In a news environment dominated by social media, an overwhelming number of news sources and artificial intelligence, it can be challenging for anyone, especially today’s youth, to decipher fact from fiction.
The South Shore Women’s Alliance, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for issues important to not only women, but voters in general, welcomed Howard Schneider, founder of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University, to its May 28 meeting at the Merrick Golf Course.
Schneider, a journalist who worked at Newsday for 35 years and a founding dean of Stony Brook’s journalism school, created the news literacy program when he started teaching at the university in 2006.
“I realized back then that even they were very confused and overwhelmed about what information they can trust,” he said of the college students he worked with.
Since 2019, Malverne district schools have also partnered with the Center for News Literacy. The district has earned Lighthouse District distinction for its leadership in advancing news literacy education.
The program serves students across the district, from primary school through high school, with a course at Maurice W. Downing Primary School, News Literacy units at Davison Avenue Intermediate School, an elective course and additional focus at Howard T. Herber Middle School, and high school instruction as well, including a dual enrollment option with Stony Brook in Senior Government.
“News Literacy is an essential skill for every student,” Jason Mach, district supervisor of humanities, said.“In Malverne, this work spans the full K-12 continuum, from evaluating Chicken Little’s actions with our youngest learners to analyzing current domestic and international events and news with our graduating seniors. Our goal is to help students ask better questions, evaluate information carefully, and use evidence responsibly so they can participate thoughtfully in their schools, communities and democracy.”
Students learn how to evaluate sources, identify credible evidence, distinguish news from opinion, recognize misinformation, understand media bias, and think critically about how information shapes public understanding.
At the SSWA meeting, Schneider offered attendees tips for better navigating today’s media environment. He also discussed initiatives he has spearheaded to teach students how to be active and thoughtful consumers of news.
“Our Education Committee is committed to ensuring that Long Island public schools teach strong civics and critical thinking skills,” Claudia Borecky, the organization’s president, said. “With so many kids getting their news from 10-second TikTok clips and a constant stream of information and misinformation, they’re more vulnerable than ever to conspiracy theories and early radicalization. Our goal is simple: to make sure our schools teach students how to analyze the news they consume.”
Schneider said that some 12,000 students at Stony Brook have taken the news literacy course, which has been shared with 20 universities around the country, adapted overseas, and implemented in local school districts.
He shared details of several studies, including one conducted by Stanford University, which demonstrate that today’s youth struggle to make sense of the media. “Our students are not getting this,” Schneider said, “and they’re not getting it because we’re in a revolution, really, in communication, and we haven’t prepared them for it.”
Stony Brook students, Schneider added, have said that they leave the news literacy program knowing more about current events and more motivated to consume news. The lessons, he said, stick with them as they continue their academic journeys.
In local schools, news literacy programs as early as kindergarten have been adapted to teach young students to consider the “whole story.” Schneider pointed to an example in which a teacher read the fairy tale “The Three Little Pigs” and challenged students to think about the story if it were told from the big bad wolf’s perspective.
As part of Schneider’s program, students receive a user guide, which was distributed to meeting attendees, explaining that consumers of news should read a story before it is shared on social media, and ensure that they know the source.
Schneider urged news readers to “wait and see” — because stories develop over time — and to simply “take a break” when news becomes too overwhelming.
He also encouraged attendees and members of the women’s alliance to speak with their local school districts and suggest that they implement a news literacy program if they haven’t already.
To learn more about available programming, write to howard.schneider@stonybrook.edu or visit CenterForNewsLiteracy.org.
