ShadowPoint

Objectives

Check the category before the facts
Spot a question that carries its conclusion

Lesson

If the category is wrong, every fact stacked on it will be wrong too. Before arguing about numbers, check what is being counted and whether the label fits the thing.

Loaded questions carry their conclusion inside them. “How worried are you about the growing crisis?” has already asserted that a crisis exists and is growing. Restate the question in neutral terms and see whether it still makes sense.

Terms

Claim, Narrative

Sources

www.pewresearch.org (opens in a new tab)

Check

- A primary source
- An assumed growing crisis
- A neutral measure of opinion
- A falsifiable test
- One outlet is reporting false numbers about the same measure
- The measure does not exist, since the descriptions cannot both fit
- Framing: word choice steers the reading
- Corroboration, because two outlets covered the same measure
- Whether the chart uses a dramatic color to press the point
- Whether the category or the label fits the thing being counted
- Whether this year's total is larger than last year's total
- Whether a credentialed person is the one presenting the figure