{"id":40269,"date":"2025-06-19T08:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T12:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/?p=40269"},"modified":"2025-08-19T22:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T02:01:11","slug":"fact-check-educating-for-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/fact-check-educating-for-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check: Educating for The Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday June 18, 2025,\u00a0 media educator Frank Baker delivered the keynote address at “Fact Check Educating for the Truth,” a professional development opportunity for educators sponsored by OELMA and Kent State University’s iSchool, held at NEONET, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.<\/strong><\/p>\n[Note: following my introduction by OELMA president Gayle Schmuhl, I spoke briefly about my newest book, a graphic novel, We Survived The Holocaust: The Bluma & Felix Goldberg Story.<\/a>)
\n————————————————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n

Good morning. Thank you OELMA, and the ischool for inviting me here. It is a genuine pleasure to be back in Ohio.<\/p>\n

I applaud you all for creating this event around this topic, because THIS is one of THE MAJOR issues of our time (that and book bans, but don\u2019t get me started)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy students (a teacher told me) don\u2019t care if it\u2019s fake news,\u00a0 \u201cWow, I said. \u201cIf that\u2019s a widespread sentiment, we\u2019d better deal with their apathy.\u201d Perhaps THAT is the \u201celephant in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

With AI, deepfakes FLOODING\/EXPLODING and algorithms INFLUENCING every corner of the Internet, teaching media & visual literacy skills have become more important than ever.\u00a0 We may not know if what we are seeing is real or not, but we can certainly encourage students to be more SKEPTICAL & DISCERNING. \u00a0That\u2019s exactly what this new campaign, by the respected Columbia Journalism Review<\/a>, aims to do:\u00a0 \u00a0 VIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

Books like THE ANXIOUS GENERATION and media productions like ADOLESCENCE, THE SOCIAL DILEMMA and the documentaries CAN’T LOOK AWAY, and TRUST ME have all brought attention to important issues.<\/p>\n

Recently, the World Economic Forum identified misinformation and disinformation as a top global risk- they said: \u201cMisinformation and disinformation undermine trust in institutions, including media and government.\u201d
\nAn April Global Study found that \u201cGeneration Z \u2013those aged 13-28– appear to be the group most vulnerable to misinformation.\u201d The researchers blame the low quality of information these younger consumers encounter day in and day out.<\/p>\n

Last August, world scientists sounded the alarm: They warned that truth is under attack and highlighted the urgent need for critical thinking and scientific literacy to combat the rising problem.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Stanford university published a major study whose startling headline was\u00a0 \u201cHigh school students are unprepared to judge the credibility of information on the internet\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Among other things, 82 percent of middle school students could not distinguish news from ads on a website;<\/p>\n

Take a look: they ignored the SPONSORED CONTENT label (in the left hand corner).
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

By the way 59% of adults couldn\u2019t tell the difference either..<\/p>\n

They never questioned this photograph\u2014which was NOT what it represented.
\n\"\"
\nThe caption indicated they were deformed flowers after a Japanese nuclear plant leak\u2026but they were not.<\/p>\n

96% of students<\/strong> did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website\u2019s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on the site\u2019s aesthetics, its top-level domain (.org or .com), or how it portrayed itself on the About page<\/p>\n

Another task sought to gauge students\u2019 ability to evaluate the credibility of a grainy video posted on Facebook that showed clips of poll workers surreptitiously stuffing ballots into bins. Captions in the video tell viewers that the clips depict 2016 Democratic primary elections in three U.S. states, though the clips actually show voter fraud in Russia. Asked whether the video provided \u201cstrong evidence\u201d of voter fraud during the 2016 Democratic primaries, 52 percent of the students said yes.<\/p>\n

Researcher Sam Wineburg called the results \u201cdisturbing\u201d and \u201ctroubling\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0And you may recall they created the excellent CIVIC ONLINE REASONING<\/a> resource to help YOU prepare students to better comprehend what they encounter\/consume online.<\/p>\n

Wineburg and University of Wash professor Mike Caufield recently co-authored a book that I highly recommend.\u00a0 VERIFIED<\/a> is the title and I would urge you to get a copy and perhaps make it the subject of a book club\/study at your school.<\/p>\n

Some of you may be aware that I previously worked in broadcast journalism, but back then (I won\u2019t reveal how many years that was), fake news was not on our radar screens.<\/p>\n

Fake news: that was the stuff on Aprils Fools’ day, National Lampoon, The Onion, and the covers of National Enquirer and Mad Magazine.<\/p>\n

But all of that changed, when candidate Donald Trump began his first run for office. Do you recall when he first used the phrase \u201cfake news.\u201d\u00a0 I do.<\/p>\n

What he successfully did was to change the definition.<\/p>\n

When he pointed his finger at the media what he was really saying was: I disagree or don\u2019t like you (to a reporter or group of reporters) and I don\u2019t like your news organization or ownership (pick one).\u00a0 Trust in the media, already low, took another hit.<\/p>\n

News stories that reported on Trump\u2019s fake news claim\u2026 called for media literacy education in schools and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

And many of you responded. You realized the new responsibility.\u00a0 As information literacy specialists, you also recognized that our young people are NOT getting their news from traditional reliable sources. Today, it\u2019s social media.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s wrong with getting news from social media?\u00a0 Everything.\u00a0 How about UNRELIABLE to begin with.<\/p>\n

A study just published in the journal MEDIA found that \u201cindividuals with low critical thinking skills are significantly more vulnerable to fake news generated by artificial intelligence (AI), especially among young adults.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent survey found that while many young people rely on social media for their news, they do not regard it as a trusted source.<\/p>\n

To encourage students to trust news on social media, we need a RENEWED focus on “media literacy education, including verifying information, recognizing potential biases, and understanding how social media algorithms shape news\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 consumption. They should be taught to cross-reference information with multiple, reputable sources, including mainstream news outlets. Additionally, encouraging critical thinking and skepticism towards sensational headlines and emotionally charged content is crucial.”<\/p>\n

Recently experts called on students to think like FACT CHECKERS:<\/p>\n