Thing 21: News Literacy

Copyright holder: SparkCBC 

The reality is, news literacy is becoming more and more essential.  I definitely connected this to my readings of Lankshear and Knobel’s "Digital Literacies" where they postulate that we have shifted from an information economy, where the scarce resource is access to information, into an attention economy, where the scarce resource is people's capacity to consume information.  The primary readings for this topic did a good job of summing up the critical issues with this shift: the goal of media is not necessarily getting the most accurate and up to the date information, it is to get a reader's attention.  We've seen the result: click-bait (ambiguous or misleading headlines or images), sensationalism, flash over substance, and, perhaps most concerning, the embrace of bias as a means to maintain an audience.

Media seems to be tapping into people's confirmation bias as a marketing tool.  News sources that remain objective are uninteresting.  Now front pages of journalistic sites put editorial next to factual news, passing opinion off as analysis, implying equal journalistic merit.  Punditry has replaced journalistic distance, and while reporters used to be criticized for breaking the unspoken rules of impartiality, now a reporter who does not have a viewpoint is seen as being out of touch.

But I digress.

I valued the framework that was set up by the John Spencer, looking at the 5 C's of media literacy: (as an aside, I'll save you some time: don't bother signing up to download the resources off his website.  It is a scant word document that is less useful than the questions listed below... just use them to make your own graphic organizer - crediting him of course!)

#1: Context – Look at the context of the article. When was it written? Where does it come from? Have the events changed since then? Is there any new information that could change your perspective?

#2: Credibility – Check the credibility of the source. Does the site have a reputation for journalistic integrity? Does the author cite credible sources? Or is it satirical? Is it on a list of fake news sites? Is it actually an advertisement posing as a real news story?

#3: Construction. Analyze the construction of the article. What is the bias? Are there any loaded words? Any propaganda techniques? Any omissions that you should look out for? Can you distinguish between the facts and opinions? Or is it simply all speculation?

#4: Corroboration: Corroborate the information with other credible news sources. Make sure it’s not the only source making the claim. If it is, there’s a good chance it’s actually not true.

#5: Compare: Compare it to other news sources to get different perspectives. Find other credible sources from other areas of the ideological or political spectrum to provide nuance and get a bigger picture of what’s actually happening.

I found that the remainder of my exploration was shaped by those four ideas.

AllSides: The most useful tool I explored.  The ability to see an outlet's supposed bias, and get articles on the same topic grouped together easily will enable the meat of critical literacy skill-building.  Begin by having students go directly to the site and examine a topic from multiple sources, writing down phrases, sources, and diction that indicate bias; then give them text without source listed to see if they can detect bias alone.  Or simply use it as a corroboration site, where scholars can check outside sources against the ones listed here.

Factitious: Useful in proving the difficulty of identifying real and fake news, but beyond that can be misleading.  There aren't the actual tools to go through the 5C's and so it just becomes  a guessing game (especially since many of the "real" news stories are reporting on farcical or outrageous events).  Maybe use as a hook at the beginning of the year to introduce the concept of media literacy?

NewsELA: I've used this before and love the ability to scale a source to the reading level of scholars.  This is useful because in order to be able to have media literacy, you have to be fluent in the language being used.  It's difficult to detect bias if you are unable to understand the connotative shades that color the diction used.

News Explorer: Want to feel like you're on CSI or in the movie Minority Report?  News explorer is the app for you.  Seriously though, it's visualization technique looks like something a sci-fi writer imagined the internet would look like 50 years in the future.  Unfortunately, like those unrealistic depictions, the practicality of this engine is questionable.  A link of E3 (electronic entertainment expo) and Super Smash Bros. Melee came up with 65 articles, only a handful of which actually had to do with both topics.