As we gear up for a summer where we are blasted with advertisements and news from across America about protests at colleges, elections, and the like. Dr. Seema Yasmin asks “What are the facts? What are reliable sources? What is news?” in her 2022 book What the Fact? Finding the Truth in All the Noise. These are important questions for us, as teachers, to begin planning for as when August rolls around we are going to need to be able to have open and honest conversations with our students. This book is about the viral spread of information and how it makes its way across the internet and makes its way into classrooms. Working with students to explore how information is shaped before it reaches is critical and this book provides many of the tools and definitions that will help our students unpack the viral spread of information.
Before diving into the book with students a pre-reading activity could be to pick a current event and a headline from one source from each of the columns in the “All Sides Media Bias Chart.” For example, here are 5 headlines about the college campus protests arrests in the last week. I wouldn’t include the source in the parentheses… that’s just for the teacher reading this post.
Students can compare headlines from throughout the events. Some possible focal areas:
Then ask which one of these headlines is true?
We think that we read the news to get new information but is that true? Yasmin (p.168) offers some helpful language around ritual models of communication, which is less about consuming new information and more predictability and ease. The ritual model says that we “read, watch, or listen to the news… to tell you to the world is exactly the way you think it is and everything works the way you think it works.” So, which headline is true? The one that resonates with our worldview. Hello Cozy Echo Chamber.
Have students complete a quick write: A 2017 study from Common Sense Media finds that the top three news sources for tweens (ages 10 to 12) and teens (ages 13 to 18) who got news ‘yesterday’ are family (45%), social media (38%), and television (37%). [Note: This adds up to more than 100% because respondents could select multiple news sources).] How interested are you in news? Where do you get your news? How reliable is the news you get? What questions do you ask the news you read, watch, listen to? Are there things in your feed you don’t agree with?
This is the first post of several of the next few months thinking about how to support students through figuring out facts! How are you thinking about supporting students through the coming elections and other big events on the horizon?
Before diving into the book with students a pre-reading activity could be to pick a current event and a headline from one source from each of the columns in the “All Sides Media Bias Chart.” For example, here are 5 headlines about the college campus protests arrests in the last week. I wouldn’t include the source in the parentheses… that’s just for the teacher reading this post.
- Colleges Love Protests -When They're in the Past (The Atlantic)
- Here’s what we know about those arrested at NYC pro-Palestinian campus protests Tuesday night (CNN)
- Over 1000 People Arrested at Campus Protests in A Week (Forbes)
- Student protesters should be arrested, charged, and expelled (The Washington Times)
- Trust Fund Kids Protesting on Campuses Know Nothing About Oppression (The Federalist)
Students can compare headlines from throughout the events. Some possible focal areas:
- How are the students/colleges described in the headline? What do they mean? Why would news outlets use student instead of trust fund kid?
- How are their actions described? What do these words connotate?
- Why might these words have changed over the course of the day or among news outlets? (Push them to nuance here; etc.
- What is the responsibility of news groups when they decide which terms to use? In what ways should we also be thoughtful about the terms we use, and what can help us decide?
Then ask which one of these headlines is true?
We think that we read the news to get new information but is that true? Yasmin (p.168) offers some helpful language around ritual models of communication, which is less about consuming new information and more predictability and ease. The ritual model says that we “read, watch, or listen to the news… to tell you to the world is exactly the way you think it is and everything works the way you think it works.” So, which headline is true? The one that resonates with our worldview. Hello Cozy Echo Chamber.
Have students complete a quick write: A 2017 study from Common Sense Media finds that the top three news sources for tweens (ages 10 to 12) and teens (ages 13 to 18) who got news ‘yesterday’ are family (45%), social media (38%), and television (37%). [Note: This adds up to more than 100% because respondents could select multiple news sources).] How interested are you in news? Where do you get your news? How reliable is the news you get? What questions do you ask the news you read, watch, listen to? Are there things in your feed you don’t agree with?
This is the first post of several of the next few months thinking about how to support students through figuring out facts! How are you thinking about supporting students through the coming elections and other big events on the horizon?
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