Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

This elections season, let’s not repeat the same news literacy mistakes

reading the news

"News literacy is the ability to identify what information you can trust, share, and act on to become a better-informed and more engaged participant in the civic life of your community and our country," writes Silva.

oatawa/Getty Images

Silva is senior director of professional and community learning at the News Literacy Project. He is a former classroom teacher.

In the weeks following the 2020 presidential election, many of us watched from the sidelines as misinformation from political figures, social media feeds, podcasts and pundits stoked anger and suspicion that someone had tampered with ballots and voting machines. These false beliefs about a “stolen election” took root, spread and grew into a movement that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. Despite overwhelming, verifiable evidence to the contrary, those beliefs persist today.

With another presidential contest likely featuring the same two candidates, it’s hardly surprising that election rumors and misinformation already are spreading, with former President Donald Trump urging crowds to “guard the vote” at polling places in Philadelphia, Detroit and Atlanta.

Ahead of the elections and during National News Literacy Week, we can each take important steps to ensure our emotions and beliefs are not being manipulated by misinformation. If we are aware of and practice news literacy skills, we can ensure our information is credible and comes from reputable sources. By doing so, we can take action to avoid a repeat of Jan. 6.


News literacy is the ability to identify what information you can trust, share, and act on to become a better-informed and more engaged participant in the civic life of your community and our country. It teaches you how to navigate our challenging and complex information landscape, helping you learn how to think about the information you consume, not what to think about it. News literacy gives you the tools and skills to evaluate the credibility of news and other information and determine the quality and reliability of what you consume. It also explores the processes and standards that journalists follow to report the news as fairly and accurately as possible.

News is meant to inform you; credible, standards-based news does not take a stance on issues. It gives you the who, what, when, where and why and provides that information from multiple, credible sources with an emphasis on fairness and accuracy. Unfortunately, a great deal of information out there might look like news but, instead, is meant to persuade or influence you, such as punditry. Opinion journalism should follow ethical standards, like providing evidence for claims, presenting logical arguments and frequently acknowledging conflicting views. Opinion pieces that cherry-pick data, leave out important context or use logical fallacies are not quality journalism — they are misleading and unfair.

No one wants to be misled. To make sure the news we are getting shows the full story, consider the following:

  • Does the story include multiple sources or experts who can provide the relevant details about what took place?
  • When possible, are there links to related reports, studies, data, video or audio that can add context?
  • Is the story reported fully, including all key information, and with the proper context to provide a clear understanding?
  • Have the details in the story been fact-checked and verified?
  • Are multiple sides of the issue reported to ensure fairness without giving undue weight to one side or the other?
  • Was the piece reported in a dispassionate manner that avoids bias?
  • Is the newsroom transparent about past errors, and does it note corrections on its stories?

All of these are essential factors to consider before acting on information.

Differences of opinion are valuable and essential to the marketplace of ideas (which the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University says, “refers to the belief that the test of the truth or acceptance of ideas depends on their competition with one another and not on the opinion of a censor.”) But truth is supported by facts, and facts are supported by evidence.

Ordinary voters can’t control what politicians and pundits say, but we don’t have to subject ourselves to another election cycle marred by misinformation meant to confuse and anger us. We can use news literacy skills to find credible information and discern facts from fiction. We can push back on falsehoods and fake claims. With news literacy, we can reclaim our power to determine the truth.

Read More

From TikTok to Telehealth: 3 Ways Medicine Must Evolve to Reach Gen Z
person wearing lavatory gown with green stethoscope on neck using phone while standing

From TikTok to Telehealth: 3 Ways Medicine Must Evolve to Reach Gen Z

Ask people how much they expect to change over the next 10 years, and most will say “not much.” Ask them how much they’ve changed in the past decade, and the answer flips. Regardless of age, the past always feels more transformative than the future.

This blind spot has a name: the end-of-history illusion. The result is a persistent illusion that life, and the values and behaviors that shape it, will remain unchanged.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Importance of Being Media Literate

An image depicting a group of people of varying ages interacting with different forms of media, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

AI generated

The Importance of Being Media Literate

Information is constantly on our phones, and we receive notifications for almost everything happening in the world, which can be overwhelming to many. Information is given to us in an instant, and more often than you think, we don’t even know what exactly we are reading.

We don’t even know if the information we see is accurate or makes sense. Media literacy goes beyond what we learn in school; it’s a skill that grows as we become more aware and critical of the information we consume.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage
Why Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is good news for all media outlets
Getty Images

Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage

Last week, the ultraconservative news outlet, NewsMax, reached a $73 million settlement with the voting machine company, Dominion, in essence, admitting that they lied in their reporting about the use of their voting machines to “rig” or distort the 2020 presidential election. Not exactly shocking news, since five years later, there is no credible evidence to suggest any malfeasance regarding the 2020 election. To viewers of conservative media, such as Fox News, this might have shaken a fully embraced conspiracy theory. Except it didn’t, because those viewers haven’t seen it.

Many people have a hard time understanding why Trump enjoys so much support, given his outrageous statements and damaging public policy pursuits. Part of the answer is due to Fox News’ apparent censoring of stories that might be deemed negative to Trump. During the past five years, I’ve tracked dozens of examples of news stories that cast Donald Trump in a negative light, including statements by Trump himself, which would make a rational person cringe. Yet, Fox News has methodically censored these stories, only conveying rosy news that draws its top ratings.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Flag / artificial intelligence / technology / congress / ai

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Liberty and the General Welfare in the Age of AI

If the means justify the ends, we’d still be operating under the Articles of Confederation. The Founders understood that the means—the governmental structure itself—must always serve the ends of liberty and prosperity. When the means no longer served those ends, they experimented with yet another design for their government—they did expect it to be the last.

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity. Both of those goals were top of mind for early Americans. They demanded the Bill of Rights to protect the former, and they identified the latter—namely, the general welfare—as the animating purpose for the government. Both of those goals are being challenged by constitutional doctrines that do not align with AI development or even undermine it. A full review of those doctrines could fill a book (and perhaps one day it will). For now, however, I’m just going to raise two.

Keep ReadingShow less