Insider Spotlight: Juan Armijo

Welcome to the Insider Spotlight, where we feature real questions from our team and answers from educators who are making a difference teaching news literacy. This month, our featured educator is Juan Armijo from Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he is an Advanced Placement (AP) United States government teacher.

Q: Why is it essential for students to comprehend the various types and manifestations of bias in news coverage?

A: Students get most of what they consider news or media from social media. It is important that students understand the role bias may play in reporting and providing the public with what is taking place. The lesson has some excellent examples. The poster resource is a tool that I used at the start of the school year.

Q: What are the potential consequences of not teaching students how to identify and analyze bias in the media they consume daily?

A: Many times, students are provided information without a clear understanding of how to view and understand the role of bias. If teachers use any media resource and students don’t understand how to decide if and what type of bias exists, this impacts their future as members of the community and cheats them of the ability to determine bias and how that bias impacts the truth.

Q: How might understanding their own biases influence students’ perceptions of media content?

A: We all (teachers and students, etc.) see the world or see our surroundings from the chair we sit in. I always tell my students to look at how we view information, learning and discussions from that perspective.

Q: What strategies from the lesson can students apply to identify bias in news reporting? 

A: The section in the lesson titled “What is straight news?” provides an opportunity for students to understand what reporting the facts are and see if there may be bias based on what is reported, how it is reported and what might be left out. Learning the five types of bias (Partisan, Corporate, Demographic, Neutrality and Big Story) is an important part of the process for students in understanding bias.

Q: How does distinguishing between opinion journalism and straight news reporting benefit students’ media literacy?

A: Understanding opinion pieces as opposed to what is news is important to show students that it is OK to form and discuss different viewpoints. At the start of the school year, I had students analyze a print newspaper, which is a perfectly organized type of media dividing news reporting from the opinion page.