Presentation on news literacy for advisors at the North Carolina Scholastic Media Institute, June 21, 2017. Offers ideas for high school journalism teachers on teaching how to evaluate news stories for credibility before sharing them.
Spotting Fake Stories: News Literacy Lesson on Credible and Clickbait Journalism
1. Credible or Click bait?
NCSMI, June 21, 2017
Stephanie Willen Brown
Director, Park Library @ UNC’s
School of Media & Journalism
Image from https://thenounproject.com/term/journalist/813630/
2. Writing Prompt
• Do you think you could spot fake stories?
• Why or why not?
• Have you ever been factually fooled by a social
media post?
Image from: https://thenounproject.com/term/write/774211/
3. What Are We Talking About?
Hoax Propaganda
Disinformation /
Disinformatzya /
Dezinformatsia /
Dezinformatsiya
Sponsored
Content
Fake News *Lügenpresse *
Truthful
Hyperbole *
Manipulated
Content *
False
Connection*
False
Context *
Satire
Mistakes
Corrections
* Not defined in any Oxford dictionaries, as of March 29, 2017
4. What is the Problem?
• Fake news
• Alternative facts
• Opinion / editorials
• Evaluating information
• Sponsored content
• News literacy
• Information literacy
• Media literacy
• (Social) media literacy
What is the Solution?
Instruction
16. Resources
• Brown, Stephanie W. “Checking Facts.” UNC School of
Media & Journalism, April 5, 2017.
http://guides.lib.unc.edu/mejo153/checkingFacts
• Further resources on overcoming fake news
• Lesson plans
• Recommended fact checking sites
• Sources for this presentation
• Articles & podcasts about News Literacy:
https://pinboard.in/u:CogSciLibrarian/t:NewsLiteracy/
Editor's Notes
Activities & discussion
Activities discussion
How you can think about issues,
How you can teach students to think about issues
conspiracy - definition of conspiracy in English | Oxford Dictionaries
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/conspiracy
A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
Are ‘Mutated’ Daisies Really Caused by Fukushima Radiation?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150723-fukushima-mutated-daisies-flowers-radiation-science/
“plant scientists aren’t so sure. It’s possible the radiation could be involved, but there are a number of other explanations as well, they say.
“Twitter user @san_kaido first shared the picture in late May, from Nasushiobara City. That’s about 108 miles (173 kilometers) southwest of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which was disabled by the March 2011 tsunami and leaked radiation into the environment.”
…
“It’s possible the flower deformity could have been induced by radiation, says Jeffrey J. Doyle, a professor of plant biology at Cornell University. However, “this is a pretty common mutation in daisies that I’ve seen sporadically in various places not associated with radioactivity,” he says.
“There are many factors that can cause the oddity, Doyle says, from chemicals to diseases, a hormone imbalance, or random mutations to inherited genes. This particular malformation has been seen in numerous species of the world’s 20,000 members of the daisy family, from Holland to Idaho.
“He's not ruling out a role for Fukushima: “It wouldn’t surprise me to find mutations of all types, including this one, in places that have higher than average levels of mutagenic agents, such as a radioactive site or toxic waste dump.””
…
“Beth Krizek, a plant biologist at the University of South Carolina, agrees that radiation is a possible cause of the flower oddity, but says there are many other possible explanations.
““It’s not that rare,” Krizek says of the odd daisies. “You could occasionally see this just in plants growing in your garden.” “
Middle school students could not tell that the third box was sponsored content. Even when they did, they didn’t realize it didn’t count as a news article because it was sponsored.
News & Observer 06/18/17 @ 10 am
http://www.newsobserver.com
As part of Stanford University’s study of students and online news, it asked middle schoolers which of the four tweets, above, were the most trustworthy. More than half of the 204 students responding trusted Lisa Bloom’s tweet more the one from NPR, noting it had the most information. A sample student response: ‘The best tweet for information is the first one because it actually shows him resigning in a picture, and it gives a caption saying that he is resigning.’ PHOTO: STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
Who Is Lisa Bloom? Donald Trump's Accuser Is Being Represented By A Powerful Attorney
Bloom is the daughter of legendary women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing several of the other women who have accused Trump of sexually assaulting them over the years.
https://www.bustle.com/articles/192971-who-is-lisa-bloom-donald-trumps-accuser-is-being-represented-by-a-powerful-attorney
https://www.wsj.com/articles/most-students-dont-know-when-news-is-fake-stanford-study-finds-1479752576#livefyre-toggle-SB11094844722466913615704582450552794350544
Quoted in Wall Street Journal.
As part of Stanford University’s study of students and online news, it asked middle schoolers to give reasons they might not trust the article by a Bank of America executive on financial planning. Almost 70% of 200 students responding didn't highlight the authorship as a reason for mistrust. A sample response: ‘I wouldn’t trust it because some millennials do have good money habits.’ PHOTO: STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
https://www.wsj.com/articles/most-students-dont-know-when-news-is-fake-stanford-study-finds-1479752576#livefyre-toggle-SB11094844722466913615704582450552794350544
Stanford Used this site – objectivity of author?
PRESENTED BY BANK OF AMERICA
Do Millennials Have Good Money Habits?
http://web.archive.org/web/20150220072156/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-plepler/millennial-money-habits_b_6350612.html?
Andrew Plepler Become a fan
Global Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Policy Executive, Bank of America®
http://www.dailywire.com/news/16157/insane-chris-pratt-forced-apologize-deaf-people-ben-shapiro#
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/5/chris-pratt-apologizes-for-posting-video-that-some/
(found by Sara Salinas, 05/11/17)
Stop worrying about fake news. What comes next will be much worse | Jonathan Albright | Opinion | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/09/fake-news-technology-filters