Lesson Plan 1

Lesson 1: Bias in the Media

Rationale:
This lesson will enable Year 9 students to recognise and describe bias in the
media.
Learning
objectives

By the end of the lesson students will be able to:

Understand the concept of bias in the media

Identify a point of view based on word choice
Understand the reasons why bias may occur in the
media
Recognise the different ways/demonstrate an
understanding of how bias can occur in the reporting
of news

Curriculum links:

Prior knowledge
Resources

Analyse texts from familiar and unfamiliar contexts, and

discuss and evaluate their content and the appeal of an
individual authors literary style (ACELT1636)
Interpret, analyse and evaluate how different
perspectives of issue, event, situation, individuals or
groups are constructed to serve specific purposes in
texts (ACELY1742)
Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to
specificity, abstraction and stylistic
effectiveness (ACELA1561)
Analyse text structures and language features of literary
texts, and make relevant comparisons with other
texts (ACELT1772)
Explain how authors creatively use the structures of
sentences and clauses for particular
effects (ACELA1557)
Students are familiar with media and the news

News.com.au:
Headlining stories to breakdown and evaluate
YouTube:
Links to news stories/American election demonstrating
bias
Larry Elder Gives Example of Media Bias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJAQ2QB6WVQ
Ron Paul Media Bias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q_DRbv-5rk
Examples of media bias following Orlando attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul79xA7WuJ8
Newspapers
Students to write in English work book
How to detect bias in the media handout
Match the headline with the report handout
Six words to write on board to explain the difference
between

negative and positive words.

Introduction &
Motivation

Play a game of Match the headline with the report

(project onto whiteboard).
Write the word Bias on the whiteboard and ask
students to define. (a positive or negative attitude
toward something, often based on prejudices or
viewpoints rather than evidence)
Explain to students that bias can even be used with just
one word.

Write these 6 words on the board:

Egotistical. Proud. Confident.

Scrawny. Underweight. Slender.

These 6 words dont always mean the same thing. The

first word is negative. The second is negative or
positive. The third is positive. These are persuasive
words that are used to sway public opinion.
(10 min)
Body of the
lesson

Concluding the
lesson

Evaluation/Follo
w up

Show YouTube videos of Bias in the Media.

Pull up the latest headline on News.com.au. project
onto whiteboard. Get students to point out
loaded/persuasive words and highlight them.
Students break into pairs. Give out handout of How
to detect bias in the media. Read and discuss with
whole class before continuing so all students are on
board with task.
In their pairs the students then choose a headline
from one of the following media:
o Newspaper
o Internet newspaper
o TV news
Students then critically evaluate the news article
using the handout given, highlighting and writing
down their findings.
Report findings to the class.

Recap on lesson. Explain and reinforce:

A bias may be the result of prejudice, but absorbing
biased information may lead someone to become
prejudiced.
Inform students to read widely, and critically so as to
make their own decisions on news and media.
Explain next lesson we will look at bias and the
American Election