Download How To Analyze Political Campaigns

How To Analyze
Information On Political
Campaigns
In order to make an
educated, informed decision
when you vote, you must
first be able to evaluate the
information out there.
You do that by analyzing these 4
areas.
1. Evaluating sources
2. Separating fact from opinion
3. Detecting bias
4. Identifying propaganda
1. Evaluating Sources
• You need to know where the
information is coming from.
• Does it come from a
candidate, from a political
party, from a non-partisan
group, from a newspaper.
1. Evaluating Sources
• Knowing this helps you in
analyzing the other four
areas
2. Separating fact from
opinion
• A fact is something that
has actually happened or
that is true
• An opinion is a belief based
on what someone believes
to be true
2. Separating fact from
opinion
• You must look at a piece of
information and determine
if it is fact or opinion.
• Sometimes knowing the
source will help you do this.
2. Separating fact from
opinion
• A newspaper (unless it says
it is a commentary) will
most likely report to you
facts.
2. Separating fact from
opinion
• A non-partisan source will
most likely report facts, not
opinions
2. Separating fact from
opinion
• A candidate or party may
have both facts and
opinions mixed in its
material
3. Detecting Bias
• Bias is a leaning in favor of
or against someone, to be
prejudiced towards
someone or something
3. Detecting Bias
• Once you determine the
source of your information,
you may be able to
determine if you need to be
on the lookout for any bias
3. Detecting Bias
• A newspaper generally is not
biased.
• However, many believe that
different newspapers have a
leaning towards the conservative
or liberal points of view
3. Detecting Bias
• Non-partisan sources by
definition try to be as
unbiased as possible
3. Detecting Bias
• By design, information
from a political party will
be biased towards that
party and prejudiced
against any other party
3. Detecting Bias
• By design, information
from a candidate will be
biased towards that
candidate and prejudiced
against other candidates
3. Detecting Bias
• However, these sources
sometimes try to appear
unbiased ….so be careful!!
4. Identifying Propaganda
• This is the process of
spreading or promoting a
particular idea to help one’s
cause or to damage an
opposing cause.
4. Identifying Propaganda
• You see propaganda everyday
when you see a TV commercial
or advertisement in a magazine
4. Identifying Propaganda
• The problem, it is a little
trickier to identify what is
propaganda when looking at
political advertisements!
4. Identifying Propaganda
• Generally, you can follow the
same guidelines as when you
identified bias.
• Newspapers are generally less
prone to using propaganda
when reporting news stories.
4. Identifying Propaganda
• Generally, you can follow the
same guidelines as when you
identified bias.
• Newspapers do use a form of
propaganda when they publish
political cartoons
4. Identifying Propaganda
• Generally, you can follow the
same guidelines as when you
identified bias.
• Non-partisan sources try not to
use propaganda at all – they try
to be as neutral as possible.
4. Identifying Propaganda
• Generally, you can follow the
same guidelines as when you
identified bias.
• Political parties and candidates
will often use propaganda to
forward their cause!
4. Identifying Propaganda
• Knowing the types of propaganda
may also help you determine if a
source is trying to use
propaganda to convince you to
believe in their cause.
4. Identifying Propaganda
• Here are 7 types of propaganda
4. Identifying Propaganda
1. Endorsements
• Getting a famous
person to support a
candidate.
4. Identifying Propaganda
2. Stacked Cards
• Only one side of an
issue is presented,
sometimes distorting
the facts.
4. Identifying Propaganda
7. Name-Calling (Mud-Slinging)
• Trying to harm the image
of the opponent by
attaching unpleasant
labels or ideas to him
4. Identifying Propaganda
3. Bandwagon
• Showing everyone else
is voting a certain way
so you should vote
that way as well.
4. Identifying Propaganda
4. Glittering Generality
• A broad general
statement that sounds
good but really means
nothing.
4. Identifying Propaganda
5. Symbols
• The use of a symbol to
convey some meaning.
(For example, always
using the flag to
denote patriotism.)
4. Identifying Propaganda
6. Plain Folks
• Showing the candidate is
just like the common man
• Using common people as
endorsement
Well, that’s it! Hopefully you
will now have a better
understanding of how to
evaluate campaign speeches,
literature and advertisements
for accuracy in the next
election.