In Different Perspectives, host Radzi Chinyanganya explores how journalists avoid bias in the media by showing a range of opinions so that people can decide what they think for themselves. For example, in one report, a teenager named Nikita regularly protests his government in Moscow. He admits that not everyone shares his negative views on Vladimir Putin. A second report describes Putin in both the eyes of his supporters and opponents. His supporters see him as popular and charismatic, but his opponents think he leads by force and has taken away freedoms. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.

News is supposed to be impartial, but that’s not always the case. So how does bias get into the news? Introduce your students to why journalism’s standards of impartiality are so important and how recognizing bias will help them judge the accuracy of the news they encounter. In this lesson, they’ll explore how perspective can shape a report and try their hand at rewriting biased reporting.