Teach framing and sourcing with this week's news
Semblen puts one story's coverage side by side: every outlet, grouped by the way it tells the story, in its own words. For any single article it shows who is quoted, whether the headline matches the body, and the rhetorical techniques in the wording. Your students check its work.
What your students can do with it
- Compare the coverage of one story. Each story page gathers the coverage from US, international and wire outlets and groups it into the ways the story is being told, each in its sources' own words. It shows how the framing changed week by week and what each outlet chose to include.
- Check one article against the rest. Paste any article's link into the analyzer and see how other outlets covered the same story.
- Read how a piece is built. The Deep analysis says what kind of piece it is, who is quoted (and who is not), and where the headline says more or less than the article under it.
- Find the wording that does the work. Semblen marks the exact words where a rhetorical technique is at work, such as loaded language, name calling or appeal to fear, and says why in one line. It doesn't say what is true. The model is wrong sometimes, and students saying where and why is the exercise.
A worked example: US strikes on Iran
On November 3, 2026, the story page held 50 articles and posts from 23 sources, and found six ways of telling the story. Three of them:
- "Preparing for war while keeping talks open" (Al Jazeera, Axios, NewsNation). Axios:
Trump is pursuing dual tracks — trying to reach a deal to restart peace talks while also preparing for a possible resumption of major combat operations.
- "An administration that is winning and negotiating from strength" (Breitbart, RedState).
- "An unpopular, escalating war and its costs" (The Daily Caller, Slate, MinnPost, Common Dreams).
In class (50 minutes).
- Give pairs two articles from different tellings. Before they open Semblen: what is each article's lead, and who is its first named source?
- Open each in the analyzer. Compare the "who is quoted" list: whose voices does each article use, and whose does it leave out?
- Check the headline against the body. Does the headline promise more certainty, or more conflict, than the reporting under it?
- Read the flagged phrases. Agree or disagree with each, and say why.
- Rewrite one lede in the frame of another telling, keeping every fact. What had to change?
Story pages update daily. Some parts of them (each telling in its sources' words, where the coverage agrees, and how it changed week by week) are part of Semblen Pro; with a teacher plan you can put them on the projector.
Just-in-time lessons
Teach with this week's examples, not a case study from 1999. Media Education Lab's lesson PSA or Propaganda?, by Renee Hobbs and Yonty Friesem, uses Semblen's page of this week's government messages. For framing and sourcing, start from this week's story pages.
Try it with your class
Sign in and you get 14 days of Semblen Pro free, with no payment details asked for: claim checks with their sources, the Deep analysis of any article, and how other outlets covered the same story.
Teaching with it this spring? Tell us, and we'll tell you when the teacher plan opens.
Using Semblen with students? Privacy and student data: what we store, for how long, and a data agreement to hand your administrator.
Semblen LLC is a small company in Austin, Texas. It is not a nonprofit and is not affiliated with any campaign or party. The model is wrong sometimes; checking its work is part of every lesson.