Critical Consumers of the News

Posted on February 7, 2015 by admin

Critical Consumers of the News
Paul Richard

Manipulating critical consumers of the news is difficult because: They study alternative perspectives and world views, learning how to interpret events from multiple viewpoints. They seek understanding and insight through multiple sources of thought and information, not simply those of the mass media. They learn how to identify the viewpoints embedded in news stories. They mentally rewrite (reconstruct) news stories through awareness of how stories would be told from multiple perspectives. They analyze news constructs in the same way they analyze other representations of reality (as some blend of fact and interpretation). They assess news stories for their clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and significance. They notice contradictions and inconsistencies in the news (often in the same story). They notice the agenda and interests served by a story. They notice the facts covered and the facts ignored. They notice what is represented as as fact (that is in dispute). They notice questionable assumptions implicit in stories. They notice what is implied (but not openly stated). They notice what implications are ignored and what are emphasized. They notice which points of view are systematically put into a favorable light and which in an unfavorable light. They mentally correct stories reflecting bias toward the unusual, the dramatic, and the sensational by putting them into perspective or discounting them. They question the social conventions and taboos being used to define issues and problems. As appeared in: Paul, R. and Elder, L. (2003). The Thinker’s Guide For conscientious Citizens on How to Detect Media Bias & Propaganda in National and World News. Foundation for Critical Thinking. (p. 26).

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