How to Read a Newspaper

Original Document written by MAKI.
Translated document by MAKI & GAH-GAH

Newspapers are a great source of information. However, just accepting in whatever is written is not a great idea. Make sure you can tell the difference between facts and opinions. The media could be persuading you to think in a particular way by presenting opinions in between the facts. As a result, you may be consuming biased information. Especially in the morning, many people read newspapers half asleep! There is a great risk of getting brain-washed by a biased article.

Newspapers don’t necessarily reflect the world. Take a step back, and ask yourselves these five questions whenever you read newspapers.


1. What is the most important news of the day?

How much space does the article take up? The information value will increase as the news become more important. The most important articles will always be on the front page. Excluding that front page advertisement, I mean. If one news article is takes up the entire front page, it must be very big news. Or at least, that's what the newspaper is telling you.

Also, if there are several news articles printed on the front page, the newest articles are placed in the top right-hand corner. This is because in Japanese people read vertically from the top right hand corner. It is the best position to grab our attention.

2. Who against whom?

Do you see any battles going on in the article? If you see two people or groups positioned against each other, it is called binary opposites. Binary opposition can help the reader compare differences between the two opposing sides. Even though the article is on a serious issue, binary opposites may entertain the audience. The audience will be attracted to the issue because it's only human nature to want to know the final results of any battle.

3. Whose side is the writer on?

If you have found any binary oppositions, see if the article is biased. Binary opposites often refer to one position as good and the other as bad.

4. What is the picture telling you?

Try to think of what the message is here. These pictures are claiming to the readers how these incidents such as natural disasters hurt people. But be careful. Do you think you will see the same image if you were actually there? The pictures could be intentionally framed (or cropped) in a particular way to give people certain impressions.

5. What’s missing?

Let’s focus on what information is not mentioned in the article. Check what facts should have been included. And if there is a binary opposites, and it is biased, take a closer look at the facts that were included. For the bad side, most of the facts should leave the readers with a bad impression. And of course, for the good side, there should only be favorable facts.

From now on, whenever you read the newspaper, please consider these five points. It will help you analyze what the media is really trying to tell you. And YOU decide what to believe and what not to believe.