NewsLitCamp®: Trust and Credibility was held on Jan. 27, 2023 as part of National News Literacy Week.

NewsLitCamp: Trust and Credibility was a free, virtual event hosted by the News Literacy Project in partnership with NBCUniversal News Group! It was designed to help educators teach students to analyze news and information with a skeptical — not cynical — eye. The professional learning highlighted: 

• What it means for news to inform us credibly.  
• How persuasion can and should be credible.  
• What it means for a source to be trustworthy.  

Sessions started at 9 a.m. ET Jan. 27 and continued throughout the day. They included insights from journalism professionals and news literacy and media experts nationwide, along with the opportunity to connect and share directly with others. 

View speakers and panelists here.

Sessions and recordings

Welcome to NewsLitCamp and opening session: What does it mean to be “news-literate”? 

In this webinar, we provided an overview of the news literacy concepts and skills that students need in order to be reliably informed, such as recognizing the difference between news and other types of information, including opinion and propaganda. We used the standards of quality journalism to identify credible news sources and common types of misinformation. 

Introduction to resources from the News Literacy Project 

Join experts from The News Literacy Project for a session highlighting NLP-developed resources to introduce and incorporate key news literacy concepts in your classroom. This session was facilitated by Shaelynn Farnsworth, Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy. 

How can journalists call out misinformation without being perceived as biased and losing the public trust? 

Join us for a panel of NBCUniversal News Group journalists, moderated by Ali Velshi, MSNBC host, as they discussed how journalists today approach balancing credibility and persuasion, debunking misinformation and maintaining public trust. Featured panelists included Tom Llamas, NBC News NOW anchor; Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News senior reporter; and Chris Scholl, NBC News Standards senior vice president. The discussion was followed by a live audience Q&A.        

How news organizations ensure fair representation on air  

How does a news organization determine who should appear on a panel discussing hot button issues to ensure a fair representation of views? Join us for a panel discussion focused on how newsrooms ensure credible, fair representation of topics on air and how they can combat misinformation. Moderated by Jesse Rodriguez, MSNBC vice president of Editorial and Booking, this panel included Bill Hinkle, coordinating producer of NBC News NOW; Lori Ann LaRocco, CNBC News senior editor of guests; Andre Brooks, NBC News NOW executive producer; and Nina Sen, director of NBC News Standards. It was followed by a live audience Q&A.  

Join us on Jan. 27 for NewsLitCamp®: Trust and Credibility, held as part of National News Literacy Week.

Friday, Jan. 27, 2023
9 A.M. – 6 P.M. EST

Registration is now open.

Join us for this immersive conference built exclusively for educators, presented by the News Literacy Project in partnership with the NBCUniversal News Group!

According to the Pew Research Center, teens and adults under 30 are now almost as likely to trust information from social media as they are to trust information from national news outlets. In a complex digital landscape where anyone can be an “expert,” the ability to identify signs of credibility is a vital skill. As partisan divides in media trust widen, knowing how to parse through this information is critical to a functioning democracy. How do we decide who to trust and what to believe?

This special NewsLitCamp is a unique, virtual event designed to help educators teach students to evaluate news and information with a skeptical — not cynical — eye.

Sessions will feature top journalists from NBC and elsewhere, including Ali Velshi, Brandy Zadrozny, Tom Llamas, Guad Venegas and Belén Smole.

Topics will cover:

• What it means to be “news literate.”
• Avoiding perceptions of bias when reporting on misinformation.
• How news organizations ensure fair on-air representation. 
• How the news media can repair its trust problem in marginalized communities.

In addition, a feature session at 3 p.m. ET includes the debut of “Harm & Distrust,” the latest lesson in NLP’s Checkology®️ e-learning platform. Journalists Wes Lowery and Natalie Moore, as well as NLP’s Peter Adams and EduColor’s Julia Torres, will discuss why communities of color have misgivings about mainstream news, and the progress and setbacks of today’s journalists and their coverage.

The first session starts at 9 a.m. ET with additional sessions continuing throughout the day. All sessions will be recorded and made available to everyone who registers.

What is NewsLitCamp?

NewsLitCamp is an immersive, free professional learning experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the news reporting process.

What can I expect?

Educators who join NewsLitCamp: Trust and Credibility will leave the day with new ideas, skills and resources to help students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape. They will be equipped to demystify what it means to evaluate news and information for trustworthiness and credibility.

Whether you’re a teacher, a librarian or an education professional looking to build upon your news literacy skills, we’d love for you to join. Register now.

Questions? Email us at [email protected].

Calling all educators in the Philadelphia area and those attending the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference! Please join us on Friday, Dec. 2 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET for NewsLitCamp® Philadelphia, a day of immersive, in-person professional learning built exclusively for educators and focusing on key news literacy concepts. The event will be held at WHYY’s Philadelphia newsroom.

During this NewsLitCamp, co-hosted by WHYY and The Philadelphia Inquirer, you can expect to learn directly from journalists who will share their insider expertise on how they do their work and the behind-the-scenes workings of a modern newsroom.

As you may know, NewsLitCamp is a unique opportunity for teachers, librarians and other educators across all subjects to connect directly with journalists and hone their ability to teach students how to sort fact from fiction.

Listen to what educators and journalists who have participated in NewsLitCamp have to say in this engaging and brief video.

All Philadelphia-area educators, including librarians and library media specialists, as well as educators in town for the NCSS conference, are encouraged to register for this special event.

We hope you can join us for this full day of news literacy programming!

This event is generously sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

Questions? Please reach out at [email protected].

End your school year on a high note by attending the News Literacy Project’s premier free professional learning event, NewsLitCamp.

Detroit NewsLitCamp, Part 2, June 23, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. ET

Please join us for a virtual half-day of professional learning focusing on key news literacy concepts built exclusively for educators within the Detroit Public Schools Community District and surrounding areas.

During this NewsLitCamp, you can expect to hear firsthand from journalists with the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan Advance. This is the second installment of our NewsLitCamp Detroit series for the 2021-22 school year. This event is sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

Register today!

Calling all Detroit Public Schools educators! Please join us on Thursday, June 23 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET for NewsLitCamp® Detroit part 2, a virtual half-day of professional learning focusing on key news literacy concepts built exclusively for educators within the Detroit Public Schools Community District and surrounding areas.

This is the second installment of our NewsLitCamp Detroit event series for the 2021-2022 school year.

Registration is limited to Detroit Public School educators only. To register, click here.

Issues accessing this registration page? Email us at [email protected].

To view the event schedule, click here. 

During this NewsLitCamp, you can expect to hear firsthand from journalists from the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan Advance, who will share their insider expertise on the behind-the-scenes workings of a modern newsroom.

As you may know, NewsLitCamp is a unique opportunity for teachers, librarians, and other educators across all subjects to connect directly with journalists and hone their ability to teach students how to sort fact from fiction.

Listen to what educators and journalists who have participated in NewsLitCamp have to say in this engaging and brief video.

All Detroit Public School educators, including librarians and library media specialists, are encouraged to register for this special event, regardless of subject area or grade level.

We hope you can join us for this interactive half-day of news literacy programming!

This event is generously sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

Questions? Please reach out at [email protected].

Calling all educators in Berks County, Pennsylvania!

We’re excited to announce NewsLitCamp® Berks County, hosted in partnership with the Berks County Intermediate Unit’s Core Connections Conference 2022!

Join us on June 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET for an immersive (and FREE!) professional development experience focusing on essential news literacy concepts.

This event is generously sponsored by the Google News Initiative.

Register today

NewsLitCamp is an immersive, free professional learning experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions (selected with input from participants) led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the news reporting process.

You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

If you are a middle or high school teacher, librarian, or other educator, or you know one who might be interested, please register and tell your colleagues about NewsLitCamp. 

Educators who attend Core Connections conference are eligible to earn up to 10 Act 48 credits.

See you on June 15!

Southwestern Pennsylvania educators – we can’t wait to host you for NewsLitCamp® Pittsburgh!

The News Literacy Project is pleased to announce our very first hybrid-style NewsLitCamp on Monday, June 6 at 8 a.m. ET, in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and sponsored by The Grable Foundation.

Register today

If you are local to Pittsburgh, join us in-person at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headquarters for an engaging (and FREE!) day of professional learning. Here, you’ll learn from Post-Gazette journalists, alongside experts from The News Literacy Project, about critical news literacy concepts you can take back to the classroom.

If you are unable to join in-person, no problem! Our virtual attendance option makes it easy to participate with other educators in real-time, via Zoom.

The day’s programming will culminate with a very special NewsLit Nation happy hour event, hosted at Southern Tier Brewery in the heart of Pittsburgh.

If you are a middle or high school teacher, librarian, or other educator, or you know one who might be interested, please register and tell your colleagues about NewsLitCamp.

Educators are eligible to receive Act 48 credits by attending this event. Register today!

Please join us on Wednesday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET for NewsLitCamp® Great Lakes, in partnership with the Star Tribune and the Akron Beacon Journal, and sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

Register here: https://newslitcampgreatlakes.sched.com/

This is a unique, virtual (and FREE!) experience for educators across the Great Lakes region. Educators in Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa are encouraged to attend.

NewsLitCamp is an immersive, free professional learning experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions (selected with input from participants) led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the news reporting process.

You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

If you are a middle or high school teacher, librarian, or other educator, or you know one who might be interested, please register and tell your colleagues about NewsLitCamp.

Calling all Miami-area educators!

Join us on Friday, April 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET for NewsLitCamp® Miami, in partnership with Miami-Dade Public Schools and sponsored by The Knight Foundation.

As you may know, NewsLitCamp is a unique opportunity for middle and high school teachers, librarians and other educators across all subjects to connect directly with journalists and hone their ability to teach students how to sort fact from fiction. (And by the way, it’s FREE!)

You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

If you are an educator based in the Miami, Florida area, or you know of one who might be interested, we’d love for you to join us. Register today.

Illinois educators, this one’s for you!

Join us on Friday, March 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT for NewsLitCamp® Illinois, in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times and sponsored by The Robert F. McCormick Foundation.

As you may know, NewsLitCamp is a unique opportunity for middle and high school teachers, librarians and other educators across all subjects to connect directly with journalists and hone their ability to teach students how to sort fact from fiction. (And by the way, it’s FREE!)

You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

If you are an educator based in Illinois, or you know of one who might be interested, we’d love for you to join us. Register today.

Calling all metro Atlanta educators!

Join us for NewsLitCamp Gwinnett County, in partnership with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Gwinnett County Public Schools, on Jan. 25 at 9a.m. ET.

NewsLitCamp is an immersive, free professional learning experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions (selected with input from participants) led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the news reporting process.

You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

Register here: https://bit.ly/NLCGwinnettCounty

This event is made possible with support from SmartNews. It is part of a series of NewsLitCamp events led by the News Literacy Project in collaboration with a diverse group of news organizations around the country.

Join us on Jan. 27 for a very special NewsLitCamp® held as part of National News Literacy Week.

This unique, virtual event is designed to help students understand, recognize and avoid misinformation. Sessions will include insights from expert journalists and news professionals and the opportunity to connect and share directly with others in small, virtual breakout rooms. Learn from misinformation expert Jane Lytvynenko, founders of the student-led nonprofit organization Teens for Press Freedom, and other leaders in the field  about the different types of misinformation and how you can better prepare your students to navigate it.

What is NewsLitCamp?

NewsLitCamp is an immersive, free professional learning experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions (selected with input from participants) led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the news reporting process.

What can I expect?

Educators who join NewsLitCamp: Misinformation will leave the day with new ideas, skills and resources to help students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

Whether you’re a teacher, a librarian, or other educator looking to build upon your news literacy skills, we’d love for you to join. RSVP here: https://bit.ly/NNLC2022.

Questions? Email us at [email protected].

This event is made possible with support from SmartNews.

Registration link: https://bit.ly/NLCBayArea2021

A virtual, regional, educator-centered professional development experience in collaboration with Local News Matters.

Join the News Literacy Project and San Francisco Bay Area-based independent newsroom Local News Matters on Nov. 22  for a virtual, educator-focused NewsLitCamp® led by journalists from Local News Matters alongside NLP’s news literacy experts.

This event is open to all educators throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including those in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties.

Questions? Email us at [email protected] or visit us at newslit.org for more information.

This NewsLitCamp is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight foundation.

Please note: This event is open only to Detroit Public School educators. If you are a DPS educator, access the following link to register: https://bit.ly/NLCDetroit2021

A virtual, regional, educator-centered professional development experience in collaboration with Detroit Public Schools and the Detroit Free Press

Join the News Literacy Project (NLP) and Detroit Public Schools on Nov. 2 for a virtual, educator-focused NewsLitCamp® led by journalists from the Detroit Free Press and NLP’s news literacy experts, designed to empower you to teach news literacy.

This event is open to all educators in Detroit Public Schools.

Questions? Email us at [email protected] or visit us at newslit.org for more information.

This NewsLitCamp is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight foundation.

NewsLitCamp  is an immersive, free professional learning experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions (selected with input from participants) led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the news reporting process. You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape and demystify what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

Sign up today (it’s FREE!) to reserve your seat!

When: Aug 27, 2021 08:30 AM CST

Who can attend: This NewsLitCamp is designed primarily for middle and high school teachers and media specialists in the U.S. Space permitting, we also will welcome school administrators, post-secondary and international educators.

Please email [email protected] with questions.

This event is made possible with support from the Google News Initiative and is part of a series of NewsLitCamp events led by the News Literacy Project in collaboration with a diverse group of news organizations around the country.

Talk about good timing. In early 2020, Erin Wilder encouraged her fellow high school English teachers to hop in the car and head from Hoschton, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, for a NewsLitCamp®. Wilder was certain a drive of a few hours would prove valuable to her colleagues — Warren Clemens, Joe Jenifer and Ramona Avery.

We all know what happened soon after. By early spring, the pandemic forced schools to close for the remainder of the school year and begin in the fall of 2020 with distance learning or hybrid models of teaching. To keep students engaged, educators have had to get creative and collaborate more than ever.

That’s where Wilder’s expertise with NLP’s Checkology® came in. Her team was new to the e-learning platform, so her experience was invaluable for building a media literacy curriculum in an asynchronous learning environment. “Because I had experience with it, I had a plan from the outset,” Wilder says.

Her colleagues were glad to have that guidance.  As team leader, Wilder organized content and sequenced lessons to achieve learning outcomes.

“Erin was using Checkology a lot. I hadn’t pulled the trigger until this year, and I needed to learn how to use it in the classroom,” Clemens says.

The NewsLitCamp was worth the drive, says Jenifer. It gave him insight on how to approach the topic. “That experience really helped me to better implement the media literacy curriculum and use Checkology,” he says.

The curriculum is part of a required class for about 600 Mill Creek High School seniors. “We want them to be literate citizens,” Wilder says. “We want them to understand how these skills transfer when they go out into the world.”

Making connections to their lives

The team taught  the Checkology lessons “InfoZones,” “Understanding Bias,” “Misinformation,” “Introduction to Algorithms” and “Conspiratorial Thinking.”

“The [lesson] videos are fun and allow such great discussions,” Clemens says.

The teachers supplemented lessons with material from The Sift® newsletter, NLP educator resources and other content. Studying algorithms and branded content (advertising disguised as news) allowed them to  demonstrate connections between class material and what was happening in students’ newsfeeds. “I’d pull a social media account up and say, ‘Look what they’re showing me and what they are suggesting for me,’” Wilder says. “We think it’s random garbage that shows up but it’s not random. They can see that pattern is there on purpose and realize, ‘This is what the machine thinks of me.’”

The lessons led to students to learning how to identify whether a piece of content was credible and determining how it had been manipulated. “They’re able to see through the façade of what is being pushed out,” Wilder says.

When teaching “Understanding Bias,” Clemens had students choose a current event and find related news articles that represented different partisan opinions. That lesson also helped one of Jenifer’s students, whose political opinions were shifting away from his father’s, speak openly with him. “It allowed him to intelligently have those discussions with his dad,” he says, noting that “students have to make their own choices, have their own voices.”

And a watershed moment for Jenifer and his students came when they began looking at consumption of media from the perspective of a balanced diet. “You need a balanced diet to make healthy choices. When you don’t have that, it makes for unhealthy choices and unhealthy decisions,” he says.

Lessons learned

Based on the team’s experiences this spring, they have some advice for those diving into news literacy education next fall:

• Don’t go it alone; teach as part of a team.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes.
• Challenge students intellectually and encourage them to think in different ways.
• Familiarize yourself with all material available through NLP and other resources.
• Use examples from daily life to engage students.

Clearly, their pre-pandemic road trip back in 2020 paid off in ways the teaching colleagues couldn’t have predicted, and they’ll be using the lessons learned in the school year ahead.

Questions?

Email Miriam Romais, NLP’s senior manager of education and training, at [email protected] or Katherine Templeton, Richland Two’s coordinator for professional learning, at [email protected].

This NewsLitCamp is presented by the News Literacy Project and is generously supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Questions?

Email Miriam Romais, NLP’s senior manager of education and training, at [email protected], Kate Indrelie, Sourcewell Technology’s education technology consultant, at [email protected], or Ann Kaste, Minnetonka High School’s information and digital learning coordinator, at [email protected]

This NewsLitCamp is presented by the News Literacy Project and is generously supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

NewsLitCamp helps teachers and librarians develop expertise in news literacy, demystifying what distinguishes quality journalism from misinformation.

Join the News Literacy Project (NLP), The Wall Street Journal and the New York City Department of Education on June 3 for NewsLitCamp, a national virtual teacher-centered day of professional learning featuring breakout sessions with journalists from the Wall Street Journal. This program is part of a series of NewsLitCamp events led by the News Literacy Project in collaboration with a diverse group of news organizations around the country.

Sign up today (it’s FREE!) to reserve your seat!

NewsLitCamp is an immersive, free professional development experience primarily for middle and high school educators. It features topical sessions (selected with input from participants) led by journalists and news literacy experts, designed to empower you to teach news literacy.

Details

Educators from across the U.S. are invited to join us for a day of free synchronous sessions and live interactions with WSJ journalists and experts from the News Literacy Project: 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and 12:45-3 p.m. ET. (7:30-11 a.m. and 11:45-2 p.m. CT; and 5:30-9 a.m. and 9:45-12 p.m. PT).

NYC DOE participants can receive up to six hours of CTLE credit (you must sign up with your DOE email: schools.nyc.gov). Participants from other schools can apply for credit within their districts.

In mid-April, educators will be prompted to create a Sched.com account to access related materials and Zoom links. Sched will be the home base for all of the event activities.

Why attend?

As an educator, you directly influence how your students process everything they read, watch and hear. You’ll leave NewsLitCamp with new ideas, skills and resources to help your students navigate today’s complex and challenging information landscape. Our goal is to help teachers and librarians develop expertise in news literacy education, share specialized teaching resources and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the newsgathering process — demystifying what distinguishes quality journalism from rumors, hoaxes and other types of misinformation.

Who can attend

This NewsLitCamp is designed primarily for middle and high school teachers and media specialists in the U.S. Space permitting, we also will welcome school administrators, post-secondary and international educators. Please email [email protected] with questions.

Bonus Session

Attend either our introductory or advanced session on the Checkology® virtual classroom, our free, easy-to-use platform full of engaging news literacy learning experiences. Its 14 lessons can be used remotely or in person and are easily integrated into variety of subject areas, with lesson topics like:

• Misinformation.
• The standards of quality journalism.
• News judgment.
• Watchdog journalism and its contributions to democracy.
• News media bias.

About The Wall Street Journal

Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal serves as the definitive source of news and information, reporting through the lens of business, finance, economics and money—global forces that shape the world and are key to understanding it. Its global digital offerings have grown to include 12 sites in six languages, edited locally for a regionally relevant focus. Wsj.com delivers breaking news streams, interactive features, videos, podcasts and blogs, as well as clear labeling to help readers differentiate between news and opinion content online. Published by Dow Jones, the Journal offers unparalleled analysis and unique reporting informing decisions that drive the world forward. It has won 38 Pulitzer Prizes in a variety of categories, including national reporting, international reporting, explanatory reporting, commentary and public service.

Questions?

Email Miriam Romais, NLP’s senior manager of education and training, at [email protected].

This NewsLitCamp is presented by the News Literacy Project and is generously supported by News Corp.