The Sift: Final issue: Top clicks in 2024-25

Top picks clicks

Sift reader, these stories were among the most clicked news links in The Sift this school year.

Internet memes can be funny, but they’re also used to spread false or misleading information. This article by Ph.D. candidate Emily Godwin was the most clicked story in The Sift this year, and it included five pointers for critical thinking when you come across memes. This related El País piece on how memes are used by extremists and conspiracy theorists was also a reader favorite (April 7 issue). Longtime political cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned from The Washington Post after an editor nixed a sketch she drew that was critical of tech and media executives — including Post owner Jeff Bezos. Her work won a Pulitzer Prize this month and was praised by the Pulitzer board for its “fearlessness.” Telnaes’ Substack post about her resignation also proved popular with Sift readers (Jan. 13 and May 12 issues). How can you tell if audio is generated by artificial intelligence? This article shared side-by-side audio clips that sound like President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris — but only one was real. Can you guess which one? (Oct. 21 issue). Not Al Roker! An AI deepfake video impersonating the veteran Today show host appeared to show him endorsing a cure for hypertension. Deepfake videos like these are fooling social media users, making critical thinking and news literacy skills even more essential (March 31 issue). A self-professed teen “TikTok junkie” wrote this New York Times guest essay about her support of a TikTok ban to help curb her addiction to the app and its algorithm (Jan. 27 issue). After the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was accidentally looped into a group chat of government officials detailing U.S. attack plans, Poynter’s Kelly McBride explored ethical questions journalists should consider in this scenario. First step? Assess whether the information is real (March 31 issue).

Most popular resources

These recommended NLP resources were among the most clicked in The Sift this school year.

The most popular resource this year, by far, was Daily Do Now slides. Introduced in The Sift last September, these teaching slides offer 5- to 10-minute bell ringer activities to reinforce news literacy topics and spark classroom discussion. Special collections of Daily Do Now slides about AI and press freedom were also a hit with Sift readers. Enjoy quizzing your students? Or just yourself, maybe? The “Fact-checking red flags” quiz drew the most Sift readers, followed by the “Wellness & science claims” quiz. Artificial intelligence continues to be a hot topic, perhaps making it no surprise that NLP’s “6 things to know about AI” was the most clicked infographic in The Sift this year. And the most popular Checkology® lesson by clicks? “Introduction to Algorithms,” which also explores the risks and benefits of generative AI tools. (For more AI resources, check out NLP's “Teaching About AI” page.) “Seven standards of quality journalism” was the second most popular infographic among Sift readers. Understanding journalism standards is essential for helping students analyze the credibility of information they encounter.

Every week we offer RumorGuard examples of viral falsehoods and tips to debunk them. But there’s more! We also provide teaching slides for each example we feature, and we’ve heard your feedback about how useful these slides are in the classroom.

This RumorGuard Guide for the 2024-25 school year compiles every rumor we’ve featured in The Sift this year and links to each week’s accompanying teaching slides.

These slides were expanded this year to bring you more context, teachable takeaways and interactive walk-throughs on how to investigate viral rumors. Many slides even include short videos to help guide students through the fact-checking process. (P.S. Did you like these slides? ➡️ Tell us in the reader survey.)

Need more for your summer reading list?

Check out some of these news literacy-related pieces.

Journalism

• “What Is News?” (Pew Research Center).

• Video: “Midcoast newspaper opens café to connect with the community” (WABI-TV5).

• “Can She Keep PBS on the Air?” (The New York Times). 

Press freedom

• Opinion: “A.G. Sulzberger: A Free People Need a Free Press” (The New York Times).

• “Facing backlash, School Board shelves editorial oversight changes to Alexandria City High School’s student publications” (ALXnow). 

• “Legal support for journalists is evolving to meet rising threats to press freedom” (Poynter). 

• “Pope Leo XIV urges release of imprisoned journalists, affirms gift of free speech and press” (The Associated Press).

Artificial intelligence

• “Study Guide Supremacy: Getting my news from ChatGPT.” (Columbia Journalism Review).

• “TikTok launches TikTok AI Alive, a new image-to-video tool” (TechCrunch).

• “Fact check: How trustworthy are AI fact checks?” (DW).

Misinformation

• “Teaching Students to Identify and Attack Misinformation” (Inside Higher Ed).

• “The internet is full of misinformation. That’s by design, experts say” (CBC Radio).

• “How the Indian Media Amplified Falsehoods in the Drumbeat of War” (The New York Times).

Thanks for reading!

Your weekly issue of The Sift is created by Susan Minichiello (@susanmini.bsky.social), Dan Evon (@danieljevon), Peter Adams (@peteradams.bsky.social), Hannah Covington (@hannahcov.bsky.social) and Pamela Brunskill (@PamelaBrunskill). It is edited by Mary Kane (@mk6325.bsky.social) and Lourdes Venard (@lourdesvenard.bsky.social).

You’ll find teachable moments from our previous issues in the archives. Send your suggestions and success stories to [email protected].