American English · B2 · Unit 17
News and truth
News and truth
By the end you can
- Judge whether a source can be trusted
- Discuss bias in the news
- Understand the angle of an article
Words and phrases
| American English | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a reliable source | a source you can trust | Is that a reliable source? |
| where did you read that? | a question about where information comes from | Where did you read that? |
| fact-check | check if something is true | Did anyone fact-check this? |
| biased | unfairly on one side | That channel is really biased. |
| fake news | false stories that look like news | I think that's fake news. |
| take it with a grain of salt | don't fully believe it (British: a pinch of salt) | I'd take it with a grain of salt. |
| misleading | giving the wrong idea | The chart is misleading. |
| clickbait | a headline made only to get clicks | The headline is pure clickbait. |
| spin | a way of telling something to make it look good or bad | Every network puts its own spin on it. |
| the mainstream media | big, well-known news organizations | He doesn't trust the mainstream media. |
| a conspiracy theory | a belief that a secret group is behind something | That sounds like a conspiracy theory. |
| cherry-pick | choose only the facts that help your side | They cherry-picked the data. |
Then talk it through
A relative shares a doubtful news story and you talk it through. In the app you have this conversation out loud or typed, with the unit's goals to tick off and corrections at the end.