Here’s the latest installment of a regular feature I’ve been running for several years: lessons from the nonprofit News Literacy Project (NLP), which aims to teach students and the public how to sort fact from fiction in our digital — and contentious — age. With the spread of rumors, baseless accusations and conspiracy theories on social and partisan media sites, there has never been a time in recent U.S. history when this skill has been as important as it is now.
Education
Perspective | Banning clothes with political slogans at school, and other news literacy lessons
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The material in this post comes from the Sift, the organization’s newsletter for educators, which has nearly 22,000 subscribers. Published weekly during the school year, it explores timely examples of misinformation, addresses media and press freedom topics, looks at social media trends and issues, and includes discussion prompts and activities for the classroom. Get Smart About News, modeled on the Sift, is a free weekly newsletter for the public.
NLP has a free e-learning platform, Checkology, that helps educators teach middle and high school students how to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and know what to trust, what to dismiss and what to debunk.
It also gives students an appreciation of the importance of the First Amendment and a free press. Checkology and all of the NLP’s resources and programs are free. Since 2016, more than 42,000 educators and 375,000 students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 120 countries have registered to use the platform.
Here’s material from the May 1 Sift:
Dig deeper: Don’t miss this week’s classroom-ready resource.
1. Can a public school ban clothes with the political slogan “Let’s go Brandon” on them? The mother of two Michigan students is suing their school district after her sons were told to take off their “Let’s go Brandon” sweatshirts at school. The school district said it prohibits “vulgar and profane” clothing, and that the political slogan is a “transparent code for using profanity against the President.” In contrast, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — a civil liberties organization representing the students — said the ban against “Let’s go Brandon” apparel was “part of a pattern of political favoritisms by the school district” and violated students’ First Amendment rights.
Discuss: What five freedoms does the First Amendment protect? Do you think the students’ sweatshirts are protected under the First Amendment or not? Why?
Idea: Have students watch this short American Civil Liberties Union explainer video about Tinker v. Des Moines. What are some similarities between this past First Amendment case and the lawsuit involving the two Michigan students?
- “The First Amendment” (Checkology virtual classroom).
- “News Lit Quiz: So, what’s the First Amendment?” (NLP’s Resource Library).
- “Student’s pro-Second Amendment shirt got her suspended at high school, Iowa suit says” (Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star).
- Video: “Students, family sues school district over ‘Let’s go Brandon’ sweatshirts” (Meghan Bunchman, WOOD-TV).
2. ADHD-related content on TikTok is surging — with over 20 billion views — but it’s not all reliable. Some videos about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder on the platform are ads produced by drug companies or fake programs exploiting users by offering to diagnose ADHD for a fee. This ADHD coach recommends taking a pause when encountering ADHD information on TikTok and seeking credible medical news or consulting a medical professional for ADHD.
Discuss: How often do you come across posts about mental health on TikTok or other social media platforms? Do you engage with them? Why do you think mental health is such a big topic on social media?
Idea: As a class, search for ADHD content on TikTok and evaluate one or more posts with students. Ask them: Why do you think this video was made? What kind of ADHD claims were made? How can you tell whether it’s credible or not?
- “Be Health Informed” (NLP’s Checkology virtual classroom).
- Infographic: “Levels of scientific evidence” (NLP’s Resource Library).
- Video: “’I See Me Here’: Mental Health Content, Community, and Algorithmic Curation on TikTok” (ACM SIGCHI).
- “How to Counter TikTok’s Mental Health Misinformation” (Ashvin Sood, Psychology Today).
3. The first AI-generated presidential election ad in the United States was released last week by the Republican National Committee on YouTube. It featured AI-generated imagery of a sensationalized, dystopian future that, according to the ad, could come to pass if President Biden were reelected. Throughout the video, a disclaimer in small font discloses that the ad was “built entirely with AI imagery.”
Discuss: Is it ethical to use AI-generated imagery in election ads? Why or why not? Is the emotional impact of this AI-generated election ad different in any way from the impact of traditional election ads? What role do you think generative AI tools will play in the 2024 election?
Resource: “News literacy in the age of AI” (NLP’s AI page).
You can find this week’s rumor examples to use with students in these slides.
NO: This is not an authentic video of President Biden calling former president Donald Trump an idiot or explaining the meaning of the word “denigrate” to Trump’s supporters.
YES: This clip was created by adding AI-generated audio to a genuine video of Biden addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022.
YES: The account that originally shared this video states in the bio on its profile page that it posts digital fabrications and used the hashtags #aivoiceover and #ai on the post.
NewsLit takeaway: The prevalence of AI digital manipulation tools makes it that much more important to pause and double-check sources before believing or sharing digital photos and videos, as they can appear quite convincing at first glance. Taking a moment to investigate this viral video by clicking on the account’s profile, for example, reveals that this account’s bio says its content is created with an AI-voice generator.
YES: Twitter states on its website that “the blue check mark means that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue.”
NO: Blue check marks on Twitter are no longer a reliable signal of authenticity.
NO: These images do not show authentic tweets posted by author J.K. Rowling, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, actress Alyssa Milano or the Chicago Department of Transportation.
YES: Several high-profile accounts, such as those of author Stephen King and NBA star LeBron James, still have blue check marks despite not paying for this subscription service.
NewsLit takeaway: Twitter’s verification symbol (a blue check mark) formerly indicated that an account was owned by the person or group that it claimed to represent. That is no longer always the case. The blue check mark may indicate that a person is a paying member of the Twitter Blue subscription service. To learn key strategies for evaluating the authenticity of a Twitter account — including analyzing follower counts, creation date, and links to and from — read the full entry on RumorGuard.
• Ask a group of journalists to define and explain journalistic objectivity, and you’ll likely get a variety of answers. Wesley Lowery, an outspoken critic of traditional conceptions of journalistic objectivity, took aim in an op-ed at what he says is a misguided focus on the perception of objectivity over emphasis on “a fair reporting process.”
• Tech news website VentureBeat revealed it uses the Bing chatbot to help with writing and editing stories, although it doesn’t use AI to generate entire articles — raising ethical concerns.
• The first war correspondence Substack newsletter was launched on April 25 by Tim Mak, a journalist who said he was laid off by NPR last month. He plans to continue coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.
• To write his stories, prison journalist Jason Walker has used a typewriter, toilet paper, paper sacks, the inside of books — and even scratched words in the wall. While Walker’s investigative reporting from a Texas prison sheds light on major issues for incarcerated people, it also presents risks to his safety.
• Underground bunkers for the elite and coded apocalyptic messages on murals are just some of the baseless conspiracy theories spreading about the Denver airport — and they were debunked by this MediaWise teen fact-checker.
• Do you have a favorite celebrity, online influencer or public intellectual you turn to for news and information? You’re not alone. A Gallup and Knight Foundation study found that nearly 9 out of 10 Americans follow at least one “public individual” for information, and this series explores how and why.
• Should the U.S. government ban kids younger than 13 from using social media? A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress last month would do just that — and require parental consent for teens 13 to 17.
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Valerie Strauss
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