Conquer It
It is important to analyze sources for bias and determine if it tells both sides of a story.We’ve seen how important it is to verify historical sources and news stories. It is also important to verify if our sources are biased or unbiased.
It’s your turn! Take a look at the historical sources below. They are newspaper headlines. Remember, Mr. Lexington says that sometimes sources are made by people with a particular point of view. They have a strong opinion that comes through the source. We learned there are five ways to know if a source is biased or if it tells both sides of a story. Let’s take a minute to review the ways you can identify bias in a source.
-
Word Choice - Watch out for strong words that show judgement, like “evil” or “crooked.” These sources may not be telling the all sides of the story.
-
Image Choice - Photographs or drawings are sometimes used to make the subject look good or bad.
-
Details - Try to determine if the source is telling the whole story or a part of it. Are there any details missing?
-
Opinion pieces or Editorials - Opinion pieces and editorials look like newspaper articles, but they actually share a specific person’s view about something.
-
Advertisements - Sometimes advertisements are disguised to look like news articles.
Can you separate these headlines into biased or unbiased sources? Pay attention to the word choices to help make your decision.
> Text version for interactive
What makes the biased headlines different from the unbiased headlines?
