Media Bias Calculator

Age Group

Under 18

Inspiration

I was inspired by the media bias chart. When looking at some of these websites, it was quite obvious to me just how biased these websites were. However, it's more difficult to understand the biases of websites that are less extreme, and this app focuses on those websites to inform users on the biases their sources typically exhibit.

What it does

Every time a user clicks on a news article, the MBC will calculate the bias of the new source.

How we built it

I used a media bias chart to sort websites into groups based on reliability and political bias, and displayed the biases based on the url.

Challenges we ran into

Obviously, the url of each website and each article is different, so I had to work around that by dividing each url into separate parts. I also ran into some issues when users toggled between different websites using the back and forward buttons, but I worked around this by creating different functions depending on what state the search engine was in.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud of how consistent the MBC is and the efficiency of the code.

What we learned

I learned the importance of readable code that is logical and easy to follow. I also learned new strategies of troubleshooting when things went wrong in the code.

What's next for Media Bias Calculator

I would like to incorporate more websites into the MBC, and I would also like to create a feature where the MBC can suggest other websites of the opposite political bias to the source the user is currently reading.

Built With

• mit-app-inventor