News Literacy -- Spring 2021

1. The Power of Information
and Misinformation

4. Today’s themes

5. Humans need information

6. “The thing I missed most was
information … free uncensored,
undistorted, abundant information.”
DURING HIS 5 ½ YEARS AS A PRISONER OF WAR…
Humans need information

7. The appetite for news
is in our “DNA”
Alert me
Connect me
Divert me

8. News alerts us

9. It connects us…

10. It diverts us…

11. Alert us Divert us Connect us
Digital media amplify the power
of information

12. The power
of images

14. The power of moving images

15. The Power of Misinformation
“It found truth astir
on earth and gave it
wings; but untruth
also was abroad,
and it was supplied
with a double pair of
wings.”

18. How do we begin to tell the difference between
facts and misinformation?
Between errors and intentional deception?

21. THREE SIMPLE
QUESTIONS:
1.WHO’S BEHIND THIS
INFORMATION?
2.WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE?
3.WHAT DO OTHER
OUTLETS SAY?

22. The Battle to Control Information

23. Even (especially) emperors
need to control information

24. News has brought down the powerful

25. News and information have mobilized activists

26. News and information have mobilized activists

27. Social media have armed citizens with
information that toppled governments

28. Governments seek to control
the spread of information

29. Some journalists are
on the front lines in
the battle over
information

32. Impunity in Sri Lanka

37. Freedom of the press in the U.S.A:
A unique case study

38. “…when truth and error have fair play, the
former is always an overmatch for the
latter.”
− Benjamin Franklin
Why a free press?
Consent of the governed
Sovereignty of the people
-- John Locke

39. "I deplore the putrid state
into which our newspapers
have passed…It is however
an evil for which there is no
remedy, our liberty depends
on the freedom of the
press, and that cannot be
limited without being lost."
---ThomasJefferson,1786
The Founders understood the power
of information, for good and ill

40. Ratified in 1791
The Bill of Rights

41. The First Amendment
“Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press,
or the right of the people to peaceably
assemble,
and to petition the Government for
a redress of grievances.”

42. The First Amendment
“Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press,
or the right of the people to peaceably
assemble,
and to petition the Government for
a redress of grievances.”

43. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 made it a
crime to criticize President John Adams
Freedom of the Press: A Contested Right

44. Freedom of the Press: A Contested Right
Censorship of abolitionist literature during the antebellum period

45. Freedom of the Press: A Contested Right
Restriction of antiwar speech

46. 1931: Near v. Minnesota
A Contested Right: What is press freedom?

47. Government
(including the courts)
cannot stop something
from being published or
broadcast
EXCEPT intworareinstances
No prior restraint
But, the free press can face
consequences … later.

48. What if news reports are
false and defamatory?
Those who are slandered or libeled
sue news outlets in civil court.
Slander is
spoken. In print,
it's libel.

49. XXXception #1
Obscenity
No prior restraint: The rare exceptions
Miller v. California, 1973
 Community standards of prurience
 Patently offensive depiction of
sexual conduct
 Lacks serious literary, artistic,
political or scientific value

50. No prior restraint: The rare exceptions
Exception #2
National
security

51. The “Pentagon Papers” case
New York Times Co.
v. The United States
Newspapers publish top secret files
Justice Potter Stewart:
“the only effective restraint upon executive
policy and power … may lie … in an informed
and critical public opinion which alone can here
protect the values of democratic government.”

52. The First Amendment
empowers YOU!

53. WATCHDOG
JOURNALISM