Russia has been disseminating disinformation for decades and long has used that tactic in attempts to influence elections in Europe. Until the 2016 election in the United States, we had, somewhat arrogantly, believed ourselves impervious to these intrusions – at least the electorate did. 2016 blindsided the voting public and students following the election in civics classes with the advent of fake news, some of which, we have reason to believe, originated from Russian sources.
If we are to raise well-informed young voters with excellent critical thinking skills, we need some guidelines for discerning trustworthy sources of information on the internet. Here is an article with some great tips on ferreting out the fakers and determining legitimate news sources.
The new “duck and cover” is more interesting, less defensive, and far more empowering than its Cold War predecessor. It is a matter of tracking, confronting, and exposing sources – a little like detective work – which ought to make it fun for the middle school crowd.
No matter what media stream you depend on for news, you know that news has changed in the past few years. There’s a lot more of it, and it’s getting harder to tell what’s true, what’s biased, and what may be outright deceptive. While the bastions of journalism still employ editors and fact-checkers to screen information for you, if you’re getting your news and assessing information from less venerable sources, it’s up to you to determine what’s credible.
“We are talking about the basic duties of informed citizenship,” says Sam Wineburg, Margaret Jacks Professor of Education.
Wineburg and Sarah McGrew, a doctoral candidate in education, tested the ability of thousands of students ranging from middle school to college to evaluate the reliability of online news. What they found was discouraging: even social media-savvy students at elite universities were woefully unskilled at determining whether or not information came from reliable, unbiased sources.
Every Creative Gene 