Cultivating Concern for Credible Information: Strategies for Teaching News Literacy and Civic Participation

Presenter: Pamela Brunskill, Senior Director of Education Design at the News Literacy Project (NLP). * Professional Background: Former educator (elementary/middle school), literacy coach ( $Grades\,4-8$ ), and adjunct instructor at Commonwealth University (formerly Bloomsburg), Bucknell University, and University at Buffalo. * Authorship: Author of five books and co-author of Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction.
News Literacy Project (NLP): * Founded in $2008$ by Allen St. Miller. * Status: Nonpartisan education nonprofit. * Vision: Ensuring all high school students in the United States are news-literate before graduation. * Core Beliefs: News literacy is an essential life skill, facts matter, and a free press is the cornerstone of democracy.

Historical Context: George Mason ( $1776$ ), the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights which inspired the Bill of Rights, stated: "The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments."
The "Fourth Pillar" and Watchdog Role: * The free press acts as a check on power and protects the public from corruption and abuses that infringe on individual rights. * It serves as the "voice of ordinary people" and an engine of democratic deliberation.
Case Study: Investigative Reporting: * The reporting series Poisoned ( $2022$ Pulitzer Prize Winner) by Corey Johnson and colleagues at the Tampa Bay Times. * Impact: Spent $18\,\text{months}$ investigating Gopher Resources in Tampa. They found workers inhaling lead at levels hundreds of times the federal limit. The company knowingly allowed lead dust to be brought home to families and polluted the local sewer and river systems.
Global Press Freedom: * Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists advocate for press protections. * Threats: Governments in totalitarian or authoritarian regimes use the arrest of journalists to silence dissent and stifle reliable information during crises (e.g., Venezuela).

Economic Challenges: National and local newsrooms are struggling due to the lack of sustainable financial models and acquisitions by firms like Alden Capital.
Medill School of Journalism Report (2025): * Residents in half of all $US$ counties have only one source of local news. * More than $210$ counties have no local news sources at all. * $40\%$ of newspapers that existed in $2005$ have closed.
Consequences of News Absence: * Indices that increase: Misinformation, polarization, corruption, taxes, municipal costs, and pollution. * Indices that decrease: Voter participation, accountability, social cohesion, and competitive elections.

Pew Research Data: Americans under the age of $30$ are roughly equally likely to trust information from national news outlets as they are from social media influencers/content creators.
NLP 2024 Report—News Literacy in America: * Sample: Survey of over $1,000$ teens. * Concerns: Nearly $2/3$ ( $\approx 66\%$ ) of teens are not concerned about the decline of news organizations. * Skepticism: $45\%$ of teens believe journalists do more to harm democracy than protect it.
NLP 2025 Report—Bias, Boring, and Bad: * Sample: Follow-up with $750$ teens from the previous survey. * Perceptions: Teens used negative descriptors for news media, including "bias," "boring," "fake," "depressing," and "scary." * Journalistic Integrity: More teens believe journalists are skilled at lying and deceiving than informing the public. $1$ in $3$ teens offered only negative comments when asked what journalists do well.
The Literacy Advantage: Teens who have received even a small amount of media literacy instruction are significantly more likely to trust that the news media is trying to inform the public and are more likely to be active news consumers.

Specific News Literacy Behaviors: Students with training are more likely to: 1. Perform internet searches to investigate a post's claims. 2. Scan comments to see if others raised credibility concerns. 3. Verify account authenticity (e.g., checking for a "blue check mark" or verification badge). 4. Check a user's previous posts to investigate their reputation.
Spill the Ink Series: A collection of short videos ( $1$ to $3\,\text{minutes}$ ) showing the daily lives of journalists to humanize the profession and explain ethical standards (accuracy, fairness, accountability).
Capstone Activity: "Take Action — Putting News Literacy into Practice": * High School Scenario: Based on a real Maryland case where an athletic director used AI to generate a video of a principal making inappropriate comments. * Middle School Scenario: Based on an event where a zebra escaped a zoo during a storm (references the Buffalo blizzard of $1977$ and a $2022$ zebra escape on a highway). * Code of Ethics Project: Students create four personal promises to maintain a clean information environment. * Decision Branches: Students must choose between forming an opinion based on verified evidence or exploring various opinions on the same topic before deciding.

Post-Instruction Gains (Percentage Point Increases): * Following multiple credible sources: $+11\%$ * Following professional fact-checking sites: $+13\%$ * Pushing back on misinformation on social media: $+9\%$ * Respectful debate with differing views: $+5\%$ * Reflecting on personal perspective limitations: $+4\%$ * Forming opinions based on evidence: $+8\%$ * Reaching out to a journalist with feedback: $+20\%$

Application for Interventionists: The Checkology Virtual Classroom is accessible to interventionists and private tutors; they should register as "homeschool" status and can contact the help desk via Eric for setup.
Media Ownership and Independence: A question was raised about defining the "free press" when owners are wealthy individuals/corporations (e.g., Jeff Bezos' ownership of the Washington Post). * Response: Credible organizations maintain a "firewall" of independence and practice transparency, often including disclaimers when reporting on the owner’s other business interests (e.g., Amazon).
Reading Stamina and Journalism: A question addressed whether lower reading stamina in youth causes them to favor social media soundbites over long-form journalism. * Response: Short soundbites often activate the emotional core, overriding rational thinking. It is vital to teach students to engage with longer texts to avoid losing context.
Community Ideas for Student Engagement: * Creating student newspapers or podcasts. * Attending local government meetings. * Inviting local professionals to school to discuss their processes. * Practicing "critical ignoring" of bad-faith actors.