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.
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 | racket instead of music |
| 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 | Visitors named; noise and clean-up absent |
| Framing: what comes first, last, or centre stage | Notice order and emphasis | Busy cafés first, neighbours last |
| Whose voice: who is centred, quoted or dismissed | Name who gets a fair hearing and who does not | Organisers quoted; neighbours only as 'moaners' |
Worked line from a local-style piece: The festival is a nightmare for our street. The fact underneath might be that the street gets loud. The loaded word makes you feel dread before you check a single fact.
Worked omission: quote The festival brings thousands of visitors into town, then in the reason name what never appears (noise, clean-up, neighbours). You mark a present claim; the gap lives in your reason sentence.
This is a warm-up for the next step, where you mark Piece A for your Communication Portfolio. Your answers save in the activity below and are not filed.
Three takes on the Millbrook car-park plan
This is the piece that goes in your Communication Portfolio.
When your marks are in Enter Your Work, add one sentence there on the piece's overall lean, then copy it into your Communication Portfolio folder as m2_u1_l34_bias_annotation_<your-initials>.
Mark the bias in Piece A
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