Students encounter information through news sites, videos, search results, social platforms, advertisements, group chats and generated content. Vocabulary helps them ask better questions about what they see.
This article complements the Secondary 2 Essential 100 Vocabulary, extending bias, influence, manipulate, persuade, validate, infer, neutral and evident into media literacy.
Core Vocabulary
- source — where information originates;
- credibility — degree to which a source deserves trust;
- evidence — information supporting a claim;
- bias — systematic tendency affecting selection or judgement;
- framing — presenting information through a particular perspective;
- verification — checking accuracy or authenticity;
- persuasion — attempting to influence belief or action;
- manipulation — influencing in ways that may be unfair, hidden or controlling.
Source Is Not the Same as Evidence
A prestigious source can still make a weak claim. A little-known source can present strong evidence. Evaluate both who is speaking and what supports the statement.
Framing Changes Interpretation
A policy may be described as a safeguard or a restriction. A person may be called an activist or an agitator. Vocabulary can position the reader before evidence is examined.
Reporting Verbs Matter
Said, claimed, admitted, insisted, demonstrated and alleged communicate different relationships to certainty and stance. Do not read them as interchangeable.
Algorithms and Attention
Online platforms may rank or recommend information according to algorithmic systems. Students should distinguish popularity, relevance, engagement and credibility; high visibility does not automatically validate a claim.
Verification Questions
- Who is the source?
- What exactly is claimed?
- What evidence supports it?
- Is the evidence current and relevant?
- Can an independent source corroborate it?
- What may be omitted?
- What language is framing my reaction?
Avoid “Fake News” as a Universal Label
Information problems differ: inaccurate reporting, satire, outdated information, unsupported opinion, manipulated media, deliberate deception or simple error. Precision helps students identify the actual failure.
A Media Analysis Model
“The headline uses the verb slams, which raises emotional temperature and frames the disagreement as aggressive. The article’s evidence should therefore be evaluated independently rather than assuming the headline accurately represents the exchange.”
Media Vocabulary Is Critical Reading Vocabulary
Use the Secondary 2 Essential 100 as a reasoning base. Then learn to separate source, claim, evidence, framing, influence and verification. A student who can name the mechanism is much harder to mislead.
Verification Laboratory: Trace the Claim Back to Its Evidence
Media literacy becomes much more concrete when students follow a claim backwards. A headline points to an article. The article may point to a quotation, report, study, video or eyewitness account. Verification means recovering that chain and checking whether each step preserves the original meaning.
The Claim Trace
- Claim: What exact sentence is being asserted?
- Immediate source: Where did you encounter it?
- Original source: Where did the underlying information first appear?
- Evidence: What observation, document or data supports it?
- Context: What was said before and after?
- Corroboration: Can an independent source support the important facts?
Worked Example: A Dramatic Headline
Headline: “Expert Slams New School Policy.” Before accepting the emotional frame, a student should inspect the underlying quotation. Did the expert condemn the entire policy, raise one limitation, or recommend a modification? The verb slams may accurately describe strong criticism—or may amplify a measured comment.
A neutral rewrite such as “Expert Questions Cost of New School Policy” can help reveal how much emotional temperature came from the headline rather than the source.
Separate Claim Type Before Checking It
| Claim type | Verification question |
|---|---|
| fact | Did this event or measurement occur? |
| cause | Does the evidence establish a causal mechanism? |
| prediction | What assumptions support the forecast? |
| value judgement | What criterion defines good, fair or harmful? |
| quotation | Is the wording accurate and in context? |
Framing Is Selection
Media framing can occur through vocabulary, image choice, which facts appear first, which voices are quoted and which comparison is used. Framing does not automatically make a report false. It tells the reader which aspects have been made most visible.
Popularity Is Not Corroboration
Ten accounts repeating the same original claim are not ten independent confirmations. Students should ask whether apparently separate reports all trace back to one source. Independent corroboration matters because repeated copying can make weak information look widely confirmed.
Images and Clips Need Context Too
A real image can still mislead if the date, location or surrounding event is misidentified. A genuine video clip can be edited so that an earlier question or later clarification disappears. Verification therefore concerns provenance and context, not only whether media has been digitally fabricated.
Information Failure Taxonomy
- error: incorrect information without necessary intent to deceive;
- outdated information: once accurate but no longer current;
- unsupported claim: assertion without sufficient evidence;
- misleading framing: technically true details presented in a way that distorts interpretation;
- fabrication: invented content presented as real;
- satire: intentionally non-literal content that may be misunderstood outside context.
The Headline Neutralisation Exercise
- Choose an emotionally loaded headline.
- Underline evaluative verbs and adjectives.
- Rewrite it in neutral language.
- Identify what factual claim remains.
- Trace that claim to the original evidence.
- Compare the emotional impression before and after neutralisation.
Checkpoint: What Do You Know After Removing the Frame?
Strip away the headline, commentary and popularity signals. State only the verified facts, source and remaining uncertainty. That is a strong starting point for interpretation.
Connect this to Technology and Artificial Intelligence Vocabulary for verification of generated information.