Evaluate credibility, bias, and use of evidence in news articles and opinion pieces about a current controversial issue. Students will identify central claims, distinguish facts from opinions, assess source credibility (author, publication, evidence quality), detect bias and persuasive language, analyze how data, quotations, and context are used or omitted, identify logical fallacies or misleading statistics, corroborate or challenge claims with additional sources, and justify an overall reliability rating and recommended verification steps; tasks include annotated excerpts and short written evaluations for Grade 6–8 advanced learners.