How To Analyze Information On Political Campaigns

In order to make an educated, informed decision when you vote, you must first be able to evaluate the information out there. How do you do that?

You do that by analyzing these 4 areas. Evaluating sources Separating fact from opinion Detecting bias Identifying propaganda

1. Evaluating Sources You need to know where the information is coming from. Does it come from a candidate, from a political party, from a non-partisan group, from a newspaper.

1. Evaluating Sources Knowing this helps you in analyzing the other four areas

2. Separating fact from opinion A fact is something that has actually happened or that is true An opinion is a belief based on what someone believes to be true

2. Separating fact from opinion You must look at a piece of information and determine if it is fact or opinion. Sometimes knowing the source will help you do this.

2. Separating fact from opinion A newspaper (unless it says it is a commentary) will most likely report to you facts.

2. Separating fact from opinion A non-partisan source will most likely report facts, not opinions

2. Separating fact from opinion A candidate or party may have both facts and opinions mixed in its material

3. Detecting Bias Bias is a leaning in favor of or against someone, to be prejudiced towards someone or something

3. Detecting Bias Once you determine the source of your information, you may be able to determine if you need to be on the lookout for any bias

3. Detecting Bias A newspaper generally is not biased. However, many believe that different newspapers have a leaning towards the conservative or liberal points of view

3. Detecting Bias Non-partisan sources by definition try to be as unbiased as possible

3. Detecting Bias By design, information from a political party will be biased towards that party and prejudiced against any other party

3. Detecting Bias By design, information from a candidate will be biased towards that candidate and prejudiced against other candidates

3. Detecting Bias However, these sources sometimes try to appear unbiased ….so be careful!!

4. Identifying Propaganda This is the process of spreading or promoting a particular idea to help one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause.

4. Identifying Propaganda You see propaganda everyday when you see a TV commercial or advertisement in a magazine

4. Identifying Propaganda The problem, it is a little trickier to identify what is propaganda when looking at political advertisements!

4. Identifying Propaganda Generally, you can follow the same guidelines as when you identified bias. Newspapers are generally less prone to using propaganda when reporting news stories.

4. Identifying Propaganda Generally, you can follow the same guidelines as when you identified bias. Newspapers do use a form of propaganda when they publish political cartoons

4. Identifying Propaganda Generally, you can follow the same guidelines as when you identified bias. Non-partisan sources try not to use propaganda at all – they try to be as neutral as possible.

4. Identifying Propaganda Generally, you can follow the same guidelines as when you identified bias. Political parties and candidates will often use propaganda to forward their cause!

4. Identifying Propaganda Knowing the types of propaganda may also help you determine if a source is trying to use propaganda to convince you to believe in their cause.

4. Identifying Propaganda Here are 7 types of propaganda

4. Identifying Propaganda 1. Endorsements Getting a famous person to support a candidate.

4. Identifying Propaganda 2. Stacked Cards Only one side of an issue is presented, sometimes distorting the facts.

4. Identifying Propaganda 7. Name-Calling (Mud-Slinging) Trying to harm the image of the opponent by attaching unpleasant labels or ideas to him

4. Identifying Propaganda 3. Bandwagon Showing everyone else is voting a certain way so you should vote that way as well.

4. Identifying Propaganda 4. Glittering Generality A broad general statement that sounds good but really means nothing.

4. Identifying Propaganda 5. Symbols The use of a symbol to convey some meaning. (For example, always using the flag to denote patriotism.)

4. Identifying Propaganda 6. Plain Folks Showing the candidate is just like the common man Using common people as endorsement

Well, that’s it! Hopefully you will now have a better understanding of how to evaluate campaign speeches, literature and advertisements for accuracy in the next election. Good Luck!