Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is media bias, and who does it affect the most? How might media bias impact a person’s life, as well as democratic and legal processes?

Teaching Suggestion: To encourage class discussion and engagement, it may help to discuss a specific instance of media bias before students respond to the prompt; some examples can be found here. These Short Answer questions can be used before, during, and after exploration of the following sources to help contextualize the novel and guide discussion on the topic.

• This article from FAIR examines the lack of diversity in media and its social, political, and economic implications for the underrepresented.
• This post from the America Bar Association defines bias and explores the impact of media on jurors.

Short Activity

What are the different types of cognitive biases? Conduct research and then create a poster that explains the major cognitive biases, how to recognize them, and what to do to mitigate their impact on people’s perception of the world.