Learn · Patterns

How to spot spin in 30 seconds

Loaded language, selective stats, one-sided guests, fake urgency — a short field guide for watching political TV.

Loaded language (“slammed,” “gutted,” “caved”) tells you how to feel before you know what happened.

Selective statistics: a real number missing the base rate, time window, or comparison.

One-sided sourcing: every expert agrees with the segment’s frame.

Fake urgency: certainty about a story that’s still moving. None of these prove a claim is false — they mean check before you share.

Practice on the morning quiz. Free account unlocks grades on every report — create one. Campus hub: Clad for students.

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• What does a C− mean? — Letter grades, decoded
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• Verified, disputed, missing context — Claim tags
• Why every report lists sources — Receipts
• Reading the news before your first vote — Civics, no lecture