Watching the news and reading papers are very good ways of keeping up to date on the world around you. However don't just read or listen to the news and accept everything they say. And here's why:
As you can see Hannity is being slightly unreasonable and Russell Brand is also being biased. This is an exaggerated situation so it's easy to spot where the bias is but usually its very hard, especially in newspapers and on-line articles. The way news and facts are presented is very crafty. Therefore you will have to learn the art of CRITICAL READING.
Critically reading fiction is something that we all did for English in school. In order to analyse a piece of poetry or text you had to read in-between the lines. By doing so, you determined the message the author was really trying to convey. you have to be aware of the lessons and messages that the writer is sending in a subtle way. Easy, right? Well in newspapers reading in-between the lines is a bit harder. Facts and statistics will be used to back up statements so you need to know how to evaluate these in a non biased way.
recently Russell Brand, (actor, comedian, radio host, author and general troublemaker) went on a tirade against a fox news host ,Sean Hannity, about his "interview technique".
As you can see Hannity is being slightly unreasonable and Russell Brand is also being biased. This is an exaggerated situation so it's easy to spot where the bias is but usually its very hard, especially in newspapers and on-line articles. The way news and facts are presented is very crafty. Therefore you will have to learn the art of CRITICAL READING.
Critically reading fiction is something that we all did for English in school. In order to analyse a piece of poetry or text you had to read in-between the lines. By doing so, you determined the message the author was really trying to convey. you have to be aware of the lessons and messages that the writer is sending in a subtle way. Easy, right? Well in newspapers reading in-between the lines is a bit harder. Facts and statistics will be used to back up statements so you need to know how to evaluate these in a non biased way.
The trick is to know how to separate the good evidence from the bad
1) Look out for unsupported statements!
These are random sentences that don't have any evidence to back them up
2) Statistics that are implied but not given
don't fall for statements such as statistics show or research has shown. WHAT RESEARCH, there is actually no evidence available for me to see.
3) language devices
analyse the article like you're in a engish language exam. Notice the devices used to sway the reader. In some cases you may realise that seemingly neutral article is actually subliminally providing another message
4) RESEARCH
Don't just rely on one article! go on the internet and read as much as you can on the subject, only then will you get the full picture.
If you use these techniques you will have a broader understanding of top news stories and whilst everyone else will have the ordinary onesided view presented by the media, you will be able to talk about all sides.
As always, Seemal
Very insightful!
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