One of the most interesting exercises a teacher had us do in middle school was take a major news story and find articles and headlines with a skewed slant. We were just required to cut them out and bring them in. Then the teacher would take all the headlines and read them out loud, and as a class we decided where on the spectrum of left or right the headline belonged. It was eye-opening to me that one story could have so many different slants to it.
I've done the same for my kids when we talk about news stories. What emotion do you think the editor wanted you to have when you read that headline? How could the headline have been written to still be interesting but not evoke that emotion? What headline could have the opposite emotion?
I think avoiding the news with our kids (I'm not talking exposing little kids to disturbing images, topics, etc.) means we lose out on a great opportunity to teach our kids to be analytical and skeptical about the motives behind what is presented. That is one of the most powerful tools we can teach our kids - whether it's seeing the bias in a news story, a sales tactic or friends trying to convince our kid to do something.
