Parents play a key role in nurturing their children’s healthy news habits
On a recent sunny carpool ride through Atlanta, I fielded an innocent question from my youngest child about a provocative topic: All those signs that say “(expletive) ICE.”
The signs are unavoidable and the news coverage is ubiquitous while at the same time dramatically different depending on your source. How do we begin those complex conversations with our kids? Let’s start with an unexpected place: the mirror.
Are you biased? (Hint: Don’t say no.) We’re all biased. And that’s OK. But hidden media bias misleads, manipulates and divides, so it behooves all of us to learn how to spot it. At least this is what news media experts at bias analysis company AllSides tell us.
About three-quarters of U.S. adults (77%) say news organizations tend to favor one side when presenting the news on political and social issues, according to a Pew Research Poll.
This reflects the erosion of trust in traditional news media and has led young people on a trail searching for their own sources for news: TikTok, YouTube, the podcast world, etc. And we can certainly all agree, those are trustworthy sources (obvious sarcasm here).
Young people of today won’t be easily fooled by blind trust in traditional news media, but parents and educators must also teach youth and kids to be savvy in pursuit of their own news sources.
Easy ways to identify media bias
Talking to kids about Immigration and Customs Enforcement conflicts and political campaign season can have many alternate narratives depending on which news source is consulted. How do we approach hidden media bias as parents and teachers in an ever-changing landscape of current events and media coverage?
Just look at the terms and see if you can spot bias in word choice: illegal immigrants vs. undocumented immigrants; alien vs. asylum-seeker; protesters vs. rioters. Worlds of reality just clicks apart depending on your news source.
In the case of ICE and news surrounding politically charged topics such as immigration, parents and teachers should instruct kids to recognize the markers of hidden media bias.
There are methods to easily identify media bias, such as:
- spin words (high stakes, conceded, admitted to, far-right, far-left)
- sensationalism (onslaught, gloated, shocking, incensed)
- subjective statements vs. objective (extreme, dangerous, good/better/best)
- slant (telling only part of the story)
- mudslinging (name calling, insulting)
- flawed logic (jumping to conclusions on one side of political spectrum), and
- bias by omission (covering only news stories and interviews that reflect single perspective).
There is an ever-growing form of news preference: elite vs populist bias. It can be described as occurring when journalists favor the elite by prioritizing the beliefs, viewpoints and perspectives of people who are part of society’s most prestigious, credentialed institutions, such as academic institutions, government agencies, business executives and nonprofit organizations versus journalists favoring the populist perspective, i.e., those who are outside prestigious institutions, rural/small-town citizenry, middle-income households and small-business owners.
This bias reflects the classic red against blue narrative. Just pick your side and wear that color tie to match.
Teach and practice critical thinking
Our kids will likely reflect our hot button political beliefs, and this is not a bad thing; it is actually wonderful. I imagine Betsy Ross’ kids asking what she had on her lap as she was sewing in front of the fireplace during the American Revolution, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s seven children watching her outline women’s suffrage speeches, what Martin Luther King Jr.’s kids inquired about when he had pen in hand at the writing table during his mission for civil rights.
I’m willing to bet they spoke openly to their children about the plight of their country in the news and how it conflicted with their core beliefs.
Using critical thinking skills in news consumption isn’t genetic, it’s taught and practiced. Parents and teachers are not beyond having blind spots, and kids won’t be fooled for long even if we are.
Teachable moments are everywhere in the daily barrage of news; in the car listening to news/talk radio, on the couch watching cable news channels and in the classroom as you discuss current events. “Do you hear any spin words in the way they said (so-and-so)? How did they reflect the differing partisan perspectives on this issue? Who do you think they’re trying to promote with this slant?”
Teachers and parents, let’s admit our preferences, own up to our blind spots and refuse to be manipulated or divided by hidden media biases. You can’t teach what you don’t know. Having an informed citizenry is key to the success of passing on our democracy to our kids.
Beth Collums is an Atlanta-based writer. With a professional background in child and family therapy, she often writes about mental health, relationships and education.
