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The advent of fake news was the worst-best thing to happen to media literacy in schools.

That鈥檚 according to Sherri Hope Culver, director of the Center for Media and Information Literacy at Temple University.

In years past, it was tough convincing legislators and reporters that how children are taught to analyze and evaluate media is important, Culver said during a recent Education Writers Association seminar in New Orleans. They鈥檇 ask what made the issue timely.

鈥淎nd then we had an election,鈥� she said, referring to the 2016 presidential race. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not about who got elected. It鈥檚 about how information was conveyed. How did people make decisions? That has raised the conversation about media literacy. If fake news is the way in, I鈥檓 all for it.鈥�

The 2016 election season saw fake news 鈥� false or intentionally misleading information disguised as authentic news 鈥� produced and disseminated at a historic scale. A sophisticated disinformation campaign by Russia, the ease with which stories can be shared across social media, and a presidential candidate with a habit of spreading baseless claims proved a powerful combination.

A found that the most popular fake election news stories were shared more times on social media than the most popular stories in the mainstream news media.

A 鈥榁accine鈥� for #FakeNews?

Some, like Culver, are touting media literacy education as a solution to fake news. She was one of three experts at EWA鈥檚 seminar in New Orleans on educating for character and citizenship to discuss schools鈥� responsibilities in teaching students how to discern between false and credible sources of information.

Speaker Damaso Reyes, director of community partnerships and engagement at the News Literacy Project, agreed: 鈥淭here is a cure 鈥� or, perhaps better put, there鈥檚 a vaccine 鈥� to fake news. That vaccine actually is news literacy education.鈥�

For a generation of digital natives, understanding what鈥檚 real still proves challenging.

Nearly half of children ages 10 to 18 said they can distinguish between a fake news story and a real one, according to the results of a 2017 of 853 kids nationwide. At the same time, 31 percent said they had shared a story on social media in the past six months that they later discovered wasn鈥檛 true.

About half of teens said that following the news is important to them, the survey found. Students said social media was their major source for news, with YouTube and Facebook reported as the two most popular platforms.

Finding Space in a Crowded Curriculum

When Jana Chao, a fifth-grade teacher in Clinton, Mississippi, teaches media literacy to her students, she tells them to identify whether there鈥檚 an agenda behind a story and to think about the goals of the organization that produced the story. Chao, who spoke at the EWA event, said she also helps students consider what points of view might be missing from the message.

One challenge many educators face, said Chao, is finding time for media literacy. 鈥淵ou need to understand the pull that is taken from test scores and accountability. Where am I going to fit media literacy into the classroom?鈥�

Reyes said it can be taught across the curriculum. 鈥淢edia literacy actually fits in social studies, history, ELA, computer science. You can integrate that because the heart of what we鈥檙e doing is critical thinking.鈥�

Culver echoed the point about critical thinking.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a partisan issue. It鈥檚 not a teacher鈥檚 view about what should be right or wrong,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 helping you to reflect on how do you make decisions, how do you gain information in your life, so that you can do it in a way that works for you.鈥�

Laws to promote media literacy education were recently enacted in several states, including Washington, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, as in December.

For example, the new measure in Washington requires the state superintendent to make media literacy resources available to educators and conduct a survey about how these skills are being taught. The Connecticut law, also adopted last year, created a council to come up with recommendations for teaching media literacy skills.

Teaching the Standards of Journalism

In educating students about media literacy, it鈥檚 also important to help them understand the difference between fake news and misinformation, such as a mistake reported in a news story, said Reyes.

鈥淭he landscape for young people is completely different than it was for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e not, many of us 鈥� adapting fast enough in the world of education to say, 鈥楬ey, we actually need to teach young people what news looks like, why it鈥檚 important, what the standards of quality journalism are.鈥欌��

Panelists disagreed over whether students should be coached to consult multiple sources to find out if a story is real.

鈥淲e do ourselves, not just students, a disservice when we say we need multiple sources,鈥� Culver said. 鈥淭hat is unrealistic.鈥�

She argued that people don鈥檛 have time to search for multiple news reports to corroborate every story. But Reyes disagreed, saying that checking out multiple sources for emotionally charged stories should be an aspirational goal, even if not achievable every time.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 something we need to inculcate into our young people, to say, 鈥楲isten, this is so important not to spread misinformation that you need to take the extra 30 seconds or minute or even, God forbid, two minutes in order to find out whether or not something is right,鈥� 鈥� Reyes said.

It鈥檚 difficult to know how many schools teach some sort of media literacy to their students, Culver said, but she hopes teacher training programs at universities will support this kind of education.

The panel鈥檚 moderator, USA Today education writer Greg Toppo, asked whether teaching media literacy could prove problematic if parents question whether a teacher is coming at these lessons with a political agenda.

Chao said she鈥檚 earned a level of trust among the district and parents, but more important, she鈥檚 heard that the lessons around analyzing news are being passed from her students to their parents, who are also unaware of some of the markers of genuine journalism.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got the blue check mark?鈥� Toppo joked. 鈥淚鈥檝e got the blue check mark,鈥� Chao said.

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