Media Literacy

Media Literacy is a key skill in this time of inordinate digital information.  In the book, Fact vs. Fiction:  Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the Age of Fake News, the authors spend a bit of time talking about the term fake news.  When you hear the term "fake news" what do you think?  Is this term overused?

Actually, fake news can be broken down into several specific areas:

• propaganda
• disinformation
• conspiracy theory
• clickbait

The authors want students (and adults) to know the nuances of the difference types of fake news instead of overusing the generic term.  The authors use the following as definitions.

Propaganda:  "Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause" (Lagarde, p. 38).

Disinformation:  "False information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth" (Lagarde, p. 38).

Conspiracy Theory:  "A theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators" (Lagarde, p. 38).

Clickbait:  "Something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest" (Lagarde, p. 38).

Here is a link to some additional types of fake news.

One really important point that the authors make in the book is how much news that young people get from social media on their phones.

They stress how difficult it is for people to know on a phone some of the basic things that are taught when working to validate information as credible.  It's pretty interesting.

Check out this link to see how you do spotting fake news from phone content.  This form is shared the authors.  If you want to know the answers, contact me and I will let you know.  Or you could read their book.  The book is totally worth reading.  I do not receive any compensation if you do purchase the book.

Something else that I found compelling in the book:  Fact vs. Fiction, was the information the authors shared on confirmation bias.  With social media, you can unfollow people who have opinions or ideas that are different than yours.  Social media companies also use algorithms to share information with you based on your prior search habits or likes.  So, if you like coffee, you will get adds for coffee and you will get information about the positive benefits of coffee.  This is called Confirmation Bias.  It's something your brain does and companies are using this brain science to their advantage.


Check out this video from PBS:

He does use a few swears in his video so I don't use this video with kids.

Don't Fret.  All is not lost.  There are tons of resources about how to spot and combat fake news.  Also, the district librarians and technology integrators are hard at work helping to teach students and teachers how to help students learn how to improve their media literacy and information literacy skills.

Works Cited

LaGarde, Jennifer, and Darren Hudgins. Fact vs. Fiction:
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the Age of Fake News. International Society for
Technology in Education, 2018.