1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
You have almost certainly read two posts about the same local story and felt two different moods. Same event, different lean. That shows up in places you already scroll: a traders' Facebook post, a residents' campaign page, a council website note, an RTÉ News share, a GAA club appeal. Today you will name how the steer works: loaded language, omission, framing and whose voice is heard. By the end you will annotate one short article for bias and write one clear sentence on its overall lean. That annotation goes into your Communication Portfolio.
2 - What to Look For ~8 mins
Bias is the lean underneath a piece: how the writer steers you while still sounding factual. Three steers do most of the work, and you will also mark whose voice is centred or missing.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Loaded language: words that carry a judgement | Ask what a plainer word would have been | crumbling instead of unused |
| Omission: what a fair version would mention but this one never does | Select a present claim; name the missing cost, voice or fact in your reason | Jobs named; traffic and residents absent |
| Framing: what comes first, last, or centre stage | Notice order and emphasis | Jobs first, residents nowhere |
| Whose voice: who is centred, quoted or dismissed | Name who gets a fair hearing and who does not | Traders as 'real people'; objectors only as cling-ons |
Worked line from a local-style piece: Without parking, they face a slow death. The fact underneath might be that trade is down. The loaded phrase turns struggle into dying, so you feel urgency before you check a number.
Worked omission: quote The plan will create dozens of construction jobs, then in the reason name what never appears (cost, traffic, residents, long-term impact). You mark a present claim; the gap lives in your reason sentence.
3 - Three Leans, One Story ~15 mins
Three short pieces cover the same Millbrook car-park plan (the kinds of lean you meet on a traders' post, a residents' page and a council note). Read all three. No lean is the correct one. Rough notes are enough here: you are warming up the eye you will use on Piece A next. Rewrite one loaded phrase plain, map whose voices are centred or missing, and write one sentence on how two pieces steer the same plan differently. Capture that on the scratch pad; your Portfolio annotation comes next.
Three takes on the Millbrook car-park plan
4 - Bias Annotation ~24 mins
This is the piece that goes in your Communication Portfolio.
Use the marker on Piece A to find loaded language, omission, framing and whose voice. Aim for at least four marks. As you find each one, write it straight into the box below: quote, label, and one sentence on what it does to the reader.
Omission tip: mark a claim that is present (for example the jobs line), then in your reason name the important voice, cost or fact that never appears.
When you have four marks and one sentence on the piece's overall lean, save the box as m2_u1_l34_bias_annotation_<your-initials> in your Communication Portfolio folder. That box is the entry. Done looks like: at least two reasoned marks, the lean sentence, and the file saved under the correct name.
Mark the bias in Piece A
5 - Think About It ~3 mins
Talk this through with the person beside you for two minutes.
- Which of the three pieces would you have trusted at first glance, and what would you check now before sharing it?
- If you want a longer thought for your Reflective Journal later: write three lines on a post or article you scrolled past this week (an RTÉ share, a club page, a local council update) and the lean you can now name in it.
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