What's Your Source?

What’s Your Source? Questioning the News   By Stergios Botzakis

Capstone Press   2009

Capstone Press! I must admit to previously ragging on their product on a wholesale level. I have seen this publisher market so much uninspired, pro-forma, pedestrian product under the guise of “being hip”, that I started calling the publisher “Wack Stone”

Those days are past. Though there is still no shortage of the pedestrian in their catalog, I am seeing some real standout titles. However, they remain the exception, rather than the rule.

This book is a very well done and accessible guide to critical thinking about news sources and stories that is written for students in the third grade and up.

It encourages the kids to ask questions along the following lines.

Who made this message and why?

Who is this message for?

How might others view the message differently?

What is left out of the message?

How does the message get and keep my attention?

Each of these questions gets a section of the book, and the reader is given background on each of these topics in order to provide insight and a means to analyze future new stories.

There is a surprising amount of information that is delivered in a sparse format 32 page book! Among the points covered are the following.

The news is funded by advertising dollars.

The need for eyeballs, ears, and clicks motivates what is covered, or not covered, in the news. The need for ratings shapes the content of the news.

How one’s values and beliefs shape how a story is interpreted, both in terms of how the consumer interprets the news, and in how the reporters and producers chose to cover events.

Stereotyping in the news

What can happen when the news runs with bad information, or gets caught up in a rush to judgement

Bias in the media

Threat inflation in order to grab viewers

Reliability of sources

Very, very highly recommended!