Final answer:
Believing everything you see and hear is not an essential strategy for evaluating campaigns; instead, recognizing bias, evaluating sources, and identifying propaganda are critical skills.
Step-by-step explanation:
The strategy that is not essential for evaluating campaigns is A) Believing everything you see and hear. Critical thinking involves recognizing bias, evaluating sources, and identifying propaganda. When we evaluate campaigns, it's crucial to exercise skepticism rather than accept all information at face value. Propaganda, which includes techniques like bandwagon and fear appeals, is designed to influence public opinion, often in a political context. Bias by a selection of sources occurs when a particular viewpoint is overrepresented, indicating a lack of objectivity. Evaluating sources for credibility and balance is vital, as is recognizing any biases that may be present in the content. Therefore, the ability to distinguish between fact and opinion and to identify biased language or imbalances in representation is key to critically understanding and evaluating campaigns.