Theme 4: Media bias

Theme 4 is about Media bias. We actually want you, the students, to discover the bias that exists in different forms of media.

For this reason we accessed many different resources about media bias and finally decided to use two lesson plans from MediaSmarts, a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization for digital and media literacy.

The first lesson plan is about Bias. We will use this to:

"introduce you to the concept of bias or slant, in newspapers, websites and in television newscasts.

You will begin by comparing two newspaper articles about the same news event - each reported from a different perspective. You will then explore the role the gatekeeper, or editor, in determining the slant of a story and analyze the titles of newspaper stories for slant or bias.

Once you have looked at newspapers, you will use viewing logs to analyse television newscasts from two different television stations. These newscasts will be analysed based on language usage, story selection and story order."

Learning Outcomes of Acctivity 1

By the end of the activity you will be able to:

• recognize how a single event could generate more than one news story

• identify a point of view or bias, based on the language used

• experience and understand the role of subjectivity and perception in the media

• understand the role of the «gatekeeper»

• critically analyse or deconstruct two newscasts for potential bias through comparison, focusing on language, story selection and story order

So jump to MediaSmarts two texts texts from different perspectives about Sir Samuel Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I to find out about media bias!