Understanding Bias In The News Media The News Literacy Project

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 6, 2025, 7:07 PM

understanding bias in the news media the news literacy project

Scrolling through the comments on a news organization’s website or social media page reveals a widespread perception: Many people perceive bias in news coverage. Although, few people find that the news is biased in their favor. Young people are no exception. Almost 70% of teens believe that news organizations intentionally add bias to their coverage and only present the facts that support their own perspective, according to the News Literacy Project’s survey of teen information... During National News Literacy Week, the News Literacy Project’s Peter Adams led a webinar for educators that shared practical advice and tips to help students regain trust in credible news and to question faulty... Here are some takeaways from Adams’ presentation, which provided educators tools to teach this vital, controversial and complex topic in ways that empower students to meaningfully evaluate the fairness and impartiality of news coverage.

(View the recording.) Some organizations publish charts or rating systems that show where they believe news sites fall on a political spectrum. Although the creators of these rankings claim to make bias within news organizations more transparent, Adams warns against taking the representations at face value. Rankings appear to offer a solution for people looking to “unbias, unspin or decode news coverage,” Adams said. But they imply that bias is present in every newsroom and that the creator of such charts is objective enough to discern how to quantify each news organization. Adams recommends taking a critical look before basing opinions about news coverage on these tools.

Analyze not only how they represent different organizations, but the reasoning behind their conclusions. Adams also notes the importance of differentiating between news reports and opinion pieces. On some media bias charts, opinion pieces are included in a site’s ranking. Opinion pieces, which are not intended to be impartial, should be excluded when assessing whether a site’s news reports are neutral and credible. by webmaster | Feb 4, 2025 | Media Literacy | 0 comments Today, countless websites and apps share news, changing not only how we get information but also how often we receive it.

Even with more information available than ever before, this doesn’t mean we’re better informed. In addition, the prominence of opinion journalism has risen over the years and is present everywhere from newspapers, to TV news programs, to social media. Opinion journalism presents their audience with an opinion and is meant to provoke a discussion or persuade their audience. However, news journalism has a different purpose. News journalism is meant to inform the public without trying to persuade the audience one way or another. So, how do you tell the difference, and how do you ensure that the news sources you are consuming are truly meant to inform and not persuade?

Look for clues Many pieces of opinion journalism and sponsored content have clues to let us know that the article or video is meant to persuade rather than inform. Consider bias as a spectrum All news sources contain some level of bias. However, when we consider news to be on a spectrum of less biased to more biased, we can evaluate sources more effectively. This video, the first in a series of expert events designed to help communities combat mis-, dis-, and malinformation meant to disrupt the electoral process, features Peter Adams of the News Literacy Project talking... Presented by Peter Adams, Senior Vice President of Research and Design, The News Literacy Project; and Brittney Smith, Senior Manager of District Partnerships, East, The News Literacy Project Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

People frequently perceive and allege bias in news coverage, but what does this really mean? What makes a piece of news biased, and who decides? What role do our own biases play in our perceptions of bias? In this recorded edWebinar, we help you teach this vital, controversial, and complex topic in ways that empower students to meaningfully evaluate the fairness and impartiality of news coverage. This recorded edWebinar is of interest to middle and high school teachers, librarians, school leaders, district leaders, and education technology leaders. Peter Adams became the News Literacy Project’s Senior Vice President of Research and Design after several years as the organization’s Head of Education.

He began his career as a classroom teacher in the New York City schools through Teach For America. He has also taught in the Chicago public schools, at Roosevelt University, and at Chicago City Colleges’ Wilbur Wright campus. In addition, he has worked with the NYC Teaching Fellows program, with After School Matters, and as an independent education consultant. Everyone harbors some level of bias, either implicitly or explicitly. Media bias relates to the underlying influences (usually political) that affect how news is presented across different credible news sources. Media outlets and news organizations DO NOT all present the news from the same point of view. Reading one news story is NOT a comprehensive way to understand the whole story. Reading from multiple points of view is crucial to news literacy and spotting media bias.

Inherent biases can shape how news is covered. Journalists may be asked to "spin" a story that reflects the values of the news organization, sponsors, and stakeholders. How a news story is presented (images, language, and tone are good indicators of the type of bias presented) can be identified by watching the same story on different news videos or reading the... The purpose of understanding NEWS LITERACY is understanding that media bias exists and to intentionally seek out multiple news sources (THAT ARE CREDIBLE) so that you are exposed to different levels and types of... You can use FACT CHECKERS to help evaluate news stories to determine their accuracy.

Snopes, Politifact, and AllSides are good examples. Each of these examples provide a range, rating system, or scale to measure facts in news stories. In this activity, students cap off their Checkology learning by developing a personal code of ethics for information they seek, share and produce. In this activity, students cap off their Checkology learning by developing a personal code of ethics for information they seek, share and produce. Learn how to assess evolving stories when facts are still being confirmed in this classroom-ready activity, a supplement to The Sift newsletter. In this lesson, students develop a nuanced understanding of news media bias by learning about five types of bias and five ways it can manifest itself.

In this lesson, students learn about the historical failure of mainstream news organizations to serve all people equally and the distrust this has caused. We provide educators in all 50 states with the resources they need to help students learn to confidently navigate the digital world. False information erodes the trust that connects us. Thanks to you, our national movement is rebuilding it. Every day, we help educators shape the next generation of resilient, independent thinkers. During the 2024-25 school year our resources were used by:

With our free virtual classroom, you can help students learn to spot falsehoods, understand media bias, find reliable sources and think critically. Lessons, activities, infographics and other resources cover misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, algorithms and more. See how it can help in the video below. StudentCornell High School, Pennsylvania Bias is one of the most controversial and important subjects in news literacy. People frequently perceive bias in news coverage, and accusations of bias are common in a wide variety of discussions and contexts.

However, people generally perceive bias through the lens of their own perspectives, values and beliefs, especially if they have a strong opinion about the topic being reported on. This can cause people to engage in confirmation bias — the tendency to quickly embrace information that affirms their perspectives and beliefs and to unfairly dismiss or criticize information that complicates or contradicts them. Because biases are baked into how we see and understand the world, people often fail to consider them when seeking or evaluating information. People also tend to only perceive bias in reporting that they consider to be against their beliefs or opinions. News coverage that is biased toward someone’s beliefs or opinions would likely just feel “right” to that person, which may help explain the popularity of openly partisan news sources. Because everyone has innate biases (based on their life experiences, or what they are told by their family, their friends and their teachers, or other factors), determining what constitutes bias in news coverage is...

In fact, it’s not uncommon to see a single news report attracting conflicting accusations of bias — about its headline or an accompanying photo; about its placement in a news broadcast, in a newspaper... Finally, many conversations about bias lack specificity and nuance — in part because such discussions can become emotional, and in part because many people lack the conceptual tool set to evaluate bias and underestimate... For example, not only do people frequently forget that their own biases influence their perceptions of news coverage, they also often believe that most bias in news is overt (rather than perceived and debatable)... Further, it is easy to treat the perception of bias as the end, rather than the beginning, of the process of evaluating news coverage. But asking the following critical questions can help students fully assess the degree of impartiality or bias in a given piece of news: Could this report have been fairer? Reported more dispassionately?

How? What other images or sources were available when it was published or broadcast? Was it one report in a series about a particular subject, or does it stand alone? How does it compare with other reporting from the same outlet? From other outlets? These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appeals to emotion or stereotypes).

The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources. See all Least Biased Sources. Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED Factual Reporting: HIGH Country: USA MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE Media Type: Organization/Foundation Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY The News Literacy Project (NLP) is, as their About page states, “a nonpartisan national education nonprofit that works with educators and journalists to teach middle school and high school students how to sort fact... Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Understanding Bias In The News Media The News Literacy Project

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