Activity: Bias Detectives
Activity summary
Students critically explore a particular news report to gain an understanding
of the various ways in which writers and editors, intentionally or unintentionally,
introduce bias into news reporting.
Aims of the activity
- To understand the techniques that writers and editors can use to introduce bias into news reports
- To develop the skills to critically question and challenge news stories that are seen, heard or read
For details of how Global News activities meet the requirements of the national curriculum, in particular the citizenship curriculum, click here
Resources
Copies of activity worksheets.
Click here for all worksheets
for this activity in pdf format. These include the Daily Mail article: Refugees
a drain on UK, think young; a
Media Awareness Network article: How
to detect bias in the news and the Bias
Detectives worksheet.
Note: An alternative news story may be
used. This site provides extensive links to on-line news services where
articles
can be found.
Procedure
This activity is based around a news story on young people’s
attitudes towards asylum seekers and an article exploring the various
ways in which
bias can creep into news reporting.
Before carrying out the tasks identified on the worksheet a discussion could take place to explore the idea of bias. Students could be asked to consider whether they believe the news they read, hear or see is accurate and truthful. How can we tell whether news stories report the facts accurately or whether they are biased in some way? Ask them to consider in what ways bias might creep into the news and why bias might occur.
Students, individually or in groups, should then follow the process
outlined in the Bias Detectives worksheet. They should read both the
Daily Mail article and the Media Awareness Network article and complete
the tasks identified. Following these tasks there should be a period
of dissemination where individuals/groups share their work.
Variation/extension
The Bias Detectives worksheet offers an extension activity enabling
students to explore the theme of asylum seekers in more depth. This
may be helpful before or after the main activity to increase student’s
awareness of the issue.
Commentary for teachers
One of the principle rules of journalism is to provide objective, unbiased,
and reliable information. However, what news is selected and the way
in which news is presented can determine and influence perspectives
on people, places and events.
The article from the Media Awareness Network outlines clearly the main ways in which bias can creep into news reporting. Applying this list to the Daily Mail article Refugees a drain on UK, think young should provide students with plenty of ideas. The article appears deliberately to highlight the negative attitude of young people towards asylum seekers.
However, the information provided in the article itself could have led to a very different approach. For example the headline could just as reasonably have read: Refugees should be given safe haven in the UK, say young or Unfair and biased media blamed for negative attitudes towards asylum seekers.
The first paragraph could have read: ‘The majority of young people (57%) believe that Britain should offer a safe haven to people fleeing war or persecution, according to a new MORI survey…’
The placing of the comment about the legal obligation of the UK towards those claiming asylum nearer the top might also alter the tone of the article.
Finally the positioning and content of the final paragraph could have been used positively. This highlights the more positive attitude of women and teenagers towards asylum seekers, and ultimately contradicts the headline.
During feedback after completion of the worksheet, it is important to emphasise that while changing the article might make it more positive and accurate, the exclusion of some information and the inclusion of other information such as asylum seeker statistics or quotes from asylum seekers or young people themselves, could result in a different bias to the article. This should ultimately lead to the conclusion that it is very difficult to avoid bias completely, and that we need to be wary that all news is biased to a degree.
Students should also be aware that newspapers and news services do intentionally express opinion/bias through editorial and letters pages which offer comment and analysis rather than objective reporting of factual information.
Expectations:
By the end of this activity students will:
- Be aware of the techniques that can, intentionally or unintentionally, be used to present news stories in a biased or distorted way
- Be able to critically question and challenge news stories that they see, hear or read
Bias
detectives activity in PDF format
Background information, resources and links to support this activity
According to opinion polls, asylum is the third most important issue for the British public (MORI 2003). It is rarely out of the newspapers and is the subject of intense political and public debate.
Reporting and commentary about asylum seekers and refugees is often hostile, unbalanced and factually incorrect. It is therefore vital that this issue is addressed accurately and sensitively with young people.
CBBC
Newsround teaching activity
An activity exploring how and why people become asylum seekers, by Dan Jones,
Amnesty International
Refugee Action
Provides factual information on asylum seekers, responses to ‘press myths’ and
refugee stories
Refugee
Week Education resources
Information and activity ideas for secondary schools
Road
to Refuge
A special BBC report providing powerful real life stories behind the statistics,
using first-person testimonies and in-depth interviews.
