Is That True? How to Read Through Bias in the News FLEX Class

I built this class because I think it is vital to feel confident in your ability to figure out the truth about issues that are important to you. I have seen people struggle to find news sources they trust or to see through the bias in the news platforms they're comfortable with. All news presents a bias because all authors bring their own culture and experiences to the page when they write. There's no way around it. That being said, we can still find good information in the articles we read; we just need to be aware of and know how to read around the bias they present. 

This class is a conglomerate of things I learned as a debate coach, an academic researcher, and a college student about how to find credible sources, vet authors for bias, and read between the lines of opinion to find the facts being presented. 

Class 1- We will start by going over why it now seems so hard to know where to go for your news. 
We will do this by reviewing the four theories (or purposes/motivations) of the press from the book "Four Theories of the Press: The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do" by Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm. In essence, the press now presents us with as much information as possible and we are responsible for sifting through it to find the truth.

Class 2- In this class we will look at how we choose our news sources and what perceived biases those news sources have. We will look at charts of what news platforms live on the right vs the left and how extreme their bias is perceived to be. 

Class 3- Students will practice finding a source. They will become aware of what they focus on and look for when deciding what news to read and then reflect critically about the effectiveness of that approach. They will look not only at the validity of the news platform, but also the article's author and the objectivity, accuracy, and currency of the article.

Class 4- Students will practice evaluating secondary sources for bias. They will think critically about the source of the article, the argument it is making, and the sources it is using before evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the article and reflecting on what they still need to know after having read it. 

Class 5- Students will practice evaluating primary sources. Students will once again look at the author and the date of publication as well as the argument, motive, audience, and bias before reflecting on the usefulness of what they read.

I will guide students through this process with a series of videos where I demonstrate how to use all of these methods while learning about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Students will be asked to pick their own topic and follow all of the steps we discuss to go through different news articles and learn about their chosen topic.