Our modern world is filled with bias. Whether it be an ethical, political, moral, or logical issue or event, global, national, or local, any and many types of news have opinions mixed into them, even if unobvious at first glance. So how exactly do we uncover this bias? And how do we know what sources are the least opinionated?

One of the biggest biases you will see in the media is a political one. Many news sources, from articles to live video, can lean on one side heavily and sometimes exaggerate an action, event, or experience someone from a specific side or view has had. It can be difficult for some to spot this at times, especially when there are multiple sources stating the same thing. There are useful websites, like Allsides.com, that help determine both the general bias of a news source as well as bias in a specific piece of news.

Students have several ways of catching bias in media. “A lot of times you can tell through,” Junior Kaylee Newton said in regards to how she catches bias in news. “Uh, how they talk of major figures in the events. If they praise them, or attack them, it’s more obvious they’re putting how they feel more into it.”

While political bias may be one of the biggest towers, it is not the only one. Any type of news, from online drama to global advancements to local events, can hold some sort of strong feeling to a side of something that may impact their writing. It is important to remember even when a story seems innocent, it can still have been twisted or turned into something a little different than what it originally was.

Students have other strategies of catching bias. “Looking for opinionated words is usually one of the easiest things to do,” Sophomore Lucy Kartchner also said in regards to how she personally detects bias in a news source. “Or if a news site has more facts towards one way than the other, that’s a giveaway.”

Overall, the way to find reliable sources as a teenager or scanning past bias can sometimes be difficult, and can appear in any type of news. It’s important to know what a news source is being truly neutral about and what it may be messing around with to make one side look better. There are several sources you can also use to help you in specific and broad cases of news bias.