8th Media Literacy

Evaluating the news

Check out the following websites. With the people at your table, investigate your assigned news sources, then decide where you should place your sources on our class chart:

  • X-axis: Political Bias

      • Bias is a pattern of unfairness in how information is presented

      • What's the difference between liberal and conservative? (Part 2)

      • Does the news -- the actual news reports, not things that are labeled as opinion or editorial -- seem biased? Does the site report on a wide variety of issues? Do news articles attempt to give both sides of the story?

  • Y-axis: Quality

      • Are the stories "deep" (talking to many sources, giving in-depth information, presenting all sides), basic (giving the facts, but not in much depth), or "shallow" (designed to grab your attention and get your clicks, but containing little of value - maybe even totally made-up information)?

      • Is the information accurate? Can you verify these stories elsewhere?

      • Warning signs: Is everything in ALL CAPS? Are lots of things labeled "BREAKING" or "EXCLUSIVE"? Clickbait-style headlines? Does the information sound believable? Can you verify it elsewhere? What do other websites say about yours?

Next steps

If you finish early, go ahead and evaluate one of the extra sources.

Alternatives

If you finish evaluating your websites -- or if there are any you would prefer not to use -- you can try one of these.

Comparing coverage

Fact checking

Other useful stuff