An Environmental Horror Story About Great Salt Lake86%

1/20/2026, 8:18:09 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 10 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Politically Left Leaning Bias, and Appeal to Emotion, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 74.1% saturation with 126 hits. Analysis detected 625 faulty-reasoning hits from 170 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 78.5% and a BS Rank of 86% (2,513 of 16,813 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 85.10% of the article peer group.

In a new documentary premiering at Sundance, local filmmaker Abby Ellis follows two scientists and a government official fighting to stave off environmental disaster and save Great Salt Lake. 
While the lake is certainly a character in Ellis’ film, for her, the story is really about three people whose lives, she says, are inseparable from the lake’s fate. 
As microbiologist Bonnie Baxter, environmental ecologist Ben Abbot and Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed each come to realize, the lives and livelihoods of millions are tied to the lake. 
In their own ways, Baxter, Abbot and Steed are working to save their home from disaster, which leads to the question at the heart of Ellis’ film: How far would you go if you faced a similar threat? 
Ellis joins us to talk about her film. 
It’s called “The Lake.” 
GUEST - 
Abby Ellis | She directed the documentary “The Lake.” 
It premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22nd, 2026. 
You can get more information here (https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6932fa971a55358d8591affd). 
Original Airdate: 01/22/26 
Confirmation Bias
0%
Anchoring Bias
0%
Availability Heuristic
0%
Representativeness Heuristic
0%
Hindsight Bias
0%
Overconfidence Bias
0%
Framing Effect
74.1%
Loss Aversion
22.4%
Status Quo Bias
0%
Sunk Cost Effect
0%
Optimism Bias
0%
Pessimism Bias
22.4%
Negativity Bias
17.1%
Self-Serving Bias
0%
Fundamental Attribution Error
0%
Actor-Observer Bias
0%
In-Group Bias
0%
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
0%
Halo Effect
0%
Horn Effect
0%
Dunning-Kruger Effect
0%
Recency Bias
0%
Primacy Effect
0%
Blind-Spot Bias
0%
Ad Hominem
0%
Straw Man
0%
Appeal to Authority
17.6%
False Dilemma
0%
Slippery Slope
0%
Circular Reasoning
0%
Hasty Generalization
0%
Red Herring
0%
Bandwagon
0%
Appeal to Emotion
39.4%
Begging the Question
22.4%
Post Hoc (False Cause)
0%
Tu Quoque
0%
Burden of Proof
0%
Appeal to Nature
0%
Composition/Division
0%
Anecdotal
0%
No True Scotsman
0%
Ambiguity (Equivocation)
0%
Gambler’s Fallacy
0%
Middle Ground
0%
Personal Incredulity
0%
Special Pleading
0%
Genetic Fallacy
0%
Unattributed Quote
0%
Biased Writer Voice
74.1%
Politically Left Leaning Bias
74.1%
Politically Right Leaning Bias
0%
Attempt to Sell a Product or Service
4.1%

170 words analyzed.

Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.