The Sift: Covering anti-vaccination movement

November 3, 2025

Artificial intelligence Celebrities/influencers Health/wellness Journalism Press freedoms/First Amendment

An educator's guide
to news literacy

Nov. 3, 2025

In this issue

Covering anti-vaccination movement | ‘Creator journalists’ | RumorGuard slides

Daily Do Now slides

Don’t miss this classroom-ready resource.

Top picks

Here are the latest news literacy topics and tips on how to integrate them into your classroom.

A human and a robot sitting across from each other. The robot is pointing to a play button on a computer screen between them. Above them is a text bubble that says AI and a checklist. Below them is a pause button and a video play bar.

Idaho is the first state in the U.S. to ban vaccine mandates.

1. How a journalist covered anti-vaccination movement

Journalists aren’t just journalists; they’re also regular people with families. In this ProPublica piece, reporter Audrey Dutton shares her experience covering Idaho’s recent vaccine mandate ban.

Dual roles: As a parent to a young child, Dutton thought about the health implications of Idaho’s new policy, which makes it illegal to require vaccines — even in schools. As a journalist, she said it’s her goal “to ensure accurate and fair coverage.”
Anti-vaccination activists: In her reporting, Dutton interviewed and described the beliefs of activists behind The Idaho Medical Freedom Act while also noting her duty to share scientific evidence to the contrary.
Informing community: Dutton said it’s her job “to help readers understand the thinking behind changes to public policy and where those ideas come from.”

💡 Idea: Ask students to read Dutton’s story “Idaho Banned Vaccine Mandates. Activists Want to Make It a Model for the Country.” Have students analyze the sources Dutton included. What type of sources are quoted (e.g., eyewitness sources, experts or officials)? How did she balance presenting different viewpoints? How do you think she picked which sources to include? Why is it important for journalists to include multiple credible sources in news stories?

⭐ NLP Resources:

“Be Health Informed” (Checkology® virtual classroom)
“Evaluating Science-Based Claims” (Checkology)
Infographic: “Levels of scientific evidence”

🔗 Related:

“Canada’s measles outbreak control challenged by disinformation and distrust, doctors say” (CBC News)
“Vaccine Skepticism Comes for Pet Owners, Too” (The New York Times)

2. Rise of ‘creator journalists’

There are creators, there are journalists and there are “creator journalists” — those who publish independent news or commentary online outside of traditional newsrooms.

Growing number: About one-third of journalists consider themselves “creator journalists,” according to a new Muck Rack study. Their primary reason for self-publishing? Creative or editorial freedom (57%).
More men: About 85% of the top 15 news creators in a study of 24 countries were men, a separate report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found.
Less original reporting: The Reuters report also found that a low number of news creators do original newsgathering — interviewing sources, researching data, investigating leads, verifying facts, etc. Instead, many are focused on commentary and opinion content.

💬 Discuss:

What role does social media play in the rise of “creator journalists”?
What might motivate someone to become a creator journalist or news influencer?
How can you know if a creator journalist is credible? What role do journalism standards play?

⭐ NLP Resources:

“InfoZones” (Checkology)
Poster: “Seven standards of quality journalism”

🔗 Related:

“The Data Is In: The Washington Post Can’t Replace Its ‘TikTok Guy’” (Matt Karolian’s Substack)
“A new fellowship is all about putting the news in news creator” (Nieman Lab)

3. The age of ‘McVulnerability’

More time online means teens are spending less time socializing in person and forming intimate friendships. One consequence of this: perceived vulnerability is moving to social media (link warning: mentions acronym for suicide).

‘McVulnerability’: Like fast food, the phenomenon of McVulnerability — a quick fix of performative vulnerability online — is easy and comforting, but not necessarily healthy.
Lack of reciprocation: Being vulnerable with someone face-to-face is different than perceived vulnerability behind a screen because there’s usually no deep reciprocation or responses online. “Without vulnerability, we have no intimacy,” said psychologist Maytal Eyal.
Too comfortable: There’s discomfort in vulnerable interactions and confrontations. Eyal recommends teens unplug and seek out new social experiences that help them break out of their shells — like being a camp counselor or spending time outdoors.

💬 Discuss:

What motives might social media users have for posting seemingly vulnerable moments online?
Have you ever come across influencer apologies that don’t seem emotionally authentic? How do you think this type of content affects teens?

⭐ Idea: Use the “Reflect” slide in Week 8 of the Daily Do Now resource to further explore this topic with students.

💡 NLP Resources:

Infographic: “Six zones of information”
“InfoZones” (Checkology)
“Introduction to Algorithms” (Checkology)

🔗 Related:

“Today’s ‘Skinny Influencers’ Are Selling Something More Mind-Bending Than Weight Loss” (The New York Times)
“I Loved Being Social. Then I Started Talking to a Chatbot.” (The Wall Street Journal)

These classroom-ready slide decks provide a comprehensive walk-through on how to debunk false rumors.

AI-generated falsehoods spread in Hurricane Melissa’s wake

Three social media posts appear to show images of Hurricane Melissa and its destruction in Jamaica. These posts read, “Massive Hurricane Melissa captured from the top Looks like WORMHOLE” and “#BREAKING: Damage and floods from Hurricane Melissa in Black River, Jamaica” and “Hurricane Melissa with its catastrophic winds floods over Jamaica with sharks swimming right there in the streets.” The News Literacy Project has added a label over these posts that says “AI-GENERATED CONTENT.”

❌ NO: This is not an authentic video (example 1) showing an aerial view of the “wormhole” at the center of Hurricane Melissa.

❌ NO: This is not an authentic photograph (example 2) of widespread damage and flooded streets in Jamaica in October.

❌ NO: This is not an authentic video (example 3) of a shark swimming through flooded waters in Jamaica.

✅ YES: All three of these examples were created with artificial intelligence tools.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

It isn’t uncommon to see false claims circulate in the wake of natural disasters, like the widespread destruction and dozens of deaths caused by Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm. While these inaccurate assertions often involve old photographs or videos being shared in a false context, social media users now need to watch out for content fabricated with AI. View these Google Slides for tips to spot these realistic fictions.

Viral image doesn’t show Louvre heist detective

A viral social media post reads, “Actual shot (not AI!) of a French detective working the case of the French Crown Jewels that were stolen from the Louvre in a brazen daylight robbery. Somehow he looks like he’s smoking even without a cigarette in his hand, but surely everything you know about life is screaming at you: this case is officially screwed! To solve it, we need an unshaven, overweight, washed-out detective who’s in the middle of divorce. A functioning alcoholic who the rest of the department hates. Never gonna crack it with a detective who wears an actual fedora unironically” and features an image of a man in a suit and hat next to a police officer and vehicle. The News Literacy Project has added a label that says “FALSE CONTEXT.”

❌ NO: There is no indication that the well-dressed man in this photograph is a detective or involved in the investigation into the October jewelry heist at the Louvre in Paris, France.

✅ YES: This is a genuine photograph taken by an Associated Press photographer that shows an unidentified high school student near police officers outside of the French museum.

✅ YES: Other photographs taken at this time and location show a variety of other passersby walking through the scene.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

When we want something to be true — such as a photograph appearing to show a dapper detective investigating a jewelry heist — we are less likely to critically examine the content. View these Google Slides for a few tips to prevent confirmation bias from misleading us online.

➕ Has your favorite band unexpectedly released a new song? You may need to double-check it’s really them. AI-generated songs are being uploaded to the streaming pages of inactive bands or dead musicians — hijacking identities for a quick buck.

➕ Following lawsuits over child safety, Character.AI said it will no longer allow kids under 18 to use its AI chatbot companions.

➕ A family of Australian influencers said they’re moving to the U.K. to avoid Australia’s social media ban for kids under 16.

➕ Are celebrity deepfakes protected as free speech? Test yourself on First Amendment questions like these in this Freedom Forum quiz.

➕ There’s more than one Bill de Blasio. One is the former mayor of New York City, and one is a wine importer (DeBlasio). A reporter from the Times of London newspaper found this out the hard way — after being duped by the latter and publishing an erroneous story.

➕ In the rural town of Kotzebue, Alaska, the population is 3,102 and most residents (70%) are Iñupiaq, an Alaska Native group. They depend on essential local news from an NPR affiliate station called KOTZ that many fear is in danger of closure following federal cuts to public media.

➕ News coverage from the Indiana Daily Student will be back in print, after all. Following weeks of public criticism, Indiana University reversed its decision to end the print version of its student newspaper. (➡️For more about this, check out the Oct. 20 issue of The Sift.)