The News Literacy Project talks misinformation with USA Today

As flooding from Hurricane Harvey devastated southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, many people shared news online that wasn’t always what it seemed to be. Whether a shark on a freeway or airplanes nearly submerged, some of the images have been shared tens of thousands of times — yet simply aren’t true. Peter Adams, senior vice president of educational programs, spoke with USA Today reporter Alia Dastagir about the importance of thinking before you share news and pictures online.

 

 

Glamour magazine tackles fake news with NLP’s help

Peter Adams, NLP’s senior vice president for educational programs, shared tips for spotting “fake news” with Glamour’s Kat Brown. “The internet has allowed anyone to create a webpage that appears to contain verified information,” he said. “Give it a name that sounds like news media – a city plus ‘Gazette’ or ‘Times’, for example – and you’re up and running.” Another tip: Assess whether the piece is preying on consumers’ emotions. Many are designed to do just that.

IVY, which describes itself as “the world’s first social university, created to unite thoughtful individuals through a lifetime of new inspiration and connections,” talks with NLP founder and CEO Alan C. Miller about the work of the News Literacy Project, including the Facebook public service ads aimed at people who share fake news online.

Praise from ‘The Innovative Educator’ for NLP’s Checkology® platform

Lisa Nielsen (a/k/a The Innovative Educator), director of digital engagement and professional development at the New York City Department of Education, attended the News Literacy Project’s Aug. 1 #NewsLitCamp at Time Inc. headquarters. She wrote two blog posts about her experience — one outlining the benefits of the Checkology® virtual classroom (which she said provides “high-quality, engaging material that keep me glued to the lessons for hours”) and the other discussing strategies presented during the NewsLitCamp for giving a voice to diverse communities.

The Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington features Alan Miller as guest blogger

“Today, misinformation, rumor and spin can overwhelm real news, and the News Literacy Project provides the tools to meet this challenge,” NLP’s founder and CEO, Alan C. Miller, writes in a blog post for the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. In his post, he outlines NLP’s purpose, accomplishments and goals.

Public radio program highlights NLP’s work in Miami

Damaso Reyes, who is overseeing NLP’s expansion in Miami, was recently interviewed on Topical Currents, a public affairs program on South Florida’s public radio station, WLRN. He discussed how NLP’s growing presence in Miami is empowering students to resist fake news.

Bethesda Magazine profiles Alan Miller

“We were the antidote to fake news long before anybody coined that term,” NLP’s president/CEO tells writer David Frey. The article explores how NLP grew from an idea that hatched during Miller’s visit to a Bethesda middle school to a national nonprofit that today has a potential reach of more than 1 million students worldwide.

Op-ed: Media literacy should be part of the core curriculum

The News Literacy Project got a shout-out in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed by Larry Atkins, a journalism professor at Temple University and Arcadia University. One way to fight fake news, he writes, is including media literacy as a mandatory part of every child’s educational experience.

Columbia Journalism Review highlights benefits of NLP

After a “murky” survey made its way across the country, Glendora Meikle of the International Reporting Project analyzed the effects of publishing news items that haven’t been properly vetted. In a piece in Columbia Journalism Review, she highlights NLP’s tips for determining the accuracy of what we’re reading, watching and hearing.

Peter Adams talks about teaching news literacy online

The launch of the News Literacy Project’s Checkology® virtual classroom was “fortuitously timed,” Elia Power of MediaShift writes in a Q&A with Peter Adams, NLP’s senior vice president for educational programs. The two discussed the use of e-learning methods to teach news literacy.

 

 

NLP expands to Miami-Dade Public Library System

The News Literacy Project’s Checkology® virtual classroom is being offered this summer to patrons of the Miami-Dade Public Library System. Holly Pretsky of WLRN, Miami’s public radio station, has the details.

 

 

Wired visits a Checkology® classroom

A senior writer at Wired returns to her old high school in Philadelphia, where today’s students are learning how to know what to believe — thanks to the Checkology® virtual classroom. (And the online magazine Ozy included the Wired piece in its Presidential Daily Brief, a daily listing of articles that it considers “important” or “intriguing.”)

Alan Miller in The New York Times: ‘Fake news’ is a ‘wake-up call’

In reporter Jim Rutenberg’s story on why fake news dies hard, Alan C. Miller, the News Literacy Project’s president and CEO, explains how organizations such as NLP are responding to viral rumors, hoaxes and conspiracy theories.

Alan Miller on CBS LA: ‘A very large part of the problem is the sharing’

In a report on the prevalence of false news pieces about celebrities, NLP President and CEO Alan C. Miller talks with Suzanne Marques, an entertainment reporter at CBS2 in Los Angeles, about the News Literacy Project’s collaboration with Facebook in fighting fake news.

The Columbia Chronicle features NLP’s VIP breakfast in Chicago

The Columbia Chronicle captured humor writers’ discussions about the hard work behind satire, news and “fake news” in its report on the News Literacy Project’s VIP breakfast at Columbia College Chicago on April 28. “Fake News, Alternative Facts and Microwaves: We’re Just Trying to Keep Up!” featured Chad Nackers, head writer of The Onion, and Ben Berkley, The Onion’s executive editor, with Peter Sagal of NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! leading the conversation.

NLP’s #SeeAlltheAngles campaign: ‘Take the time to read and think’

Advertising Age and Adweek, the leading sources of news about the marketing and media industries, provided some background on the campaign’s eye-catching typeface. Chicago Public Square gave a nod to NLP’s latest effort to fight fake news. The #SeeAlltheAngles ad campaign, which will appear in a variety of media outlets over the next six months, was developed in partnership with J. Walter Thompson New York.

NLP CEO appears on Facebook Live to announce new partnership

Alan C. Miller, NLP’s president and CEO, joined Jeff Jarvis, a professor at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism; Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of news partnerships; and John Borthwick, CEO of Betaworks, on Facebook Live on Monday to announce the launch of the News Integrity Initiative. Funded by tech industry leaders, academic institutions, nonprofits and other organizations, the Initiative includes 19 participants from around the world, all working to advance news literacy and improve trust in journalism. NLP is the only participant that focuses solely on news literacy.

Chicago’s WGN Radio tackles news literacy

Erika Hobbs, NLP’s communications director and Chicago program manager, was interviewed by Amy Guth on the most recent episode of WGN Radio’s Saturday Night Special. The topic: NLP’s efforts to deliver news literacy education to people of all ages.

Alan Miller talks with KSFR’s Dave Marash

NLP’s president and CEO, Alan C. Miller, was interviewed on Thursday, March 30, by Dave Marash of KSFR-FM, a public radio station in Santa Fe, N.M. They discussed how reporters are covering President Donald Trump’s administration and why it’s necessary to teach young people about journalism, its role in a democracy, and the importance of credible information.

This was Miller’s second appearance on Here & There with Dave Marash. You can listen to their first conversation here.

NLP shares news literacy tools with School Library Journal

NLP’s New York program manager, Damaso Reyes, joined media literacy experts for a webinar that educates librarians and teachers about tools that help students gain vital news and media literacy skills.

CNN notes NLP’s role in teaching kids to separate fact from fiction

The News Literacy Project’s programs and resources are among the “new weapons” that educators are deploying to teach their students how to fight against misinformation in the digital age.

KidsPost visits a school using NLP’s Checkology® virtual classroom

Washington Post reporter Harrison Smith spent time in a classroom at Saint Francis International School, a Catholic school in Silver Spring, Maryland, where students are using NLP’s e-learning resource to become responsible news consumers and avoid falling for “fake news.”

Inquirer profile captures Checkology virtual classroom’s success

The Philadelphia Inquirer spent time in two schools to show how students use (and like) NLP’s Checkology™ virtual classroom. The schools’ adoption of the virtual classroom comes amid a growing national movement among educators to bring news- and media-literacy lessons to their students.

Checkology teacher shares importance of news literacy on Radio Arlington

Patricia Hunt, a government teacher at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, was featured on WERA’s Choose to be Curious show. She focused on how she is using the Checkology™ virtual classroom with her students and why news literacy skills are important in the digital age.

Hunt was previously featured in two other reports on NPR and on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate for Washington, D.C.

Journalists and educators turn to NLP for help with ‘fake news’

With the public’s attention focusing on issues related to “fake news,” journalists and educators across the country are coming to us to learn how to know what to trust. An op-ed column in the International Falls (Minnesota) Journal suggested that readers use NLP’s resources to “bone up on our ability to gauge the accuracy and purpose” of information found in print, on radio and television, and online. An editorial in The Columbia Chronicle, the student newspaper at Columbia College Chicago, mentioned Facebook’s collaboration with NLP as one way to combat “fake news” on social media. And Peter Adams, our senior vice president for educational programs, spoke with Julie Smith of BAM! Radio, an education-oriented talk radio network, and offered teachers ideas on weaving news literacy concepts into their lessons.

ABC News airs NLP’s lessons live

ABC News spent a morning with Elis Estrada, NLP’s program manager for the Washington, D.C., region, and a class at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington to demonstrate how students use our lessons to learn to distinguish false or misleading content from credible information.

WJLA-TV features Wakefield High School students using the Checkology virtual classroom

Kellye Lynn, the education reporter at WJLA-TV (the ABC affiliate in the Washington, D.C., area), filed a report from a government class using NLP’s Checkology™ virtual classroom to explain how the platform is helping students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, sort fact from fiction online.

Alan Miller appears on WAMU’s 1A

Host Joshua Johnson talked with NLP founder and CEO Alan C. Miller and two media journalists about stories and information that masquerade as news.

MediaFile focuses on NLP’s role in Facebook Journalism Project

NLP’s founder and CEO Alan C. Miller is interviewed about the potential impact of NLP’s PSA campaign with Facebook.

Student journalists share their experience with Checkology virtual classroom

Student journalists from St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey wrote about their experience with the Checkology™ virtual classroom on a day when NLP’s vice president of digital media, Darragh Worland, visited the class.

The New York Times revives advice from Peter Adams

The authors say they no longer need to persuade teachers that news literacy is a critical skill, and give a nod to advice Adams gave earlier on on the “digital naïveté” of “digital natives.”

Lexington Herald-Leader reports on NLP’s efforts under Knight grant

Columnist Tom Eblen highlighted NLP’s efforts under a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to bring news literacy and the Checkology™ virtual classroom to Lexington, Kentucky.

NLP’s Facebook PSA campaign creates international buzz

The News Literacy Project’s plans to create public service ads for Facebook made headlines around the world.

Founder and CEO Alan C. Miller told The Christian Science Monitor that the effort “makes sense” because Facebook is the place to “share the tools to be better-informed consumers and sharers of all that people are getting on the platform.”

In The Irish Times and the Financial Times (registration may be required), Miller described how NLP may create video ads to reach beyond its secondary-school roots to reach a broader Facebook audience.

Circa features NLP resources as antidote to fake news

Circa, the millennial-focused news site, featured NLP’s resources, including its Checkology™ virtual classroom, as a vital solution to misinformation and fake news.

 

The Yellin Center spotlights NLP’s work

The official blog for The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain and Education highlighted NLP and its resources that teach students how to evaluate the credibility of news and information.

American Libraries magazine promotes NLP’s resources

The publication of the American Library Association outlined how libraries can help fight fake news, mentioning the News Literacy Project’s programs as an important resource.

Philadelphia Public School Notebook features NLP’s Knight grant and expansion

Dale Mezzacappa highlights NLP’s efforts to bring news literacy and its Checkology™ virtual classroom to Philadelphia with help from the Knight Foundation in this article for the Philadelphia Public School Notebook.

Youth Today talks with NLP’s Peter Adams

Peter Adams, NLP’s senior vice president for educational programs, spoke to Youth Today about NLP’s impact and reach. The newspaper is distributed nationally in print and online, and is read by professionals in the youth service field.

Tri-City Herald editorial endorses NLP’s mission

The Kennewick, Washington, paper’s editorial board singled out the News Literacy Project for its work to help young people discern fact from fiction, and urged readers to support its programs and mission.

Time for Kids features NLP classroom program teacher

In a November cover story — “A Matter of Fact: News Literacy Programs Teach Kids How to Separate Fact from Fiction” — Time for Kids, a news magazine geared toward students in elementary and middle schools, highlights NLP’s work and includes interviews with Alan C. Miller, NLP’s president and founder, and a partner teacher in New York City.