Monitoring the Media Information

Here is a list of questions you can ask yourself (or students) in order to monitor the information you receive through the mass media (radio, television, newspapers, movies, or the Internet).

Questions you can ask yourself related to Importance, Use of Photo's, the Source, the Angle, the Information, and the Bias of Reporting for new items you encounter.

If you wish, go straight to a list of Internet Sites that have information for you to use for analysis in your classroom.

You can also jump down to sites (with forms for all ages) to give you some help evaluating the various web pages you and your class comes across.

Teachers: have a look at the FAIR site (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) for some great articles you could use with your class!

Importance:

• What importance was given to the item?
• Was the importance given to the main item justified in relation to other news items?
• On a given issue, how many items appeared about it?
• Were there any news stories that were neglected?
• What page did the article appear on (or at what point during the broadcast, and for how long)?
• How many column spaces were devoted to the article? What sized font was used?

Back to the questions

Use of Photographs:

• Are there any photographs / illustrations used?
• Do they show favorable or unfavorable treatment of the subject?
• How often are photographs used on a given issue?
• How big were the photographs?
• What aspect of the story / person do the photographs highlight?

Back to the questions

What is the Source?:

• Is it possible to identify clearly who the sources of the information are (their name, occupation, where they live, etc...)
• Is the story from a wire service (eg: Reuters)
• Can you clearly identify who is being quoted throughout the story (thier name, relation to the story being covered, etc...)

Back to the questions

The Angle of the Story:

• What aspect of the story was played up?
• How are humorous comments used? What do they imply?
• Are dramatic or tragic stories used to symbolize a larger social issue? How much information is provided on this larger social issue?

Back to the questions

The Information:

• What information is provided? What information is NOT provided? Is this information significant?
• What percentage of sentences are supported by facts? What percentage are supported by opinion (either the reporter's or someone else's)?

Back to the questions

Bias of Reporting:

• Who does the reporter work for? Who owns the organization they work for?
• What is the emotion of the language used in the report? Look at the adjectives.
• Were different groups treated the same in the reporting? Why or why not?

Back to the questions

If you need Critical Thinking survey forms for website evaluation, all you have to do is decide whether you want a form for Elementary, Middle, or Highschool. These forms are created and provided by Kathy Schrock's "Guide for Educators" site.

Here are some sites for you to gather information for critique and analysis:

Top of this Page