News literacy instructional videos available on the Learn Channel
For teachers looking to incorporate news literacy into their curricula, The News Literacy Project offers a collection of instructional videos, lessons and other digital resources on its Learn Channel.
According to its website, NLP is “an innovative national education program that teaches students in middle school and high school how to know what to believe in the digital age.”
Here’s a sampling of some of the videos NLP offers:
- “Photo Fact-Checking in the Digital Age” explains why digital photos found on social media and the Internet sometimes need to be checked for accuracy. Strategies and tools for verifying the authenticity of photos, such as Google’s reverse image search, are discussed.
- “Watchdog Journalism in Local News” discusses how local communities can benefit from investigative reporting. A New York City journalist uses the story of a negligent landlord to show how media coverage can result in positive change.
- “The ‘60 Minutes’ Benghazi Debacle: When Journalists Get It Wrong” examines the circumstances of a retraction by the newsmagazine “60 Minutes” and the lessons that it teaches about correcting mistakes. The issues of transparency and conflicts of interest are also discussed.
- “Social Media During the Boston Marathon Bombing” sheds light on the advantages and drawbacks that social media posed during the Boston Marathon bombing. The story of one family whose son was wrongly accused is used to illustrate how quickly inaccurate information can spread through social media.
- “Tweeting Hurricane Sandy: Of Deception and Knowing What to Believe” provides a look at how misinformation posted by one Twitter user made it into national media coverage. Also discussed are the implications for such mistakes and suggestions for judging the credibility of tweets.
Other video topics include conflicts of interest, Wikipedia, advanced Google searches, editorial writing, sourcing and journalists in the digital age.
For more information on news literacy and lessons that can be used in the classroom, visit SchoolJournalism.org.