{"id":9400,"date":"2017-06-19T02:13:21","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T02:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9400"},"modified":"2017-06-22T02:17:42","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T02:17:42","slug":"how-a-journalism-class-is-teaching-middle-schoolers-to-fight-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-a-journalism-class-is-teaching-middle-schoolers-to-fight-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"How a journalism class is teaching middle schoolers to fight fake news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Madison<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Research last year out of Stanford University revealed that students \u2013 from middle schoolers to undergraduates \u2013 are easily duped by false information they find online<\/a>. The study goes on to describe this as \u201cdismaying,\u201d \u201cbleak\u201d and\u00a0a \u201cthreat to democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

These same students are the primary consumers of social media<\/a>, and many of them will be eligible to vote during the 2020 election cycle. How are we to prepare young people to become informed citizens in an era where anyone can publish, and there are political and financial incentives for misinformation?<\/p>\n

As a journalism professor who began my own media career as a high school student, I have a firsthand understanding of how teaching journalism can prepare young people to become effective communicators \u2013 and can help them sift fact from fiction.<\/p>\n

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\n Studies show that social media has become an increasingly popular way for Americans to get news.<\/span>
\n GuadiLab\/shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span>
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Challenges of the age of misinformation<\/h2>\n

In an alleged \u201cpost-truth<\/a>\u201d reality, language can be used in ways that resemble a war game of wits. Words can cast doubt on previously accepted standards, and shared norms once considered common sense can suddenly be cast as suspect.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, the term \u201cfake news.\u201d Within weeks of it surfacing as a way to describe a rapid rise in internet misinformation<\/a>, the term was misappropriated by several politicians and pundits to describe a supposedly biased mainstream media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2016 election uncovered the surreptitious power of misinformation and its potential to influence the public. Buzzfeed found that fake news stories significantly outperformed<\/a> real news stories on Facebook leading up to the 2016 election. One fake news writer was even accused of singlehandedly swaying the election<\/a>. A subsequent Pew Research study indicated that 23 percent of Americans<\/a> claim to have shared a made-up news story \u2013 either knowingly or not.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s labeled \u201cfake news\u201d or newfangled propaganda, misinformation undermines institutions and spreads baseless beliefs. It\u2019s also likely to have a long-term effect on the next generation of voters.<\/p>\n

\n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n