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Interactive Skills
for Students
How to Analyze the News
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How To Analyze The News
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Why Learn This Skill?
 News is noteworthy information. Usually it relates to current events or issues.
 You can gather valuable information about events that happen in your community, in the United States, and around the world by watching or reading news reports.
 Analyzing news and news stories is an important part of being an active citizen.
 Developing this skill will also help you form educated opinions and make well-reasoned decisions.

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How To Analyze The News
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Learn It!
What are news sources?

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How To Analyze The News
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Learn It!
News is published in print publications that include:

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How To Analyze The News
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News is also presented on television.

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How To Analyze The News
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Some radio stations broadcast the news.

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How To Analyze The News
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On the Internet, news is available through Web sites.

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How To Analyze The News
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You will use several different skills to analyze the news you read or watch.

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How To Analyze The News
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Learn It!

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How To Analyze The News
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Learn It!

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How To Analyze The News
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Learn It!

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How To Analyze The News
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Learn It!

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How To Analyze The News
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Think Critically
To apply critical thinking skills when you analyze the news, you should:
 distinguish facts from opinions.
 ask yourself questions about who created the story and why.
 notice how the news story was produced and the decisions made to bring the story to the public.
 recognize and think about any bias in the story.
 evaluate the quality and reliability of the news source.

14. How To Analyze The News
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Analyze Visuals
Does the story include images, video, or graphics? What decisions were made in creating the story?
What visuals were chosen?
Do these images add information to the story, or do they illustrate information that is already presented?
What feelings or reactions are created by the images?
Are there graphs, charts, or other representations of data?
Is source material given for data?
Does the data contribute to the message of the story?

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How To Analyze The News
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Evaluate Sources
What are
reliable sources?

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How To Analyze The News
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Evaluate Sources
What are
reliable sources?

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How To Analyze The News
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Evaluate Sources
What are
reliable sources?

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How To Analyze The News
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Evaluate Sources
What are
reliable sources?

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How To Analyze The News
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Evaluate Sources
What are
reliable sources?

20. Fact Opinion Distinguish Fact from Opinion How To Analyze The News
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Distinguish Fact from Opinion
It is important to be able to recognize facts and opinions in a news story. Then, you can determine if the information is likely to be accurate or likely to be an appeal to emotions.
Fact
Definition:
something that is true and
can be supported with
evidence or data
Opinion
Definition:
a point of view or
interpretation of facts

21. Bias Recognize Bias How To Analyze The News
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Recognize Bias
Recognizing bias helps you analyze and understand
the information presented to you.
Bias
Definition:
Having a pre-existing opinion, attitude, or belief about something.
 News stories contain some bias.
 The message in any news story reflects the attitudes, beliefs, and ideas of the author.

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How To Analyze The News
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How To Analyze The News
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How To Analyze The News
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How To Analyze The News
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How To Analyze The News
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27. Recognize Bias Who produced the story? Is this a well-known
How To Analyze The News
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Recognize Bias
Who produced the story?
Some news sources try to present information about events with little bias.
Examples:
article in a major newspaper
story on national network news broadcast
Is this a
well-known
and reliable news source?
Is this an opinion-based story?
Some news sources support a belief or cause.
Examples:
article posted on a political party Web site
editorial about a
news event

28. Who paid the costs to produce the story?
How To Analyze The News
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Recognize Bias
Who paid the costs to produce the story?
Who owns the publication, station, or the Web site?
government
department
special
interest group
political
organization
corporation
These groups may try to convince people to support a particular point of view.

29. What is the purpose of the story?
How To Analyze The News
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Recognize Bias
What is the purpose of the story?
Level of Bias
Used for many
news stories
has least bias since it is meant to present facts
To inform
To entertain
May include facts, but also may include opinions or beliefs
if selling a product, idea, or course of action, might be more biased
Intended to persuade, or convince a person to think a certain way
may include facts and data but will also contain more opinions and, therefore,
more bias
To persuade

30. What content was included? What content was excluded?
How To Analyze The News
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Recognize Bias
What decisions were made in creating the story?
What content was included?
What did the author focus on?
In what order are the facts or events presented? Does that influence how you interpret them?
What content was excluded?
What do you want to know that is missing from the story?
Why might the author have chosen to exclude information? Was it due to lack of space, or was it to present a particular point of view?

31. An audience is a group of people who hear or read a news story.
How To Analyze The News
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Recognize Bias
Who is the audience?
An audience is a group of people
who hear or read a news story.
News is created for specific audiences.
General audience
American public
People around the world
Specific group
people of a specific city or region
people of a certain age or gender
members of a political party

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How To Analyze The News
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Apply It!
Ask yourself:
After reading a news story, what have you learned?
Has what you learned affected your opinion?
Are you surprised at the amount of news sources there are?

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How To Analyze The News
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Remember:
 Analyzing news media helps you be an active citizen.
 Think critically by determining what information is factual and what information is biased.
 Consider the source of the news and how the story is presented to help you draw conclusions about what you have read or heard.