by Tom Heneghan | 26 Apr 2024 | Journalism, Media Literacy
The movie “Civil War” gives little backstory, leaving viewers to experience war in the moment, the way the reporters in the film cover it. Scene from the movie Civil War. Credit: A24 This article was produced exclusively for News Decoder’s global news...
by Marcy Burstiner | 9 Apr 2024 | Journalism, Politics, United States
If the 2020 election in the United States was any indication, there will be a lot of angry people in this go-around regardless of the result. An imagined polling station next to a gun shop. (Illustration by News Decoder) This article was produced exclusively for News...
by Marcy Burstiner | 2 Apr 2024 | Journalism, Media Literacy
Ask an AI app if it will kill off journalism and you get a nuanced answer. But from a human point of view, things seem more black and white. A room filled with computer servers serves as a newsroom. (Illustration by News Decoder) This article was produced exclusively...
by Michael Leedom | 29 Feb 2024 | Education, Educators' Catalog, Media Literacy, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
If a child is old enough to learn to read, it’s time to teach them to be media literate. But how to implement that in schools takes some problem solving skills. A teen shrugs at the difference between two computer screens. One shows an article by the New York...
Today’s students are digital natives, but are they digitally literate? In this Classroom #Decoder, guest writer Michael Leedom of the University of Toronto surveys media literacy curriculums around the globe, finding that media literacy education in Finland may be the world’s most robust.
Exercise: Read the article with your class, then have students try their hand at “lateral reading”. This is defined in the text as “checking the credibility of a claim by consulting other sources. Rather than remaining on a website with questionable information to find answers, known as ‘vertical reading’, students are taught to open a new tab and see if new information conflicts with what more trusted websites offer.” Present students with a web page and have them verify the credibility of that page by practicing lateral reading.
by Helen Womack | 17 Nov 2023 | Education, Journalism
First impressions are important. But with writing, the second draft is better. It helps to have an editor but sometimes you need to take on that role yourself. An editor has tightened up Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” monologue. Illustration by...