Checklists for Bias
What questions should you ask about a source to determine bias?
Find valuable questions to ask yourself in the sources below.
- COM Library: How to Spot Media BiasWhen evaluating sources, the COM Library suggests asking a few questions about the content and publisher. The questions are based on info from the American Press Institute.
- How to Detect Media Bias & PropagandaA document from CriticalThinking.org with questions on being a Critical Consumers of the News.
Sources to Help Identify Bias
Need a quick reference for the political bias ? These "bias-checking" sites periodically review the news from a source to evaluate for bias and give it a rating from liberal to non-partisan to conservative.
- Media Bias Fact Check
Media Bias Fact Check is a database of thousands of news sources rated along a spectrum of political bias.
- All Sides Media Chart
Allsides.com organizes breaking news stories based on political bias. They also provide a chart that shows a general outline of political bias in specific news sources.
Types of Bias
What does bias actually LOOK like in a news source? The News Literacy Project has put together a list of types of biases and examples of how they might appear in writing other than just political bias.
Lateral Reading
One way to identify bias is the practice of lateral reading which involves opening up more browser tabs to find additional information about the source you are reading. The video below explains why this is a valuable practice with useful examples.
(Video Credit: "Check Yourself with Lateral Reading: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #3" by CrashCourse with John Green)