Comment on this story
Here’s the latest installment of a regular feature I’ve been running for several years: Lessons from Nonprofit Organization News Literacy Project (NLP), which aims to teach students and the public to separate fact from fiction in our digital and contentious age. With the spread of rumours, baseless accusations and conspiracy theories on social media and partisan sites, there has never been a time in recent US history when this skill has been more important than now.
The material in this post comes from Sift, the organization newsletter for educators, which has nearly 22,000 subscribers. Published weekly throughout the school year, it explores timely examples of misinformation, addresses press and media freedom issues, analyzes social media trends and issues, and includes suggestions and discussion activities for the classroom. Get Smart About News, inspired by Sift, is a free weekly newspaper newsletter for the public
NLP has a free e-learning platform, Checkologythat helps educators teach middle and high school students how to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and know what to trust, what to dismiss, and what to disprove.
It also gives them an appreciation of the importance of the First Amendment and a free press. Checkology and all NLP resources and programs are free. Since 2016, more than 42,000 educators and 375,000 students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 120 countries have registered to use the platform.
Here is the material from the May 1st Sieve:
Go deeper – don’t miss it the resource prepared for this week’s classroom.
1. Can a public school ban clothing with the political slogan “Let’s Go Brandon”? The mother of two students from Michigan is suing his school district after her kids were told to take off their “Let’s go Brandon” hoodies at school. The school district said it bans “vulgar and profane” clothing and that the political slogan is “transparent code for using insults against the president.” Instead, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a civil liberties organization that represents students, said the ban on “Let’s Go Brandon” clothing was “part of a pattern of political favoritism by the school district” and violated the students’ First Amendment rights. .
Discuss: What five freedoms does the First Amendment protect? Do you think student hoodies are protected by the First Amendment or not? Because?
Idea: Have students watch this short explanatory video about the American Civil Liberties Union Tinker v. monks. What are the similarities between this past First Amendment case and the lawsuit involving the two Michigan students?
“The First Amendment” (Checkology virtual classroom).“News Lit Quiz: So What’s the First Amendment?” (Library of PNL resources).“Student’s pro-Second Amendment T-shirt got her suspended in high school, Iowa suit says” (Mike Stunson, The Kansas City Star).Video: “Students, family sue school district over ‘Let’s go Brandon’ hoodies” (Meghan Bunchman, WOOD-TV).
2. ADHD-related content on TikTok is on the rise, with over 20 billion views, but not all of it is reliable. Some videos about ADHD on the platform are advertisements produced by pharmaceutical companies or fake programs that exploit users by offering to diagnose ADHD for a fee. This ADHD coach recommends taking a break when finding information about ADHD on TikTok and looking for credible medical news or seeing an ADHD medical professional.
Discuss: How often do you find posts about mental health on TikTok or other social media platforms? Do you commit to them? Why do you think mental health is such an important topic on social media?
Idea: As a class, search for ADHD content on TikTok and evaluate one or more posts with students. Ask them: Why do you think this video was made? What types of ADHD claims were made? How can you tell if it is credible or not?
“Inform yourself about health” (NLP Checkology virtual classroom).Infographic: “Levels of Scientific Evidence” (Library of PNL resources).Video: “‘See Me Here’: Mental Health Content, Community, and Algorithmic Healing on TikTok” (ACM SIGCHI).“How to counter TikTok’s mental health misinformation” (Ashvin Soon, Psychology Today).
3. The first AI-generated presidential election ad in the United States was released last week by the Republican National Committee on YouTube. He stood out AI generated images of a sensationalized, dystopian future that, according to the ad, could occur if President Biden were re-elected. Throughout the video, a fine print disclaimer reveals that the ad was “created entirely with AI imagery.”
Discuss: Is it ethical to use AI-generated images in election ads? Why or why not? Is the emotional impact of this AI-generated election ad different in any way from the impact of traditional election ads? What role do you think generative AI tools will play in the 2024 elections?
Resource: “Information Literacy in the Age of AI” (NLP AI page).
“You asked: How will deepfakes and AI affect the 2024 election?” (Brianna Tucker, The Washington Post).“A campaign aide didn’t write this email. AI did.” (Shane Goldmacher, The New York Times).“‘This Will Be Dangerous in Elections’: Political Media’s Next Big Challenge Is Navigating AI Deepfakes” (Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair).
You can find examples of this week’s rumors to use with students these slides.
AI-generated clip of Biden calling Trump an “idiot” goes viral
NO: This is not an authentic video of President Biden calling former President Donald Trump an idiot or explaining the meaning of the word “denigrate” to Trump supporters.
YES: This clip was created by adding AI-generated audio a genuine Biden video addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022.
YES: The account that originally shared this video states in its profile page bio that it posts digital fabrications and uses the hashtags #aivoiceover and #ai in the post.
Takeaway: The prevalence of AI digital manipulation tools makes it that much more important to pause and check sources before believing or sharing digital photos and videos, as they can look quite convincing at first glance. Take a second to investigate this viral video clicking on the account’s profile, for example, reveals that account in its bio that its content is created with an AI voice generator.
Post-verification of tweets on Twitter
YES: Twitter states on its website that “the blue checkmark means the account has an active Twitter Blue subscription.”
NO: Blue Twitter marks are no longer a reliable sign of authenticity.
NO: These images do not show actual tweets posted by author JK Rowling, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, actress Alyssa Milano, or the Chicago Department of Transportation.
YES: Several high-profile accounts, such as author Stephen King and NBA star LeBron James, still have blue check marks despite not pay for this subscription service.
NewsLit Takeaway: Twitter’s verification symbol (a blue checkmark) is used to indicate that an account was owned by the person or group it claimed to represent. This is no longer always the case. The blue check mark may indicate that a person is a paid member of the Twitter Blue subscription service. To learn key strategies for evaluating the authenticity of a Twitter account, including analyzing follower count, creation date, and links to and from: read the full entry on RumorGuard.
• Ask a group of journalists to define and explain journalistic objectivity, and you’ll probably get a variety of answers. Wesley Lowery, an outspoken critic of traditional conceptions of journalistic objectivity, pointed in an op-ed to what he says is a misguided approach to perception of objectivity more emphasis on “a fair reporting process”.
• Technology news website VentureBeat revealed that it uses the Bing Chatbot to help write and edit stories, though it doesn’t use AI to generate entire articles, which raises ethical concerns.
• The First War Correspondence Substack Newsletter was launched April 25 by Tim Mak, a reporter who said he was fired by NPR last month. He plans to continue coverage of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
• To write your stories, prison reporter Jason Walker He has used a typewriter, toilet paper, paper sacks, the inside of books and even words scratched on the wall. While Walker’s investigative reporting from a Texas prison sheds light on important issues for incarcerated people, it also presents risks to their safety.
• Underground bunkers for the elite and apocalyptic messages encoded in the murals are just some of the unfounded ones. conspiracy theories abound about the Denver airport, and denied them this fact checker for teenagers from MediaWise.
• Do you have a favorite celebrity, online influencer or public intellectual who you turn to for news and information? You are not alone. A Gallup and Knight Foundation study found that nearly nine out of 10 Americans follow at least one “public figure” for information and this series explores how and why.
• If the US government prohibits children under 13 years of age using social networks? A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress last week would do just that and require parental consent for teens ages 13 to 17.
