Fact Check & Media Literacy
Helping families read the news with open eyes — no agenda, no spin.
Framing bias
The same fact can sound different depending on the words chosen. "Police responded to a protest" vs. "Police cracked down on demonstrators" — same event, different frame.
Selection bias
News outlets choose WHAT to cover. A story that's big on Fox News might barely appear on NPR — and vice versa. Neither absence means it didn't happen.
Tone bias
Word choice, headline intensity, and photo selection all carry emotion. Positive tone toward one group, negative toward another — that's bias at work.
Source bias
Who gets quoted? When one side of a story gets more expert voices than the other, the story feels more credible even if the evidence isn't.
We use the same methodology as journalism schools and independent researchers: AllSides and Ad Fontes Media bias ratings. These were built by analyzing thousands of articles, surveying readers across the political spectrum, and measuring factual accuracy vs. emotional language.
| Outlet | Bias score | Lean |
|---|---|---|
| 📻 BBC News | −0.3 | Slight Left |
| 📻 NPR | −0.7 | Left-leaning |
| 🌍 Al Jazeera | −0.4 | Slight Left |
| ⚖️ The Hill | +0.1 | Center |
| 🦅 Fox News | +1.3 | Right-leaning |
| 🚀 NASA | 0.0 | Center (Science) |
| 🔬 Science Daily | 0.0 | Center (Science) |
| 🏛️ Smithsonian | −0.1 | Center |
| 📡 Science News | 0.0 | Center (Science) |
| 🌏 EarthSky | 0.0 | Center (Science) |
| 🧬 Live Science | 0.0 | Center (Science) |
Find the original claim. What exactly is being said? A headline often exaggerates. Read past the first paragraph before reacting.
Who is the source? Is it a named expert, an anonymous source, or "studies show"? Named, on-record sources are more reliable than unnamed ones.
Search for the same story elsewhere. Does the BBC report it the same way as Fox News? If the facts differ, someone may have gotten it wrong — or be spinning it.
Check a fact-checking site. Google Fact Check Explorer, Snopes, and PolitiFact all search thousands of verified claims. Type any claim into their search bar.
Ask: what is this story missing? Good reporting names who benefits, who is harmed, what happened before, and what experts disagree. Missing any of these? Keep reading.
Google Fact Check Explorer
Search any claim. Shows what independent fact-checkers worldwide have ruled on thousands of stories.
Snopes
The oldest fact-checking site. Strong on viral rumors, internet hoaxes, and "did that really happen" questions.
AllSides
Side-by-side coverage of the same story from Left, Center, and Right outlets. Great for seeing how framing changes the narrative.
Ad Fontes Media
News source ratings on a chart showing both political bias AND reliability. Used by schools and newsrooms.
💡 Family activity: spot the framing
Pick any story from today's KiddieDaily. Then:
- Read the KiddieDaily version
- Search the headline on Google News and find 2 other outlets covering it
- Ask: What words did each outlet choose? What did they emphasize? What did they leave out?
- Discuss: Is the core fact the same across all three? What's different?
This is how journalists learn to read news critically — and it works for kids as young as 9.