Mixed Media

Web Application, 2017

Web App Coding - Python, HTML, Jinja, CSS, Heroku

Final project for Harvard CS50 x MIT MediaLab Depolarization by Design

Mixed Media is a tool for simultaneous side by side conservative and liberal media news search.
It is especially effective in comparing breaking news reports from right and left media outlets.
It is a tool for raising awareness about everyday media bias.

Inspiration for the project came from an assignment from MIT MediaLab's Depolarization by Design class. For this assignment, I had to search the same keywords on several news outlets from different political spectrum. Through this search, I easily witnessed political bias, or factual divide in breaking news reports. In order to make the same experience more simple, I created this web application so that users can easily search for the same keywords to return news articles from right and left media simultaneously, side by side. 

• This tool can be used to educate young adults and newcomers to the United States about political bias in news reports.

• According to a study by the Pew Research Center in 2012, only 37% of Americans know about political bias in news coverage

• (Cable Leads the Pack as Campaign News Source: Perceptions of Bias, News Knowledge)

• According to a study by Stanford History Education Group in 2016, high school students are prone to believe whatever they read first online. (Stanford researchers find students have trouble judging the credibility of information online)