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Assignment 3: News Literacy Paper
1. What is the news story you are looking at, and what 2 sources did you choose? My news analysis follows Alberta’s proposal for new restrictions on medical assistance in dying (MAID), and both the support and backlash it has garnered from Canadians across the country. On March 18th, 2026, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called for change, claiming that MAID should be less accessible to Albertans. I chose a news article titled “Bell: Smith willing to fight for Alberta law restricting doctor-assisted deaths” from the Calgary Herald (Bell, 2026) and a CBC YouTube news video named “Alberta proposes new restrictions for medical assistance in dying” (Wong, 2026) to conduct my analysis. 2. What news literacy tactic was used to assess the credibility of each news source before reading the reports? How was the tactic applied? Before diving into the content of the news sources, I performed the news literacy tactic of lateral reading coined by Sam Wineburg and Sarah McGrew. As Wineburg suggests, Lateral reading entails using various resources across the web to check the credibility of news companies and journalists before trusting their information (Wineburg et al. 2019). I made a point to disregard the appearance of each news source in an attempt not to assume credibility or lack thereof. To begin, before I began analysing the content of Calgary Herald’s article, I opened the link to the author, Rick Bell’s, profile. Here, I found that he is an active writer with many articles, but the page lacked information to build credibility. Even after finding his LinkedIn account, I found no personal or professional information, which makes it hard to discern whether his work is credible. I then pursued a search regarding the Calgary Herald’s credibility as a news source. From here, I found that although it has a right-leaning bias, it is understood as a factual and
credible Canadian local news source. CBC automatically rings more bells in the minds of Canadians; however, it is important not to blindly trust well-known news sources. Much like Calgary Herald’s article, I conducted a search for the journalist featured in CBC’s news video, Julia Wong. On CBC’s website, there is little information. However, her LinkedIn is vastly more informative than that of the prior journalist. With information regarding her journalism education, her journalism career, and companies, it is easier to establish an understanding and trust in her credibility. Through more investigation surrounding CBC as a company, it becomes apparent that it is a left-leaning news source. However, its content remains relatively free of major bias with a high factual reporting rating.
3. What news literacy tactic was used to assess reporting accuracy? How was the tactic applied? To assess the accuracy of the reporting for both CBC and Calgary Herald, I used the tactic of civic online reasoning (McGrew et al., 2018). Civic online reasoning proposes three steps that need to be taken when evaluating a website's credibility. McGrew (2018) implores consumers to first ask who is behind the information being shared, then ask what evidence is provided and its credibility, and finally, assess what other sources are saying. It became clear through my research that CBC’s journalist’s academic information was much more accessible to the public. Due to this ease, I was capable of finding proof of her academic achievements, as well as her past work experience in journalism. Conversely, the author of the Calgary Herald story had virtually no information available on the website, nor anywhere online, bringing into question his credibility. The second facet of civic online reasoning is to examine the evidence. The Calgary Herald article relies on quotes from the Premier’s announcement regarding the new policy changes; the video
promoting the restriction of MAID. The language used is casual, yet instead of referring to MAID as medical assistance in dying, or a facet of healthcare, the author continuously states that MAID is simply allowing Canadians to “kill themselves”. This language leaves readers with a negative perception of MAID as it does not accurately represent the policy. The information presented is not presented without bias; in fact, the article could almost be interpreted as an opinion piece due to the provocative, emotionally charged, and critical language used. The one-sided nature of the article’s argument does not allow viewers access to a complete story. Without a doubt, the framing of this article could leave its readers feeling angry about the policy, as it frames MAID as a barbaric practice. However, this would leave Calgary Herald readers misinformed due to the extreme bias presented in the story. CBC, on the other hand, has a much more unbiased piece, though it is still left-leaning. The main focus of the video is to inform viewers of the policy changes, and it does so with no mention of the journalist’s opinions. The majority of the video aims to inform viewers of what MAID is, the impact the restrictions would make, and the possible legal outcomes. Included are interviews from both supporters of Alberta’s restrictions and those who disagree, allowing viewers to hear multiple perspectives. However, most interview time is spent with those who disagree with MAID’s restriction. These interviews detail family members' experience with MAID, and their advocacy for its availability. This air of emotionality has the effect of causing viewers to sympathise and view MAID not as a barbaric measure as the prior article did, but instead as an act of mercy and an important facet of healthcare. As seen, though these two stories covered the same topic, with much of the same information, viewers came away from the articles with completely different feelings and perceptions of MAID’s restriction. Through these examples, it becomes glaringly obvious the effect that framing has on how a story is perceived by an audience.
References
Bell, R. (2026, March 18). Bell: Smith willing to fight for Alberta law restricting doctor-assisted deaths. Calgary Herald. https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/bell-danielle-smith-willing-fight-alberta-la w-restricting-doctor-assisted-deaths-maid
Heuer, C. A., McClure, K. J., & Puhl, R. M. (2011). Obesity stigma in online news: A visual content analysis. Journal of Health Communication, 16(9), 976-987.
McGrew, S., Breakstone, J., Ortega, T., Smith, M., & Wineburg, S. (2018). Can students evaluate online sources? Learning from assessments of civic online reasoning. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46, 165-
Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2019). Lateral reading and the nature of expertise: Reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information. Teachers College Record, 121, 1-
Wong, J. (2026, March 18). Alberta proposes new restrictions for medical assistance in dying. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x69kNgrBp5E
