Week focuses attention on news literacy fitness

Most of us have seen misinformation on the internet, especially on social media. Unless someone is encouraging violence, they can pretty much say whatever they want.

What are the limits of free speech? What can be done to hold media sources accountable for the information they deliver? How has mass media and technology challenged those limits?

In the United States, in the case Barrett v. Rosenthal, the California Supreme Court ruled that websites cannot be sued for libel that was written by other parties. In United States constitutional law, false statements of fact are an exception from protection of free speech under the First Amendment. 

A study of more than 7,800 students in all the academic levels tested were presented with information in social media, news articles, and comments. Eighty-two percent of middle school students couldn’t tell the difference between sponsored articles and real news stories.

In a recent study of news literacy, most of the high school students didn’t verify where online photos came from and accepted the photos' stated contexts. Many high school students couldn’t tell the difference between a real news article and a real-looking fake news article on social media. Out of Stanford college students that were tested, more than 80 percent couldn’t identify biased content from independent news sources. These students aren’t just simply gullible. These statistics are the result of it becoming very difficult to distinguish verified facts and objective journalism from opinion, propaganda and total fiction.

OK, so that’s the problem. What is the solution?

One of them is News Literacy Week, presented by the News Literacy project which is part of an ongoing partnership with unbiased media that advances awareness of news literacy in newsrooms, classrooms and living rooms across the country to empower the public to be stronger news consumers. Visit NewsLiteracyWeek.org to test your “news literacy fitness,” take the pledge to be news-literate, and access its many resources that will make you a better news consumer.

Mike Bauer can be reached at East Bonner County Library District. He can be reached at 208-263-6930.