Submitted by: Submitted by FrostDragon81
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Date Submitted: 09/14/2013 10:27 PM
Detecting Media Bias
9/30/2012
HUM 111
In 2011, the City Council of Bellingham, Washington approved a plastic bag ban to help cut down on potential waste and to help protect local wildlife from pollution in Whatcom county. The plastic bag ban started August 1, 2012, not only banned plastic bags from being used in most of the businesses in Whatcom county, but it also forced retailers to charge shoppers a minimum of $0.05 per paper bag to help offset the retailer’s cost for supplying the bags. According to the legislation passed by the council the paper bags must be made with a minimum of 40% recycled paper.
While the article clearly expresses the intention the plastic bag ban will have and the positive affects it will have on both the environment and the local wildlife, it appears to be biased to the one side of the argument. For example the paper bag fee that is being forced upon the retailers was meant to help offset the cost of the retailer purchasing and supplying the bags. For large corporations and franchises, this would not be a major issue, however for small business owners this cost is not even close to covering the cost of the bags themselves. This means that the author ignored the possible implications to the bag ban.
Other cities around the country have gone to a bag ban such as this. Most of them have failed for one reason or another. The article presents this as the only means to help with the pollution and the wildlife in the area. The truth is that many cities, partnering with both large corporations and small business owners, have set up recycling station in hardware stores, grocery stores, and even the local post offices. Clearly this indicates that neither the city council, nor the author considered any alternatives to the bag ban. While the article clearly states that the environment will benefit from this bag ban, it makes the assumption that this is the only way to reach that goal.
It is extremely important to evaluate the facts,...