Spotting Bias in News Reports

Read each box of definitions together and try one example aloud. Ask students to point to the exact word or missing detail behind each answer, then compare with the answer key.

Find loaded words and left-out facts in two opposing reports about a dam in Millbrook. The directions on the page read: Read the text and both news reports. Then answer the questions on page 2. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade Sources, Data and Research Skills, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with fact, opinion and bias. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Loaded words carry strong positive or negative feelings, such as amazing, terrible or best. They push an opinion instead of informing. Students circle them in opinion statements and pick them out of two reports about a dam.

Spotting Bias in News Reports gives three warning signs. Look for loaded words, check whether the report tells only one side, and ask who benefits from the outcome.

The sheet uses four steps: describe the objects, decide what they stand for, read the labels and caption, and work out what the artist wants people to think or do. Students apply them to Franklin's snake, cut into 8 labeled pieces.