Identifying Bias in Presidential Election Newspaper Coverage
Overview
Students analyze historical primary sources to identify bias and investigate the role newspapers played in shaping public attitude toward the 1912 presidential candidates. Next, students team up to find newspaper coverage (print or digital) of a contemporary presidential election, analyze the sources for bias, and then compare and contrast their historical and contemporary findings. Finally, students communicate their newfound understandings of presidential election newspaper coverage bias through a short written essay, a digital timeline, or a print or digital poster.
Related Resources
-
Helping Students Read Between the Lines: Identifying Bias and Attitude in Newspapers for the Presidential Election of 1912
Teaching with the Library of Congress blog post
Grade
High School, Middle School
Subjects
Civics, English Language Arts, Social Studies
Length
80-120 minutes
Topics
1912, bias, campaigns, contemporary newspapers, elections, historical newspaper, newspaper articles, newspaper coverage, newspaper images, political cartoons, politics, presidential campaigns, presidential elections
Politics: Everybody’s Doing It!