’s our job to earn your trust.

Editorial oversight 


In order for an article to be published on Daily Maverick, it requires editorial oversight. This is where our editors check every word of the article to ensure that it is not misleading, biased or factually incorrect. 

Before the article even arrives on their desk, our journalists (who are trained professionals) investigate the story, interview sources, verify and corroborate information, give the subject of a report multiple opportunities for “right of reply” and fact check. When we fall short here, we are (rightly) taken to the press ombudsman and/or sued. 

We talk about holding our politicians and public figures to account, and we believe categorically that we should be held to the same standards of accountability. 

Satire 


The use of humour, irony or exaggeration to highlight a particular topic through social commentary. 

It’s usually reserved for “hot topics” and can sting when the reader feels that it’s “too close to the bone” or targets one’s own beliefs. That’s the point of satire — to hold a mirror up in a humorous way to get us all to question our own subjective bias. If you look at the archives of our satirists, you’ll see that the breadth of their work is anything but biased. 

Opinion pieces (aka Opinionistas): 


These are exactly as they sound: an opinion piece from someone who knows about the particular topic. Perhaps they work in that specific industry or their careers have led them to have an in-depth knowledge of the subject. It is, however, an opinion. 

We carry multiple conflicting opinion pieces but because of the way that digital media is consumed you, the reader, may only see and read one opinion piece furthering your assumption that we are biased. These opinions don’t necessarily reflect the position of Daily Maverick.

Still think we’re biased? 


That’s absolutely your prerogative. But, before you lash out at our journalists or at “mainstream media”, we’re going to ask you to do one thing: Apply the same level of skepticism and calls of bias to every single post you read on social media, every podcast you listen to and every video you watch as you do to every article you read written by professional journalists. 

We are bound by the Press Code and the Press Council of South Africa to publish facts. They are not. DM

If you wish to comment on this issue, please send an email to [email protected]

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