Media Literacy: Introduction

The website AllSides describes how to identify 16 types of media bias:

• Spin: Straying from objective facts using vague, dramatic or sensational language

• Unsubstantiated Claims: Statements that appear to be fact but do not include specific evidence

• Opinion Statements Presented as Fact

• Sensationalism/Emotionalism: Information presented in a way so as to maximize shock value

• Mudslinging / Ad Hominem: Unfair things said in order to damage someone's reputation / Attacks on someone's motive or character rather than the content of their ideas.

• Mind Reading: Where writers assume that they know what someone else is thinking

• Slant: Focusing on only one part of a story or playing up a piece of information

• Flawed Logic: Misrepresenting people's opinions or arriving at conclusions that are not justified by the given evidence

• Bias by Omission: Choosing not to cover certain stories, cherry picking legitimate stories but without providing the full context, omitting voices or information that would support an alternate viewpoint

• Omission of Source Attribution: Not backing up claims by linking to the source of information

• Bias by Story Choice and Placement

• Subjective Qualifying Adjectives: Adding words, based on the writer's emotions or opinions, that characterize or attribute specific properties to something

• Word Choice: Using words or phrases that reveal a particular perspective or ideology

• Photo Bias: Using a photo to give a false impression of a subject

• Negativity Bias: Emphasizing bad or negative news, or framing news in a negative light.