News literacy is a part of media literacy and includes having the critical thinking skills for evaluating (or judging/analyzing) the reliability and credibility of news sources AND new forms of information (that are often mistaken for journalism).
News literacy can help us recognize the difference between fact and rumor, news and advertising, news and opinion, and bias and fairness.
The News Literacy Project is a national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age.
The Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University is committed to teaching students how to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports and news sources. The Digital Resource Center includes curriculum, lectures, and exercises. The Center also created a free Coursera News Literacy Online Course.
Project Information Literacy (PIL) is a nonprofit research institute that conducts scholarly studies about students and how they find, evaluate, and select information for use in their courses and for solving information problems in everyday life.
The Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University is committed to teaching students how to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports and news sources. The Digital Resource Center includes curriculum, lectures, and exercises. The Center also created a free Coursera News Literacy Online Course.
Serves as a clearinghouse for innovative news literacy curriculum materials for students, teachers, and the general public.
MediaWise is led by The Poynter Institute in partnership with Stanford History Education Group (SHEG), Local Media Association (LMA) and the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). Initial funding was provided by Google.org as part of the Google News Initiative.
The Sift uses recent rumors, hoaxes and other misinformation to bring you the best teachable moments in news literacy. Includes ideas for class, discussion questions with links to articles and videos. Sign up to get a weekly newsletter.
Free civic online lesson plans and assessments are available once you've created an account. While intended for high school students, could be useful for undergraduates.
Ten-part video series. Curriculum of hands-on skills to help students evaluate the information they read online. Created in partnership with MediaWise, The Poynter Institute, and The Stanford History Education Group. Hosted by author John Green.
Pew Center Research (2020) found that Americans are as likely to often turn to independent channels as they are to established news organization channels; videos from independent news producers are more likely to cover subjects negatively, discuss conspiracy theories.
This Knight Foundation study (2020) reveals new insights into the media habits of American non-voters, and uncovers how their information diets might impact their democratic participation. This new analysis is instructive for those seeking to foster a more informed and engaged citizenry.
(2020) Qualitative findings from 16 focus groups with 103 undergraduates and interviews with 37 faculty members from eight U.S. colleges and universities, includes four takeaways and four recommendations.
“Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms: Student Experiences with News and Information, and the Need for Change,” Alison J. Head, Barbara Fister, and Margy MacMillan, Project Information Literacy Research Institute. January 15, 2020.
This lead article from the PIL Team in the August 2019 First Monday issue asks: How can college students and young voters be prepared with the information skills they need to assess news quality and credibility of the information found online and in print as the threats of “fake news,” propaganda, and bias multiply and intensify?
Head, A. J., DeFrain, E., Fister, B., & MacMillan, M. (2019). Across the great divide: How today’s college students engage with news. First Monday, 24(8). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i8.10166
This 2018 research report presents findings about how a sample of U.S. college students gather information and engage with news in the digital age.
Alison J. Head, John Wihbey, P. Takis Metaxas, Margy MacMillan, and Dan Cohen, “How Students Engage with News: Five Takeaways for Educators, Journalists, and Librarians,” Project Information Literacy Research Institute. (October 16, 2018).
Major takeaway: On average, users over 65 shared nearly seven times as many articles from fake news domains as the youngest age group.
Guess, A., Nagler, J., & Tucker, J. (2019). Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook. Science Advances, 5(1), eaau4586. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4586
Take this quiz from Pew Research Center. Test your ability to classify 10 news statements as either factual or opinion. Then see how you did in comparison with a nationally representative group of 5,035 randomly selected U.S. adults surveyed online between February 22 and March 4, 2018.
Search for your city to see a local news profile. Every day, Americans turn to their local news media to learn about the news in their communities. But how they get the news, which topics they prioritize and how they evaluate their local outlets can vary from one community to the next.
Locate data and trends about key sectors in the U.S. news media industry, including the ways in which Americans seek out news and information.