NLPeople Sara Lewis
Takoma Park, Maryland

This is part of a series that introduces you to the people behind the scenes at the News Literacy Project.

1.) Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to NLP?

I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and am a proud Michigander. At the University of Michigan, service was a big part of my college experience, and it was through volunteering with children that I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I joined Teach for America right out of college and began my professional journey in education. I taught high school and middle school social studies for seven years, most of them in Washington, D.C., and then I then transitioned to supporting teachers through working in operations at education nonprofits in New Haven and Boston. After being a full-time mom for five years, I then found my way to NLP, which felt like a perfect fit for me as a former social studies teacher and nonprofit operations manager.

2.) How has your Teach for America experience working with students in underserved areas informed your work at NLP?

Well to start, I so wish that NLP had been in existence when I was teaching social studies. As a former teacher, not only can I appreciate the incredible resources NLP provides for educators, but I also understand the need for strong systems to make an organization run smoothly. When I was teaching in urban public schools several years ago, there were broken systems at every turn and that kept all stakeholders from having the experience that they deserved. Thus, when I started working in nonprofit operations, I made it a priority to create and implement organized systems that make life easier for all staff and the educators we serve.

3.) Since joining NLP, what has been your most satisfying or surprising experience?

During my first year of teaching, I spent each evening reviewing and sometimes learning the content that I was about to teach the next day. And while staying just a day ahead of my students certainly wasn’t ideal, I did truly enjoy learning new material that I hadn’t been taught in my history classes. Lacking a background in journalism, I was surprised to discover when I first started working for NLP just how much I didn’t know about what goes into creating quality news. I soon realized that one of the biggest perks of this job would be getting to again learn something new every day. At NLP, I am constantly learning new things about news literacy and that’s been probably the most satisfying and surprising part of being a part of this organization.

4.) You have young kids; do they understand NLP’s work and your role?

The other day I overheard a conversation between my 7-year-old daughter and a friend in which they were discussing what their parents did at work. My daughter explained to her friend that her mom “helps people understand what to believe on the internet,” so she has a general understanding of the work that NLP does. My 10-year-old son certainly has a higher level of understanding of NLP’s work than his sister. He has always been quite precocious, and like his mom, is a history buff and a news junkie. One of my favorite things to do with him while we’re in the car on the way to soccer practice is to listen to news podcasts and then talk about the content. I look forward to introducing him to Checkology in the near future!

5.) What news literacy tip, tool or guidance do you most often use?

I’m not sure that this is the tool I use most often, but my favorite new literacy tool is probably geolocation. While my family is quite settled in our current house and we have no plans to move anytime soon, I am a real estate junkie and I love checking out the online listings of nearby homes for sale and using Google Street View to explore new neighborhoods.

6.) Aside from fighting for facts, what else are you passionate about?

The outdoors! I love being outside in all sorts of weather, particularly in the snow. Unfortunately for me, D.C. gets only one or two good snowfalls a year (if that). I grew up skiing, ice skating on the lake, playing ice hockey, and building snow forts, and I love to find ways to get outside with my family. One of the best parts of the pandemic has been all the hiking that I’ve been able to convince my husband and kids to do with me. In addition to playing outside, I also love traveling and exploring new places.

7.) Are you on team dog, team cat, team wombat? Or do you prefer stuffed animals to pets?

My mother is quite the animal lover, and I grew up with dogs, cats, guinea pigs, cockatiels, finches, fish, frogs and bunnies. Somehow, I managed to marry a man who is not even an animal liker, thus our house is devoid of pets. But I’m definitely on team dog. Someday I plan to come home with a dog and hopefully my husband will come around to the new member of our family.

8.) What item do you always have in your fridge?

A lemon. I use lemons all the time. In my tea, squeezed over roasted veggies, to make marinades and dressings, etc.

9.) What’s in your backpack, laptop case or pocket right now?

I’m a mom so I of course have a giant purse that contains all the usual items (keys, wallet, mask, reusable grocery bags), but then I also have lots of snacks, band-aids and Kleenex. Oh, and my planner, which is made of paper! I get teased for having a paper planner, but I much prefer this old school method of organizing my life.

2022 Gwen Ifill Student of the Year
Alysa Baltimore
Station Camp High School
Gallatin, Tennessee

When her AP English teacher let Alysa Baltimore and her classmates choose a book to read and report on, Baltimore saw it as an opportunity to learn more about an issue important to her — racial justice.

She chose Just Mercy, a nonfiction book about redemption and justice by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which works to end mass incarceration. Stephanie Jones, Baltimore’s  teacher at Station Camp High School in Gallatin, Tennessee, was not surprised that she chose such a serious and meaningful read.

“She is an intelligent young woman who is passionate about many issues, especially those concerning race,” said Jones, who nominated Baltimore as NLP’s Gwen Ifill Student of the Year.

Baltimore, a junior, will be honored as one of NLP’s News Literacy Change-Makers in a virtual event June 9 along with the Alan C. Miller Educator of the Year and the John S. Carroll Journalist of the Year. Register here to join the event.

To be considered for the award, students submit an essay demonstrating how becoming more news-literate has impacted their lives. Baltimore, 16, explained how she used newfound research and critical thinking skills to deepen her knowledge of mass incarceration in an effort  to make others aware of the issue.

“Finding adequate statistics and facts on mass incarceration might have been challenging if it weren’t for the skills that I developed from completing the Checkology® virtual classroom lessons,” she wrote in her award submission.

What she learned also has influenced her daily habits. “When you have so many people manipulating the truth, it becomes challenging to differentiate between what’s real and what’s not. Checkology has changed the way I look at social media and news articles. Now I check the background before I share anything,” she said.

Baltimore also has become the person friends and family go to when they are unsure about the credibility of information they encounter. “I do think I have a responsibility to correct people,” she said of friends who seek her out, and her sister in particular. “If she’ll come to me with something that might not be accurate, I can help her find true information and help build her connection with what I’m passionate about,” she said.

Baltimore credits Checkology with helping to give her the insight to recognize a professional goal for her future, which is someday becoming a defense attorney. “On the surface, Checkology may be viewed as simple lessons on finding quality articles, but it ultimately led me to developing a passion for equality, equity and justice,” she said.

About Gwen Ifill

Ifill was a trailblazing journalist — and longtime NLP supporter and board member — who died in 2016. The award in her honor is presented to female students of color who represent the values she brought to journalism. Ifill was the first Black woman to host a national political talk show on television as moderator of Washington Week and was a member (with Judy Woodruff) of the first female co-anchor team of a network news broadcast on PBS NewsHour. 

2022 John S. Carroll Journalist of the Year
Pierre Thomas, Chief Justice Correspondent, ABC News

Over his long and distinguished career, Pierre Thomas has covered some of the biggest stories of our time. While doing so as the chief Justice correspondent for ABC News, he also has taken the initiative to go beyond the story and help the public understand the vital role that journalism plays in our democracy.

“Journalists are not always portrayed as patriotic, but we are,” Thomas said. “And we want the country to thrive, and one of the ways it can do well is to have a public that knows how to consume news.”

Thomas has been volunteering with the News Literacy Project in various capacities since 2009 and has played a meaningful role in the organization’s growth. In recognition of his commitment to both quality journalism and to news literacy education, Thomas has been named the News Literacy Project’s 2022 John S. Carroll Journalist of the Year.

“In addition to being a superb, award-winning journalist, Thomas embodies the journalistic and personal values that John S. Carroll epitomized,” NLP founder and CEO Alan C. Miller said in nominating Thomas for the award.

Thomas was one of NLP’s first volunteer journalist fellows; he participated in the in-person classroom program and initial digital unit, which evolved to become the Checkology® virtual classroom, and took part in five NLP-related events between February 2009 and January 2022. Thomas served on two prior advisory groups and is now a member of the National Leadership Council.

“Given what’s at stake in this moment that we find ourselves, we have to get as many people to know how to discern the news and how to consume it as possible,” he said. “And if anyone did not understand why an organization like News Literacy Project is important, all you need to do is look at January 6th. A bunch of people, angry, showed up, committed acts of violence based on misinformation. And that’s not a political view, that’s a journalistic, fact-driven view.”

Thomas will be honored as a News Literacy Change-Maker in a virtual celebration event June 9 along with NLP’s Alan C. Miller Educator of the Year and the Gwen Ifill Student of the Year. To join the event, register here.

As the ABC News chief Justice correspondent, Thomas covers major stories across all ABC News platforms. Since joining the network in 2000, he has covered some of the most important news stories of the day, from the 9/11 terrorist attacks to mass shootings to racial injustice. He has received many of journalism’s highest  honors, including the prestigious Peabody and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University awards and numerous Emmys and Edward R. Murrow awards. In 2012 he was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Thomas is also the past chairman of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press.

In 2020, he reported on the murder of George Floyd and the racial injustice and police brutality protests that followed.

About John S. Carroll

Named for one of the most revered newspaper editors of his generation, the John S. Carroll Journalist of the Year Award is given annually to journalists who have contributed significantly to NLP and its mission. The honorees, who receive $500 and a glass plaque with an etched photo of Carroll, are selected by a committee of NLP board members and staff. During an acclaimed journalism career spanning four decades, Carroll was the editor of three major U.S. newspapers — the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader, The Baltimore Sun and the Los Angeles Times. He was a founding member of NLP’s board and served as its chair for four years until shortly before his death in 2015.

2022 Alan C. Miller Educator of the Year
Jamie Gregory
Greenville, South Carolina

When it comes to teaching students to become more news-literate and helping her peers integrate news literacy education across disciplines, Jamie Gregory, librarian and journalism teacher at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina, leads the way.

Gregory is NLP’s 2022 Alan C. Miller Educator of the Year award winner. Tamara Cox, a librarian colleague at Wren High School in Anderson, South Carolina, nominated her for the honor. “She has been committed to integrating news literacy skills into various aspects of curriculum since she began teaching 17 years ago and is willing to learn more to adapt her teaching methods as students’ needs change,” Cox said.

Gregory will join the Gwen Ifill Student of the Year and John S. Carroll Journalist of the Year award winners in a virtual celebration event Thursday, June 9, at 7 p.m. ET. Register here to join the event.

Gregory discovered NLP’s resources six or seven years ago, when she returned to teaching journalism after a break of several years and realized that she needed a new approach in the classroom.  She attended her first NewsLitCamp®, where NLP experts like John Silva, senior director of professional learning, and local journalists work with teachers to explain news literacy and journalism concepts.  “I quickly knew that I was going to have everything I needed to help me to develop a curriculum,” she recalled. “Hearing John Silva say every student has the right to news literacy education reignited my passion, and I knew I was in the right place, and I have not looked back.”

Cox said Gregory serves as a subject matter expert for her school and others in the region, immersing herself in professional learning opportunities and helping NLP create a teaching framework for educators to use across grade levels. When she was asked to begin teaching a newspaper production class, Gregory applied and was selected for a Reynolds High School Journalism Institute, where she received two weeks of instruction from journalism professionals and educators. She is committed to sharing what she learns with other educators, recently presenting news literacy webinars with the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.

“No matter which school, which course, as a classroom teacher or school librarian, Jamie has consistently found ways to incorporate news literacy into the curriculum, showing her belief in its importance,” Cox noted.

For example, Gregory helped an English teacher implement coursework built around censorship. Students read books that the state of South Carolina had challenged, conducted research about the attempted censorship and then wrote editorials defending freedom to read, resulting in some students’ work being published in the local newspaper. Gregory also worked with a science teacher to craft a weekly assignment in which students shared news articles related to science topics, and she taught a lesson on discerning fact from opinion as the class was reviewing news coverage about stem cell research. “Students can find information on their own, but they lack the skills to really differentiate what’s reliable. And they need instruction on being an ethical digital citizen,” Gregory said.

“It has been said that democracy depends on an informed citizenry, and Jamie Gregory embodies this sentiment with her passionate work to build critical thinkers, creative lessons and programming on media/news literacy topics, and a focus on helping students develop their voices and make themselves heard,” Cox said.

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!

This is part of a series that introduces you to the people of NLP.

Jake Lloyd, social media manager, Seattle, Washington

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to NLP?
I have a journalism background, having grown up in Michigan reading the sports page of the Ann Arbor News (RIP) every afternoon and then writing for a local paper and the school weekly while in college. Post-graduation, I moved south and cobbled together freelance sports writing gigs in Durham, North Carolina, for a couple years during the middle of the recession. As fun as it was covering college basketball games in an incredibly competitive market, I decided to try something new through AmeriCorps. That’s what landed me in D.C. doing communications for a local nonprofit, DC SCORES, which I fell in love with. The focus soon became social media (learning Twitter in 2009 was fun!), and nine years later, a friend sent me a tweet — of course — about the opening at NLP and I jumped at the opportunity. While in D.C., I also did some freelance writing for the AP (Associated Press)  and started a niche podcast on the American University men’s basketball team with two friends – we were the only media outlet that consistently covered the team!

2. How has working for NLP impacted your life or changed your world perspective?
Where do I start? When I joined NLP in 2018, I knew that the work was important and I had heard people bandy about the (now-meaningless) term “fake news,” but I really had no idea how pervasive the threat of misinformation and disinformation was to all aspects of society. It’s obviously only gotten worse since I came on board. Personally, I’ve learned to look at every story (and tweet) with nuance and a critical eye; to check my emotions at the door of every conversation about every topic; to triple-check who’s actually saying what; and to understand that multiple things can be true. Professionally, I feel privileged to work for an organization that’s tackling the biggest, most overarching problem worldwide. Name me a crisis today that couldn’t be helped by news literacy.

3. Since joining NLP, what has been the most satisfying or surprising experience?
This is weird since I haven’t met half of them in-person, but you just know when you’re working with really good people who are all dedicated to a cause — and that’s 100% the case with NLP’s staff. From our few in-person interactions (remember 2019?) to the day-to-day virtual world we now inhabit, the work wouldn’t feel so meaningful if not for the people doing it. Our community is strong despite the physical miles between us.

4. What news literacy tip, tool or resource do you most often use?
This seems simple, but just to pause, to slow down. We often say “sanitize before you share” — a term we’ve used a lot during COVID-19 — and it rings so true to me. With any piece of information, if you just take a beat and truly assess it, you’re much less likely to share a falsehood or be tricked by a bad actor.

5. You recently moved cross country. What prompted you to make such a big move?
The outdoors! The PNW’s been on my radar for quite some time and after 12 years in D.C., it was time to head to the mountains and the wealth of big-nature opportunities that this area of the country has at its doorstep. Plus, it’s pretty cool to watch basketball games here that don’t end at 1 a.m.!

6. What is the first thing you will do once we fully emerge from the seemingly unceasing COVID-19 pandemic?
Oof! Probably go to as many big indoor events — hoops games, maybe a few concerts, etc. — as I can handle in a very short period of time. Also, I’ll visit some friends I haven’t seen in a few years.

7. Aside from fighting for facts, what else are you passionate about?
As mentioned above, I love the outdoors. I just feel more alive when I’m outside — whether I’m running, hiking, biking or skiing (that’s a new, PNW-induced hobby; I’m very much an amateur). From biking down the west coast to running five 50K ultramarathons with number six coming up in June, to leading a morning free fitness-based community called November Project while in D.C. and taking in the most beautiful sunrises, I dig physical challenges in beautiful places and I also love all weather, especially rain (thus the move to Seattle). And I shouldn’t neglect basketball on this — I’m a bit of a nerd. Have you tried the NBA version of Wordle called Poeltl? It’s a daily fix for me.

8. Are you on team dog, team cat, team wombat? Or do you prefer stuffed animals to pets?
Dog/cat for sure, although I’m also a squirrel guy — they get a bad rap. I don’t own pets, but we have six chickens coming in a couple months, so that should be interesting.

9. What’s one item you always have in your refrigerator?
Siracha and salsa.

10. What’s in your pocket/backpack/laptop case right now?
Just checked — nothing! Working from home has its perks 😊.

For Kristin Larson’s journalism students, studying press freedom is more than an academic exercise. She acquaints them with journalists who have put themselves at risk to reveal important information that people in power would prefer to remain hidden.

Larson, an English teacher at South Windsor High School in South Windsor, Connecticut, uses NLP’s Checkology® virtual classroom lesson “Press Freedoms Around the World” as a foundation.

They also watch Palestinian photojournalist Eman Mohammed’s TED Talk, “The courage to tell a hidden story,” and analyze one of her images: a photograph of Palestinian photographer Faiz Moemen, who lost his legs during an airstrike. He sits in a chair holding a camera, while a wheelchair with a camera on the seat is next to him.

Exploring press freedom limits

With this unflinching introduction, Larson’s class of ninth to 12^th graders begins to understand the courage needed to tell the truth when others might not want it to be told and the impact of such work.

“I want them to learn the risks of finding the hidden story and the risks of telling it,” Larson said.

Her students then choose a leading international journalist as their focus for a class presentation. They research the person’s education, experience and important work, and compile quotes and video clips.

A student in Kristin Larson’s journalism class gives a presentation about British journalist Katie Adie. The South Windsor, Connecticut, students were studying world press freedom. Photo by Kristin Larson

Larson ranks the presentations based on the degree of press freedoms in that journalist’s country, starting with the greatest freedoms and ending with the least. She bases her determinations on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) annual World Press Freedom Index, which the students learn about in the Checkology lesson.

Last week’s presentations included journalists from Ireland and the United Kingdom, with greater freedoms, and Sudan, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea, Venezuela and Russia, with lesser freedoms. The timing of the assignment is ideal. World Press Freedom Day is May 3.

Students use a section of the Checkology press freedoms lesson that describes the basis for a nation’s press rankings — whether journalists and news outlets have legal protections, who owns media companies, etc. They then answer questions based on what they learned from one another’s research.

And as a warmup, Larson asks her class where they think the United States ranks. “They all picked the U.S. as first in the rankings. They were really surprised” to learn it ranks in 44th place in the 2021 index.

Practicing journalists

By the end of the semester, her students gain life skills like critical thinking and a better understanding of how the world works and their place is in it. But they also practice those skills from the start.

Soon after class begins, they write for the school’s news site, The Bobcat Prowl (Larson is the adviser), or collaborate with the broadcast news class to develop a story for the school’s news channel, Bobcat News. The students also write for the yearbook. And she trains a few students as editors who help prepare their classmates’ work for publication.

Larson likes teaching this elective course because her students can pursue stories that interest them and have the room needed to reflect on what they learn. “They feel hope in our future because they know there are journalists searching to give the unbiased truth. It teaches them to read with an open mind, to spot bias,” she said.

And what they decide to cover is entirely up to them. “They can write whatever they want,” she said.

That means students sometimes turn their attention to events and issues beyond school grounds. For example, student Samantha Deras recently wrote about the role of women in Ukraine.

Larson began teaching journalism during the first months of the pandemic and discovered Checkology in late 2020, when she and the school’s library media specialist attended a virtual NewsLitCamp® — one of NLP’s professional learning events. “It was so good. They showed us Checkology, and since then we’ve been using it,” she said. “We were very inspired.”

Through her impactful, hands-on approach to teaching journalism, she’s inspired her students to understand press freedom on a deeper level as well.

Editorial cartoonists are known for their masterful, often trenchant use of images and text to express opinions or provide critique. Sometimes their work even propels national conversation or social change.

Now, students have a chance to explore the formidable history and impact of editorial cartoonists through a new, comprehensive Checkology® lesson, “Power in Art: The Watchdog Role of Editorial Cartoonists.” The lesson is included with the News Literacy Project’s free Checkology virtual classroom and is currently available to all educators. (You can preview the lesson here. To assign this to students, log in to or register for Checkology.)

“Editorial cartooning is a fascinating, complex form of opinion journalism, and we are very excited to incorporate this lesson into Checkology,” said Peter Adams, NLP’s senior vice president of education. “Guided by our subject matter expert, the award-winning editorial cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, students trace the role of editorial cartooning through history and gain valuable skills for analyzing and interpreting these powerful drawings, as well as other modern forms of graphic expression. With its international, multidisciplinary scope, this lesson would make a great addition to many course curricula, including social studies, history, journalism, media studies and art.”

The lesson provides an in-depth look at how the work of editorial cartoonists has held those in power accountable, as well as the characteristics and challenges of this important form of opinion journalism. Students analyze cartoons from around the world, with iconic examples from Benjamin Franklin, Charles Philipon, José Guadalupe Posada and others. The lesson also invites students to compare editorial cartoons with modern forms of graphic political expression, including memes.

Alcaraz, whose work has appeared in newspapers across the United States, Mexico and around the world, and the winner of the 2022 Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning, hosts the lesson.

Learning objectives of “Power in Art” include:

• Identifying the primary elements of an editorial cartoon and how they work together to express an opinion.
• Summarizing how editorial cartoons have held people in power accountable.
• Distinguishing between functional and harmful representations of groups in political cartoons.
• Analyzing and interpreting an editorial cartoon, including identifying opinion versus observation.
• Being able to describe why diverse voices and perspectives matter in editorial cartooning.
• Being able to explain how modern forms of graphic political expression compare with editorial cartoons.

“Power in Art” is the 15th lesson in NLP’s browser-based platform, which teaches students how to navigate the digital landscape by developing news literacy knowledge, skills and habits of mind.

This lesson was made possible with support from The Herb Block Foundation and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC).

In January 2009, philanthropists David and Katherine Moore took a leap of faith in me and the News Literacy Project when they became one of our first individual donors, despite the fact  that we had yet to provide a single classroom lesson. 

The Moores have been part of the NLP family ever since, making annual donations without fail. Following David’s death in 2011, Katherine took up our cause. This year, at her behest, the family gave NLP an exceptionally generous $500,000 advanced bequest to create an endowment. David’s and Katherine’s son, Richard, delivered the news.

“The News Literacy Project has been extremely important to my father and mother,” he said. “As a result, my mother wants to provide this special gift.”

NLP is using the funds to launch The David and Katherine Moore Endowment. This is a cornerstone of NLP’s newly created Legacy Society to recognize and thank those who are including NLP in their estate planning.

I’m tremendously grateful for the Moore family’s deep commitment to news literacy, and for the deeply meaningful friendship that David and I shared. Here is our story. 

The first time I met David, I asked him for money.

“Alan,” he responded, seemingly taken aback, “This is our first date. You can’t ask for money yet!”

The year was 2008.  Following a 29-year career as a journalist, I had just launched NLP. I had a lot to learn. David was one of those who would teach me.

As it turned out, this would be the first of many memorable lunches with David at the stately Harvard Club in midtown Manhattan, following an introduction by a family friend. It would also be the last time that David would decline my request for money.

In the years that followed, as David and I became friends, I relished our encounters.

Then in his mid-80s, David took the train in from a New York suburb for our lunches and other events as an active member of our New York advisory committee. He and Katherine visited our first high school partner in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen to watch David Gonzalez of The New York Times, who was our initial volunteer journalist fellow, alternate between English and Spanish as he powerfully connected with the students.

David Moore’s support was profoundly meaningful for another reason: He was the grandson of Joseph Pulitzer (I won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting with the Los Angeles Times in 2003).

With journalism in his blood, David did it all: He worked as a reporter; he founded an independent weekly and a magazine; he served as editor-in-chief of two publications, and he was active on the board of various journalism nonprofits. Among his most cherished causes were ethnic community news outlets and the Pulitzer Center for Investigative Journalism. 

In NLP, David saw a chance to make a difference by building an appreciation for journalism and by educating the next generation, particularly in New York’s underserved communities. 

David was invariably sharp, inquisitive and engaged. In 2010, he showed up for lunch with a copy of a long story about NLP. He had circled a reference deep in the piece about our plans to build upon our initial classroom program to create a digital unit and begin to move to scale.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” he asked. Another lesson: No surprises for David.

When David died in 2011 the age of 88, Katherine took up the NLP mantle in his honor. In 2014, she increased the family foundation’s yearly gift to NLP from $25,000 to $35,000, for an annual giving total of $445,000 since 2009.

I believe David would be extremely proud of how far NLP has come since that first lunch in 2008. The family’s most recent gift underscores that the project, and its growing impact, will be around for a long time to come.

Since its founding in 2008, the News Literacy Project has embraced change and adaptability to become the leading provider of news literacy education in the nation. Now, with our mission more urgent than ever, we embark on a new era with a major shift in our organization. On June 30, NLP founder and CEO Alan C. Miller will step down as CEO and transition to a new role within NLP, while our President and COO Charles (Chuck) Salter will succeed Alan as CEO on July 1. Salter also will retain the title of president, ensuring a seamless transition and continuity for the organization.  

NLP’s place as a game-changer in news literacy education is the result of Alan’s vision, passion and commitment. As a founder of the field of news literacy, he helped raise more than $35 million for NLP and oversaw its growth to a team of 30 staffers. (Hear Alan tell the story of NLP’s founding in this video.) 

Since 2016, more than 345,000 students have used NLP’s Checkology® virtual classroom, and the organization has engaged over 50,000 educators in all 50 states and more than 120 other countries. All told, educators using NLP resources and programs in the last year reached an estimated 2 million students.  

Chuck joined NLP in 2018 as its first chief operating officer and was named president in 2019. Prior to joining NLP, he spent nearly two decades in education — often working to advance opportunity in under-resourced communities — as a teacher, school leader, teachers union president and senior executive with several national education organizations. Read this Q and A with Chuck to learn more about the experience and expertise he brings to NLP.  

 NLP is poised to take on a more significant national presence as more school districts begin requiring news literacy education and as it continues to expand its work to reach adults. This strategic direction will enable NLP and its staff to focus on teaching people of all ages the news literacy skills they need to fully engage in the civic life of our country in meaningful and informed ways. 

Chuck Salter
Washington, D.C.

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to NLP?
   My father was an Army officer drafted during Vietnam, and both my parents were in the medical field. I’m the youngest of three sons. Both the small size of our family and the experience of moving so often when I was younger helped us become incredibly close as a family. My parents instilled in me a sense of service that has defined my professional life. I discovered in college as a tutor, TA and music instructor that I really enjoyed teaching. I was accepted into Teach For America in 1997, and my career path was forever altered. And 20 years later, I found myself moving back to the D.C. area to work with NLP.
2. Since joining NLP, what has been the most satisfying or surprising experience?
   I’ve really enjoyed learning about a whole new field: journalism. As a news junkie, I was surprised to learn how ignorant I was about the profession, how news is made and the challenges the field faces every day in living up to its highest standards. I keep this in mind to give me perspective and empathy for those we serve — remembering that even the most “informed” among us may not understand what it truly takes to be a free and responsible press.
3. You’ve had different jobs throughout the education sector. What makes NLP different from the others?
   I’ve been a teacher, principal, superintendent and teachers union president. And I’ve worked as a regional manager and national leader for several educational nonprofits. I’m not sure I could imagine doing anything else. But in my 20 years of work before coming to NLP, my efforts were focused largely on serving marginalized communities, working for that still-elusive goal of educational equity for all. At NLP, our focus is on a singular issue that affects all students, regardless of demographics, geography or social status. So while the focus of the work is much narrower, the scope of its impact is far, far broader than anything I’ve done before.
4. Aside from fighting for facts, what else are you passionate about?
   My work at NLP is a perfect combination of the issues I’m most passionate about: education, democratic participation and even civil rights. I do believe education is the foundation to all other agency and opportunities someone can have to reach their best selves. And a strong, representative democratic system is the best way for fully realized people to control their destiny. With regards to civil rights, as a member of the LGBT+ community, I’d say this is my most personal passion. Beyond simply allowing people to live their lives on equal terms with others, I don’t understand the hatred some people hold for others based on personal characteristics. On one level, I know it’s rooted in fear and misunderstanding, but the origin of such passionate hate some people exhibit toward others not like them — and all the other bad behavior that then excuses — will always be a mystery to me. And a source of personal sadness. But on a less serious note, I’m also pretty crazy about cooking, traveling, photography and, most recently, gardening.
5. You’ve lived many places and done a great deal of traveling. Any favorite places or highlights?
   Without getting too sentimental, I consider it a great privilege to have lived all over this country. It’s given me an appreciation for and a heightened sense of patriotism toward the United States, even without really having a place to call my “hometown.” I would not dare compare regions or cities here — they all offer something unique and wonderful.  Outside of the country, my favorite city, hands down, is London. I got married in May, and the first part of our honeymoon was a return trip to London. I’ve even considered living there a couple of times. But probably the two most wondrous places I’ve traveled to are Italy and South Africa, though I admit I’ve still got a few more continents to visit before I can declare my definitive favorite.
6. Are you on team dog, team cat, team wombat?
   As a member of ASPCA for many years now, I think animals in general are great and deserving of much more respect than a lot of people give them. And I certainly understand the deep joy a pet can bring to someone. But since you asked me to vote, while I do love so many kinds of dogs, I really have to say I’m a cat person through and through. Our cat, Erasmus, is 19 years old (I got him in law school!) and truly part of the family.
    

While teenagers might annoy adults by questioning everything around them, their pushback can be a good thing. This is especially true when young people have the skills and abilities to make informed judgments. Educators who use the NLP’s Checkology® e-learning platform see this when students challenge social media algorithms that skew their view of the world.

“Just being aware of online personalization gives them some power to resist,” educator Mary Kate Lonergan said. She teaches eighth grade social studies at Eagle Hill Middle School in Manlius, New York.

Lonergan uses a variety of resources to give students a strong foundation in news literacy. They can then apply what they’ve learned when researching a controversial issue during a cross-curricular social studies/ELA project. The students soon discover how algorithms determine what content they see. Middle school students understand that their TikTok feed looks different from a classmate’s feed, based on the ads they click or topics they search, she said. However, they are surprised at how fast algorithms can send them deeper into a rabbit hole, narrowing their view. “They don’t have the concepts to identify what’s happening.”

Illustrating pitfalls of algorithms

Lonergan’s students demonstrated their grasp of the topic by creating memes that addressed the pitfalls of algorithms. Using humor, well-known people and animated characters, they conveyed the insidiousness of personalized ads, online privacy issues and filter bubbles.

“Creating media is an important piece of news literacy. It demystifies the process, and they can see that intentional choices are being made — content has a purpose,” Lonergan said. “If you understand how this works, you can’t be taken advantage of.”

Her students reflected on their discoveries:

• “Whenever I am on social media I can identify when I have fallen into rabbit holes and be able to stop myself from getting sucked in too much.”
• “This project opened me up to making sure that I use social media for its benefits, so that it can help make me — not break me.”
• “What’s important to know is that echo chambers that you find yourself in can be good on one side and bad on the other, and companies profit off of that.”

How algorithms and technology impact our lives

Similar discoveries are taking place nearly 1,000 miles away in Kerise Broome’s 10^th grade English honors class at James Island Charter High School in Charleston, South Carolina. Her students start the year by  studying the role of technology in their lives. “I truly feel that we’ve got to make up some ground where technology evolved too quickly, and we weren’t teaching news literacy as part of our standard curriculum,” she said.

She challenges her students to write essays that address the following questions: In what ways do you see that technology is outpacing our ability to control it and presenting us with threats to our existence? What can we do to solve these problems?

“The overwhelming majority of them are looking at online personalization the way most adults are looking at it,” she said. “They feel like victims and that they are the product. They don’t like that idea at all.”

‘They do understand what the dangers are’

To give them the content knowledge needed to answer those tough questions, Broome uses a combination of resources and methods. This includes the Checkology lessons “InfoZones,” “Misinformation” and “Understanding Algorithms,” the documentary film The Social Dilemma, and peer-to-peer class discussions. “A lot of the information was surprising to them, but they do understand what the dangers are,” Broome said.

The essays were excellent, she said, because of the students’ knowledge, interest in and engagement with the topic. They also shared thoughts on how to address the challenge of navigating the information landscape.

Some of their insights:

• “Checking multiple trusted websites instead of using social media as our main source of information is a way we can help solve the problem of receiving incorrect information about important topics we should be correctly educated on.”
• “Social media has implemented a special way to take and keep our attention, by using our interests and goals and showcasing them in our personalized feeds.”
• “The best thing you could do in order not to get caught up [in conspiracy theories] is to [do] your research! Fact check! If you see something on social media that you know or think is fake, don’t repost it.”

Lessons resonate

Broome has seen how teens value the skills and insight that becoming news-literate brings. “It just really echoed some of the things they have seen. It’s the most relevant thing I teach all year long,” she said.

Lonergan weaves news literacy into her curriculum throughout the year and believes it’s never too early to start. “Middle schoolers are ready for these conversations and want to talk about it,” she said. “News literacy is the vehicle through which we engage in the content. It’s not another thing to teach; it’s another way to teach.”

By Pamela Brunskill

Students today are immersed in a news and information landscape that pervades every aspect of their lives. From TikTok to Instagram to Twitter, they are inundated with posts, and many of them are not credible or legitimately grounded. It is difficult to know what is true. Because this environment is complex and riddled with misinformation, it provides a prime opportunity to authentically develop students’ critical thinking abilities.

Critical thinking defined

One of the most highly sought goals of educators is to get students to think critically. In a rough sense, this involves the skills and dispositions necessary to make an informed judgment. According to a meta-analysis on the subject, critical thinking is purposeful, methodical, and habitually inquisitive. Critical thinkers have the skills to interpret, analyze, and evaluate content; they are diligent and persistent in considering a question, and they approach life honestly and with an open mind.

While there is some debate whether the best approach to teaching critical thinking is through generic traits or through discipline-specific skills, a compromised approach allows students to develop both. If we follow the belief that students need context to accurately reason about a subject, then they must have some background knowledge in that subject. How else can they think critically about something? Further, how would that naive thinking compare to that of experts in the field? Regarding the news and information landscape, if students are going to think critically and be discerning with the content they share, then they must learn news literacy.

How to use news literacy to teach critical thinking

Step 1: Develop disciplinary literacy in the news

In an era of misinformation, students can evaluate information by learning how news is made. This includes explicit instruction in concepts and content such as identifying different types of information, recognizing the purpose or intent of pieces, understanding the watchdog role of the press, and recognizing quality arguments and evidence. It also includes explicit instruction of skills such as evaluating sources, identifying branded content, recognizing bias and motivated reasoning, and verifying evidence. Of course, students also need to demonstrate understanding of these concepts and practice these skills. In so doing, they gain disciplinary literacy, the notion of specialized reading practices for a field of study. Often, disciplinary literacy is framed as thinking like a mathematician, a historian, or a computer programmer. Regardless of the content area, students gain greater depth in their understanding of the underpinnings of that discipline. In this case, students learn to “think like a journalist.”

Example of developing disciplinary literacy: Jennifer Liang Twitter thread

Step 2: Teach topical content

Once students comprehend how news is made, they can deconstruct it and analyze its creation. But they also need the context surrounding the piece of news they’re reading and/or studying. To this end, teachers should provide explicit instruction in the topic at hand, whether it involves immigration, global warming, sports, health, statistics, or any other content area. This is where each discipline offers its own guidance, and as with all good teaching, this requires an effective approach to tackling reading comprehension. This might include studying vocabulary, writing about text through think sheets and short responses, and discussions, among other strategies. Then, students can explain a disciplinary concept such as immigration and explain why not all images of border walls are accurately portrayed in memes.

Why news literacy?

Of course, integrated studies between all subjects are possible, but there is a special partnership between English and social studies in relation to news literacy. The stakes are high: think about the consequences of misinformation as well as the potential for civic action. A lack of news literacy threatens democracy and our public health — just look at the conspiratorial thinking that led to the Capitol riots and erroneous claims about COVID-19. Conversely, when individuals have the competency to judge reliable and credible news, they can take civic action such as correcting a piece of misinformation, contacting elected officials, and participating responsibly in political discussions. Being accurately informed is crucial to participating in a democracy.

Example of disciplinary-specific content: Conspiratorial Thinking poster 

Critical thinking is critical in today’s world

Using the news in classrooms can authentically develop higher-level thinking skills and dispositions. Combining understanding of how journalism works along with topical content allows students to determine the credibility of information they encounter. This integration enables students to interpret, analyze, evaluate, explain, and make judgments — to think critically. By teaching news literacy, we can teach students the skills and habits of mind to not only navigate today’s information landscape, but also to navigate our society.

Julia Krugh at her home in Wyoming

In spring 2020, with the world in lockdown and pandemic misinformation surging, Brad and Charlotte Krugh of Jackson, Wyoming, turned to NLP’s Checkology® e-learning platform to augment their older daughter’s distance learning.

Julia, now in eighth grade and attending school in-person, no longer uses NLP resources. But the Krughs remain committed to news literacy education. Charlotte Krugh’s perspective comes from her dual roles as a parent and as an NLP supporter. Her family’s Fore River Foundation is a funder of NLP.

“I really wish more schools would provide these programs. I can talk until I’m blue in the face about it, but when the librarian, the social studies teacher and the language arts teacher say you need to check your sources and verify information, it gets the kids’ attention,” she said.

The Krughs’ younger daughter Eliza, now a sixth grader in middle school, clearly paid attention when peering over Julia’s shoulder. When Eliza is watching TV or online, “she’ll shout out ‘fake news’ whenever she sees anything that’s not true.”

News literacy a family value

Krugh’s family was in the newspaper business, which is why news literacy is a focus of the family foundation. The importance of literacy and access to credible news was instilled early in her and her siblings. “There was a lot of education around how to be a literate human being,” she said, explaining why news literacy is a focus of the family foundation. “It’s one of the ways we want to give back. We really believe that being informed citizens is essential to democracy.”

She doesn’t have to look far to see that people need better access to credible information. While Jackson has a small but well-supported local newspaper, it is the community’s only local news outlet. That’s why some residents turn to social media for their news. “Many older people in this area get all their news from Facebook. We can’t get access to major news sources unless we go online,” she said.

For Krugh, this is a good illustration of why readily accessible news literacy education is needed not only for students in the classroom, but also for adults dealing with a wide range of information sources.

Just weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, we spoke with Iowa high school teacher Brian Winkel, who was helping his students navigate a flood of misinformation about the virus. The school had transitioned to distance learning, and Winkel was glad he had already discovered NLP’s Checkology® virtual classroom. A few years earlier, he had developed a course on media awareness called 21^st Century Literacy, with the e-learning platform as an essential component of the curriculum. At the time, Winkel  told us Checkology was a “godsend.”

Inside an Iowa classroom

Educators and students returned to their classrooms at Cedar Falls High School this school year, and we recently caught up with Winkel and some of his students, creating videos of their lives in and out of school. Winkel told us why he believes news literacy remains so important to his students’ education and to their lives as they enter adulthood. “They have a hard time sorting out the truth,” he said of students when they begin his 21^st Century Literacy course. “I do see a change with kids after they come up through this class. I feel like not only am I teaching this class; I’m training kids to make this democracy work.” Hear more about Winkel’s story in the video below.

Student perspectives on news literacy

Seniors Ande McMorris and Colin Seeks might have different interests and world views, but they agree on the value of becoming more news-literate. Ande, captain of the football team, told us he knows there is a great deal of misinformation on social media, and thanks to Winkel’s class, he now understands the harm it can do and is better able to recognize it when he sees it. Watch Ande’s video below to hear his story:

Colin, who loves working on cars, said Winkel’s class introduced him to news literacy concepts, and this has helped him better appreciate his First Amendment rights and the impact that his vote has in a democracy. Watch the video below to hear Colin’s story.

We often use metaphors to describe the world of information that engulfs us — a landscape, a highway, an ecosystem. What about a cheeseburger, a hockey team, a solar system or a hibachi restaurant?

Those are among the “ecosystems” that seventh graders in Kenilworth, Illinois, chose as metaphors to describe major categories of information. Their work was part of a media literacy component in Jeff Rosen’s social studies class at the Joseph Sears School.

He uses NLP’s Checkology® lessons “InfoZones” and “Misinformation” to provide foundational news literacy concepts. Rosen asks students to reflect on their information habits and connect what they’ve learned to their lives.

“The purpose of the assignment is to challenge students to apply their understanding of the ‘InfoZones’ to a new context: selecting a system and its parts to represent the zones,” Rosen said. Those six categories are news, opinion, advertising, entertainment, raw information and misinformation. “By critically thinking about the ‘InfoZones’ in this way, students will be able to remember and understand them at a much deeper cognitive level.”

That’s where the cheeseburger, solar system and other analogies plucked from the students’ daily lives factor in.

Last year, Rosen asked students to create posters and write about what they learned, and he shared that work with NLP. This year he asked them to make videos for the Microsoft education platform Flipgrid. “The video component allows students to practice verbalizing their thoughts. It also increases student engagement by connecting the curriculum to something they do and see all the time in their lives outside of school,” Rosen explained.

‘InfoZones’ ecosystems

Consider the examples from the videos below.

• The supply cart represents raw information in Noa Boeing’s hibachi restaurant ecosystem. “The supply cart holds all the necessary ingredients for a successful hibachi restaurant. The ingredients and supplies in the cart are unchanged until the chef decides to use them.”
• Winston Ottsen selected the coach to illustrate the opinion zone in his hockey game ecosystem. “This symbol represents the InfoZone opinion because different coaches have different opinions on how to run the team, just like how opinion writers have different opinions on other topics.”
• For Emily McMahon, a visit to the snack bar describes the purpose of advertising in her basketball game ecosystem. “During halftime people usually go to get snacks, and when you go to get snacks, they try to sell you other stuff than what you want.”
• Whatever their systems, the students show a clear grasp of all zones and understand the dangers of misinformation. Sierra Jones’ solar system provides a powerful example. “My symbol for misinformation is a black hole. A black hole messes up the universe, and misinformation can mess up much more.” And Douw O’Kelly’s cheeseburger-based description of misinformation works by appealing to the senses. “The symbol I chose for misinformation is the onions, as it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It also makes your eyes watery and your nose runny, the same way misinformation leaves a bad taste and gives you a blurry vision of the world around us.”

Watch a video compilation of all student work here. You can find topics inspired by Rosen’s “InfoZones” project on NLP’s Flipgrid partner page. Just pick a topic like “Zone experiment” or “Information ecosystems”

Accomplishing the learning objective

Combining Checkology lessons with the creativity of designing posters and making videos kept Rosen’s class highly engaged. “They connected the material to their own lives, realizing how much time they spend clicking on and seeing so much information every single day,” he said. “They also enjoyed merging the digital world of Flipgrid with creating a more traditional poster board with their hands.”

Students also gained insights into their own information consumption habits as they tracked their “InfoZones” usage. “They were genuinely surprised by how much entertainment they were viewing every day. And many of them acknowledged that they should spend more time on other ‘InfoZones,’ like news,” Rosen noted.

He said this project provides a multifaceted and meaningful way for students to grasp the topic. “I want my students to be able to distinguish the types of information they see, read, and scroll through every day, and this assignment is a tool to accomplish that objective.”

2021 marked another year of rapidly spreading misinformation following breaking news events, from the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol to the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to the Biden presidency. Get ready for 2022 by reviewing our news literacy takeaways from the past 12 months. You’ll be prepared to recognize and debunk falsehoods, conspiracy theories and hoaxes in 2022, and know what information to trust, share and act on.

1. Science misinformation

   No, vaccines don’t magnetize you, increase the risk of infertility, contain tracking devices, or cause cancer and HIV. But misinformation surrounding vaccines — along with other science-based topics like climate change — continued to deluge social media feeds throughout the year.

   News literacy takeaway: Turn to credible, authoritative sources to confirm or debunk science-related content, such as NLP’s COVID-19 resources page or reputable institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And know that bad actors will even resort to cute cat videos as “engagement bait” to draw you to their sites and spread falsehoods.

2. Protests and crowds

   Photos supposedly showing large crowds protesting or supporting controversial issues appeared frequently through the year in misleading ways. For example, this photo does not show a large crowd gathering in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before a demonstration to support former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election ended in riots. Instead, it shows people participating in the “March for Our Lives” gun control demonstration in 2018. A photo of mass demonstrations in Moscow in 1991 circulated online as “evidence” of large crowds protesting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates in Austria in November 2021.

   New literacy takeaway: Using photos of large crowds in false contexts is a common disinformation tactic used to exaggerate the level of support for a cause. Do a reverse image search to help you find the original context of a photo.

3. Jan. 6 rumors

   The attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 resulted in a stream of misleading social media posts, falsehoods, and conspiracy theories that began immediately after the riots and continued throughout the year. A fabricated tweet in October that was attributed to Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene circulated online days after social media “sleuths” hatched a baseless conspiracy theory that she was the Capitol pipe bomber.

   News literacy takeaway: Conspiracy theorists often engage in motivated reasoning and confirmation bias to manufacture “evidence” for their beliefs. When you encounter a far-fetched or controversial claim, check to see if major fact-checking organizations have debunked it. Or go a step further and do your own research by practicing some basic digital verification skills, like reverse image search, lateral reading and other techniques that fact-checkers use to identify doctored images.

4. Biden Presidency and QAnon

   QAnon followers continually promoted false claims that Former President Donald Trump actually won the election and President Joe Biden is either posing as president or is being played by a body double until Trump returns to power. In March, false claims spread on social media that video of Biden speaking to reporters at the White House was staged or manipulated using a green screen or computer-generated imagery.

   News literacy takeaway: Be aware that false claims about staged political events are often connected to dangerous and baseless QAnon beliefs. Find videos and posts that debunk the claims through a basic Google search.

5. Misleading gas prices

   Misleading photos of unusually high gas prices have been used to try to score cheap partisan points online for years, and 2021 was no exception — particularly as prices rose from historic lows during the pandemic. A November photo from a station in Lancaster, California, displayed premium fuel costing nearly $9 per gallon. But the photo was taken out of context and did not reflect actual prices at the time. Other false and misleading examples can be found here, here and here.

6. Empty supermarket shelves

   Supply chain problems in the news sparked numerous misleading social media posts, photos and videos, exaggerating the problem or falsely assigning blame. Posts featuring photos of empty supermarket shelves claimed that President Biden’s policies were responsible for food shortages. But the photos were used in false contexts. Some were taken in Australia and England. A photo of empty shelves in South Carolina was from 2018.

   News literacy takeaway: Viral rumors presenting photos of empty store shelves are common during disasters and other events that cause disruptions in the supply chain. Be wary of such photos and seek out trusted, standards-based news sources for accurate coverage of supply chain issues.

7. Staged skits out of context

   Faked scenarios tied to real events and aimed at building followers on TikTok and other platforms continued as a trend. A video from November that appeared to capture a conflict among crew members on a commercial flight and a passenger demanding a seat change after another passenger refused to show proof of vaccination was actually staged for a short film.

   News literacy takeaway: This film was produced by a social media influencer with a history of creating films designed to go viral. Such videos often are published without disclosures that they’ve been staged. These videos can seem authentic at first because there are genuine cellphone videos of fights over COVID-19 rules on planes. Search online to see if a video has been debunked; the fact-checking site HoaxEye found selfies posted by the film’s creators.

8. Vaccine harm claims

   Each development in the COVID-19 vaccines rollout — from approval by the Food and Drug Administration, to private company mandates, to the inclusion of shots for children — has sparked viral rumors. As the year began, celebrity deaths, like that of baseball icon and civil rights activist Hank Aaron, also were immediately and falsely tied to vaccines. Rather, Aaron died of natural causes at the age of 86 on Jan. 22.

   In November, a photo of a vaccination clinic in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was digitally altered to push an anti-vaccine narrative. Text in a sign in the photo said that COVID-19 vaccines were available without an appointment — but was changed to read “Don’t forget to donate your childrens (cq) organs.”

   News literacy takeaway: Many claims of vaccine harm involve sheer assertion and false context. Text on signs, for example, is easy to alter with photo manipulation software and is a common target of bad actors online. Check credible sources regarding the accuracy of any claims regarding vaccine harm, including those that tie deaths or injuries to vaccines. See our lateral reading guide for more tips.

9. Celebrity t-shirts

   Doctored images of celebrities wearing t-shirts with provocative slogans were shared widely … again. This post featured George Clooney with a shirt that compared MAGA supporters to Confederates and Nazis. Another showed Captain America actor Chris Evans wearing an anti-Trump shirt. But in both cases the political messages had been digitally added, and the original photo of Clooney was taken in 2015.

   News literacy takeaway: Printed messages, including those on t-shirts, are particularly easy to alter and should always be approached with skepticism — especially when they spark a strong emotion or confirm your biases. Also, many of the provocative t-shirt designs that have been digitally added to celebrity photos were created for profit and sold online.

10. Outrage bait

    Posts and tweets designed to evoke strong emotional reactions remained a fixture on social media. A tweet took a statement from Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis about COVID-19 vaccine mandates out of context to falsely push the claim that Florida schools will no longer require any vaccinations, even for polio, measles and mumps. Critics of vaccine mandates seized on the cancellation of thousands of Southwest Airlines flights in early October to spread baseless rumors that the service disruptions were due to pilots and crews refusing to work to protest the policy.

    News literacy takeaway: Outrage and anger drive engagement on social media. Users casually scrolling through their feeds may react without pausing long enough to figure out a tweet like this was inaccurate, especially if they have strong feelings about the topic. DeSantis said only that there would be no mandate for children to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Southwest cancellations were due to air traffic control issues and bad weather. Follow our “Sanitize before you share” infographic to help you avoid unintentionally spreading misinformation.

By John Silva

Mom’s cranberry sauce. Cousin Chris’s pumpkin pie. Uncle Frank’s insistence that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous. Alas, the menu is set for another Thanksgiving dinner sure to cause indigestion. But wait! It doesn’t have to be that way. This year you can doctor the recipe for unrest by adding a crucial ingredient: facts.

If that sounds too good to be true, you are right. Pushing facts on relatives who have strong beliefs on an issue is unlikely to change their minds. The reality is that you can’t use facts and logic to change someone’s belief if it is based on misinformation and emotional reasoning. In fact, it might only deepen their conviction and turn a warm family sit-down into a frosty stalemate. The secret to success lies in knowing how and when to push back and with what information.

This year, try the PEP method if the conversation turns to wild and unproven conspiracy theories. PEP stands for patience, empathy and persistence – all of which are needed to help a conspiracy believer find their way back to the facts and reality.

We start with patience because your loved one probably didn’t become a conspiracist overnight. They likely got sucked into a rabbit hole while looking for legitimate information about the vaccines, but instead found themselves being served up misleading material. You can thank social media algorithms — a technical device that calculates what you are most likely to engage with and prioritizes it in your feed. For example, YouTube’s algorithms too often recommend, “harmful, debunked and inappropriate content,” according to a recent report by the Mozilla Foundation. As people go deeper into these conspiracies, it gets harder and harder to pull them out. So be prepared to listen to, and even be frustrated by, the answers they give when they share their sources. But don’t let those emotions stop you from trying to help.

Next, you should empathize with your friend or family member. Misinformation manipulates people’s emotions and when they fall into conspiratorial thinking, it’s often because they were trying to resolve an issue that was making them anxious. They are often drawn into online communities or social media groups that continually reinforce their belief and bring comfort in a shared identity. Once you step into Uncle Frank’s shoes, it might be easier to see why he dug into conspiratorial beliefs.

Persistence will take some time, but a steady dialogue is the best way to keep facts at the center of the conversation. Don’t reject the information your loved one shares out of hand. Instead, express your skepticism and provide a more reputable source. Make it conversational and anecdotal. Find out why they trust their source and focus on exchanging ideas, beliefs and information that match your common values. Don’t pester Uncle Frank into a fight. Instead, remember that you’re having this discussion out of love and respect for a family member, and not to deride or mock them. This step may not pay fast dividends, but it will set you up for future dialogue with your uncle because you’ve taken the time to build trust.

If he continues to push false information, don’t give up. You can still try to nudge him by talking about what you have read and learned. For example:

• If he pulls up a meme on his phone stating that combined doses of COVID-19 vaccines have never been tested for safety, talk about how you looked up the claim on fact-checking sites such as Snopes or Politifact, which helped reassure you they are safe, and offer to show him how they’ve debunked this meme.
• If Uncle Frank argues that the post must be credible because social media companies would never allow false health information to be shared, you can point to recent efforts by Facebook, Pinterest and other platforms to combat vaccine misinformation because they have allowed the sharing and amplification of so much false content for so long.
• If he shows you an image of a child supposedly harmed by vaccines, express your own skepticism and show him how you use digital verification tools like Google’s reverse image search to reveal the actual source, context and validity of a photo.
• Tell a story about how you verified something for yourself through “lateral reading” – looking at reporting on the issue across several different sources.

By the time everyone moves into the living room to watch football, you will have a better understanding of what caused Uncle Frank to go down a vaccine rabbit hole and you will have  empowered him to confidently examine the credibility of information he encounters. You may even bring him back to a fact-based reality.

Thanksgiving is not a holiday we should dread because of polarizing beliefs. Instead, we should enjoy our time together and learn how to avoid information indigestion by using the PEP method and giving thanks that facts can lead the way.

John Silva is the senior director of professional learning at the News Literacy Project and a National Board Certified teacher. 

After a successful launch in October 2020, NLP is expanding its News Literacy Ambassador Program, extending our reach and strengthening our progress toward embedding news literacy in the American education system.

“Through a rigorous process of identifying educators in key states across the country, we’re pleased to announce this incredible group of news literacy advocates who are leading the charge to ensure that students are well-informed and engaged civic participants in their communities,” said Ebonee Rice, senior vice president, educator network.

Ambassadors work at the grassroots level in their communities, organizing colleagues and allies to help push back against misinformation and advocate for news literacy. Meet our new ambassadors below and learn more about all of them in NewsLit Nation.

Deborah Domingues-Murphy

After her children left for college, Domingues-Murphy went back to school to earn a teaching degree, becoming certified as a business and technology teacher and a library media specialist. Originally from Southern California, she lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has been teaching at City Charter High School in downtown Pittsburgh for 12 years. Because her school does not have a library, she teaches a four-year information literacy curriculum, working with students from the time they enter ninth grade through graduation. She teaches them to evaluate the reliability of sources and how to responsibly use those sources and the information they provide. They also write literature reviews, apply their research to a local topic and present their findings to a panel of community members. When not teaching, Domingues-Murphy likes to travel, read and cook. 

Amanda Escheman

A native of Colorado, Escheman teaches 9th grade geography at Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver. She has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with a minor in religion from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2019, she received her master’s degree in education and human development from the University of Colorado at Denver and began her career as an English and social studies teacher. Her desire to become a teacher is rooted in her experiences as a speech and debate competitor in high school. Escheman believes news literacy can be a tool for transformation and social change and must be prioritized to democratize online spaces and encourage civic participation. Escheman is a member of the One Colorado LGBTQ+ network and regularly advocates for more inclusive space in public schools. She has served as an equity and diversity liaison and member of the LGBTQ+ employee workgroup and on the Community Diversity Advisory Council.

Jill Hofmockel

Hofmockel brings more than 20 years of experience in school libraries to her position as the teacher-librarian at West High School in Iowa City, Iowa. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in library and information science. A longtime member of the Iowa Association of School Librarians, Hofmockel has served as a committee chair, board member and president, as well as a liaison to the American Association of School Librarians Affiliate Assembly. She is committed to incorporating information literacy skills throughout the school’s curriculum, with a special emphasis on news literacy. Outside of the classroom, Hofmockel coaches her son’s high school esports team and enjoys sharing a cup of tea with her daughter.

Debbie Keen

Keen is a high school teacher at the Career and Technical Education Center in Frisco, Texas, specializing in courses for students interested in pursuing careers in law or public service. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and promotes civics education in classrooms across the country. Keen has presented teacher workshops to such groups as the State Bar of Texas Law-Related Education, the American Board of Trial Advocates and The Center for American and International Law. In 2018, Keen founded the Youth Safety and Civility Alliance to promote civil discourse and conflict resolution strategies for young people. The American Lawyers Alliance selected her for a 2020 Teacher of the Year Award. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and learning alongside other creative teachers.

Molly June Roquet

Head librarian at Redwood Day, an independent K-8 school in Oakland, California, Roquet has been a middle school history teacher and a public librarian. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from San Francisco State University and a master’s degree in library and information science from Wayne State University. Roquet has presented at the American Library Association and California Library Association annual conferences and has written for the publications Computers in Libraries and Information Today. Roquet is excited about the opportunity to collaborate with others as an NLP ambassador.

This week, we’re releasing our annual report for fiscal year 2021 (July 2020-June 2021). It’s a summary of our many accomplishments working in classrooms, with new partners, and for the public. We found creative ways to fulfill our mission and make substantial progress toward a future founded on facts. Many challenges remain ahead, but with your continued support, we can make our vision of a news-literate next generation a reality.

Read the report here.

By Greg McCaffery and Alan C. Miller

Current events continue to underscore that news literacy education is essential for the future of a healthy democracy.

For too many, trust in institutions, including the media, has ruptured. They no longer find facts convincing; feelings hold sway, and conspiratorial thinking has moved into the mainstream. The voting rights of all our citizens and the sanctity of our election system face ongoing threats. We’ve seen renewed evidence of the role of Facebook and other social media platforms in exacerbating political polarization and extremism. We are enduring a stress test of our democracy that has continued throughout the pandemic, the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

We recognized in early 2020 that misinformation poses such an existential threat to our democracy that we needed to extend our reach beyond students to all generations. We developed new resources for the public and launched a comprehensive campaign to combat election misinformation during the 2020 election, including a series of public service announcements in English and Spanish. We also hosted the inaugural season of our podcast, Is that a fact?, which explored the question, “How can American democracy survive and thrive in our toxic information environment?”

At the same time, we made great progress on the education front. During the 2020-21 school year, we reached more students and educators than at any other point in NLP’s history, with over 108,000 students active on Checkology® and more than 13,000 educators across the country using our resources. We enhanced our support of educators by creating additional professional learning opportunities and opening our virtual NewsLitCamp® events to participants nationwide. We also launched NewsLit Nation, our 48,000-plus member network for educators, and our News Literacy Ambassador Program, which supports grassroots community organizing efforts for news literacy education.

You helped make all this progress possible. We hope that as you read this annual report, you’ll take pride in these accomplishments.

But we still have much work to do.

The country is deeply divided along partisan lines and separated into media echo chambers. News literacy education is one key to bridging this divide. We all need the skills to know what news and information to trust, share and act on. Our democracy depends on our collective engagement in the pursuit of a fact-based future.

Thank you for joining us in our fight for a future founded on facts.

Eryn Busch
Washington, D.C.

This is part of a series that introduces you to the people behind the scenes at the News Literacy Project.

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to NLP?

In sixth grade, my principal brought various speakers in to inspire us to think about our future careers, what we wanted to contribute to society and why we should already be worried about the value of compound interest. The most compelling of the speakers was a man named Faustin Uzabakiliho, who spoke to us about his escape from the Rwandan genocide and his subsequent work as an evangelist. I’ll never forget him telling us that, most likely, the job we were going to have someday had not even been invented yet, and neither had the company we’d be working for. He encouraged us to dream big, generalize and never pass up an opportunity to serve. So, I took his advice. I joined the Army after high school and took a circuitous route through all manner of adventures and failures to what has been a very fulfilling four years at NLP. I’ve also dabbled in phlebotomy, private security for a royal family, gun sales and voice acting.

2. How (if so) has working for NLP impacted your life or changed your world perspective?

My pre-internet upbringing in the foothills of Los Angeles was far removed from a lot of the painful realities of how the American experience has not offered equal opportunity for everyone. But in 2019, we as a staff had the opportunity to travel to Montgomery, Alabama, to tour the Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (projects of the Equal Justice Initiative). My words can’t do the experience justice, but I think of that trip as the beginning of my reeducation. Every single day I think about that trip and what I learned. I now quietly seek out literature, creators and nonprofits that build on that experience, and I plan to take my daughter when she’s old enough to see it for her own eyes.

3. You served in Iraq as a Civil Affairs Sergeant with the U.S. Army during a surge in operations, and back home, as an assistant to senior White House officials. Have those experiences impacted how you approach your work at NLP and your life?

Well, I’m still very tired from those adventures, I’ll say that. But I’m also very fulfilled because working at NLP is a natural extension of working in public service. A couple years before joining NLP, my life was turned upside down overnight by a conspiracy theory. People online picked apart as much of my life as they could, including my military service and my time at the White House, concocting stories about me from the wildly fantastical to the truly dark and traitorous. They almost made me feel that my service was forfeited. I had to change my phone number and then my name, and there were regular attempts to steal my old identity. My family and I seriously considered moving, and my heartbeat would quicken when I would see an unexpected package on my stoop (and admittedly, this still happens). So, when I saw that NLP was hiring for my exact skill set, I jumped at the chance to join the fight for facts because I have been on the other side of misinformation, and I’ve seen how it can do permanent damage. Working at NLP gives me a sense that I’m helping prevent this from happening to others. As with my work in the Army and at the White House, doing the right thing or preventing the wrong thing from happening doesn’t usually make the headlines. That’s hard to remember every time we see a headline about the damage misinformation does, but there won’t be a headline for the chaos our work is preventing, nor for the lives I truly believe we are saving.

4. What is the most surprising thing you have learned or experienced since joining NLP?

My colleagues’ epic karaoke choices aside, I’d say it has been fascinating to watch NLP grow and walk the fine line between nonprofit and ed tech startup. I remember being very intrigued by that during the interview process. When I explain to friends and family what we do and what we offer, I love watching their faces light up. I think a lot of people still feel powerless in the face of misinformation and our work gives them real hope —even better than hope.  It gives them a way they can act.

5. What news literacy tip, tool or guidance do you most often use?

I am admittedly a compulsive reverse image searcher! I didn’t even know all the ways to do it quickly and easily until I saw our tutorial on it this past summer.

6. What did you miss most during the COVID-19 shutdowns?

At one point I would have said concerts and live music, but what I truly miss most is seeing my astoundingly brilliant colleagues in action and supporting their professional development presentations and NewsLitCamps when they come to D.C. I miss watching educators’ faces light up and hearing their audible gasps when they are taught a concept or tool to help them help their students navigate what many thought was a hopeless information wasteland. They leave our events empowered. I know they still do, but I miss seeing that and celebrating it together.

7. Aside from fighting for facts, what else are you passionate about?

I’ve been a songwriter for 21 years, and joining NLP gave me more work/life balance to focus on my craft every day, which in turn gave me the confidence to start performing. So many supportive colleagues came to my shows around the D.C. area. A highlight of my life was getting invited to perform in the round at The Bluebird Café in Nashville (the songwriters all sit in a circle facing each other with the audience around them). I retired from performing in January 2020, and since then I’ve contented myself with making music in my basement studio and taking on voiceover work occasionally. Most recently, I voiced the text and arranged the music for an audiobook of poetry coming out on Audible this December.

8. Are you on team dog, team cat, team wombat? Or do you prefer stuffed animals to pets? (If you have a pet, please consider sharing a photo.)

Can I be team everything? I’m team everything (except spiders). My daughter and I adore snakes and would love to get a ball python to join our cat and dog, but so far, we’ve been outvoted by my husband and mother. I grew up in apartments, which forced me to be a cat person, but now I finally have a friendly dog who loves to hang out with other NLP dogs (see picture). One of my favorite moments at NLP was when my colleague Miriam adopted our foster dog, Reign, a mere week before we shut down for the pandemic.

(Picture: Gus and Ebonee’s dog Psalm, 2021)

9. What one item do you always have in your refrigerator?

Peanut butter.

10. What’s in your pocket/backpack/laptop case right now?

I don’t go anywhere without my daily planner/journal that I custom-made over the course of the pandemic. I got tired of hunting for the perfect planner and just created it in Microsoft Word. It took three months to finish, but it was worth it to have something that helps me keep my own life together. My daughter and I were recently both diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety within a few months of each other, so we’ve been learning together about the tools and tricks available to help people like us function in the world.

As part of Illinois Public Media’s special week of coverage, “Who’s in charge of the news,” Peter Adams, NLP’s senior vice president of education, helped to empower listeners of The 21^st Show with ways to distinguish fact from fiction in the news.

The segment, How can you tell if the news you read is real?, featured Adams along with Stephanie Craft, head of the journalism department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Michael Spikes, a Ph.D. student in Learning Sciences at Northwestern University.

When asked how to know if a post, meme, or GIF on social media was fact-based and okay to share, Adams said, “When it comes to sharing posts about civic matters, like politics or social issues, it’s best to make sure that what you’re sharing is accurate. If there’s a link to another source involved, make sure it’s a standards-based source that has processes of verification in place and strives to be as fair and accurate as possible in the information it produces. I would add that lots of people, including people who we love and generally trust in our lives, share or reshare false claims. Sometimes these are just statements, what we call, ‘sheer assertions,’ with no evidence at all. But sometimes these kinds of baseless claims can take other forms. So, a photo without attribution or context, or a screenshot of a headline with no link, or a meme.”

To listen in full, click here. (Adams is quoted at the 7:40 and 16:00 minute marks.)

The periodic table of elements provides a systematic structure that can be used to predict the properties of elements, including the ability to form compounds and drive chemical reactions. It brings organization and reliability to the chemical landscape.

Unfortunately, there is no periodic table of information. That leaves us with an information landscape that is anything but organized, with an abundance of misinformation — the element that can spark harmful reactions, and actions.

Chemistry teacher Uriah Albrink witnessed this in his classroom last year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and related misinformation flooded our newsfeeds. Students were misled by false claims, hoaxes and conspiracy theories spread by people and organizations that were far from credible. He knew he had to do something about it.

“With the amount of misinformation being thrown around, I felt it was my responsibility to make them better consumers of information,” said Albrink, who teaches at Mason County High School in Maysville, Kentucky. “We are getting this mindset of polarization [that] science isn’t real. That was a big red flag.”

Engaging students during remote learning

Like schools all over the country, Mason County High closed when the pandemic hit. Albrink needed to find resources that would engage his students and allow them to work independently in a virtual learning environment. He found what he needed in Checkology®, the News Literacy Project’s e-learning platform, and The Sift®, its weekly newsletter for educators.

“This seemed right up my alley, a way to teach good research skills and methodology,” said. Albrink, an educator with 17 years of experience who teaches mainly juniors and sophomores. “I felt it was important.”

Albrink used items featured in The Sift’s Viral Rumor Rundown to teach his students how to avoid being fooled by popular memes and provocative posts. “We’d do reverse image searches, talk through how to spot fake accounts on social media, and to take it all with a grain of salt,” he said.

Using real-life examples to teach foundational concepts of science literacy captured his students’ attention — and surprised them. “They’re just kind of amazed at how much falsehood is out there floating around.”

Making connections with science literacy

Albrink used the Checkology lesson “InfoZones” to help his students get a better grasp of the types of content they were seeing. Students learned how to differentiate among types of information — news, opinion, advertising, entertainment, propaganda and raw information. They tested their skills with examples in Checkology’s interactive Check Center and then independently applied the concepts they learned to news articles, judging credibility and putting information in context.

Their exploration of mask-related myths provided Albrink with an opportunity to connect the news directly to chemistry lessons. He taught them about the size of molecules and how being able to smell odors while wearing a mask does not mean masks are ineffective. These teachable moments from current events resonated. “It’s affecting their lives directly. Otherwise, if they can’t make a connection, it’s hard to engage,” he noted.

Teaching science literacy made him realize that kids often don’t have the essential skills to discern good information from bad and were being taken advantage of by those who create and share falsehoods. “Hopefully, I opened their eyes to be leery of what people say. If I  can provide a layer of insulation, I feel like I succeeded with them.”

Albrink wishes that he had encountered news literacy resources and applied them to his science classes sooner. Now that he has, he will continue to weave science literacy into his classroom lessons. “To progress as a professional, I think this is the direction I want to go,” he said.

The News Literacy Project is pleased to announce a new partnership with The Juice, a unique learning program created to help students develop media literacy, reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

“When considering partners to align with, The Juice just made sense,” said Ebonee Rice, NLP’s senior vice president of the educator network. “They uphold a high bar for helping educators source content to teach the specialized pedagogical methods specific to the process of news literacy and critical thinking. We are excited to see how this platform enhances our network’s ability to positively impact news literacy education.”

Through this partnership, members of NLP’s national educator network, NewsLit Nation, can use the resources of this current events-focused learning platform free during this school year and at a reduced price thereafter. (Educators who have not yet joined NewsLit Nation can easily register now.)

Educators can apply Checkology® virtual classroom lessons or NLP’s other educator resources and use them with The Juice, which is designed specifically for educators and students in grades 5-12. The learning platform’s newsletter, The Daily Juice, is created by journalists, educators and assessment experts. The Daily Juice enables students to quickly read a few of the most interesting news stories of the day. These include narratives of positive human accomplishments, vocabulary builders and STEM concepts. An assessment question follows each story, and teachers receive real-time diagnostic data about student performance that highlights standards mastery and accountability.

Each story is published at four different competency levels, so students have access to the same information regardless of their reading level. This provides an opportunity for inclusive classroom conversations around the same topics.

Follow this special link to sign up for a no-obligation trial.

 About The Juice

The company comprises experienced educators, journalists and technologists committed to making students better critical thinkers, communicators and citizens by equipping them with the tools to thrive in the 21st century. The Juice is a “plug-and-play solution” that aims to make educators’ lives easier and empower educators to make informed, data-driven learning decisions.

In 2020, she was a guest on NLP’s podcast, Is that a fact?

The News Literacy Project (NLP) offers its congratulations to 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners Maria Ressa, the founder of the media company, Rappler, who has fearlessly confronted violent authoritarian rule in the Philippines, and Dmitry Muratov, a founder of of Russia’s independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, which provides fact-based reporting on controversial topics other Russian media rarely cover.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is honoring Ressa and Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” In announcing the prize, the committee recognized “their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”

“Ressa and Muratov exemplify the vital role that journalists are playing throughout the world in holding the powerful accountable in the face of serious risks to their own freedom and safety,” said Alan Miller, the founder and CEO of NLP. “We applaud the Nobel committee for recognizing these profiles in journalistic courage.”

Speaks with NLP about journalism and authoritarian rule

In 2020, Ressa addressed the question “Can journalism survive an authoritarian ruler?” as a guest on NLP’s new podcast Is that a fact? During that interview, she spoke about how social media feeds narrow our view of the world and give legitimacy to falsehoods, propaganda and conspiracy theories.

“This is how you create alternate realities,” she said. “That’s the world we live in today… it’s important that we really understand that social media has changed the information ecosystem globally. What it’s done now is that it’s become part of the dictator’s playbook because a lie told a million times can become a fact.

“And with micro-targeting, it takes our most vulnerable moment to a message and sells it to the highest bidder, whether that is a government or whether that’s a company, anyone who pays for it, right? And that is alarming to me because journalists can’t even do our jobs if we all don’t agree on facts. If you don’t have facts, you can’t have truth. If you don’t have truth, you can’t have trust. Without any of these three things, you can’t have democracy.’

Listen to the full interview.

Criticism of Facebook

Ressa has been a vocal critic of Facebook, which the administration of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has used as a powerful propaganda tool. “Facebook is now the world’s largest distributor of news and yet it has refused to be the gatekeeper. And when it does that, when you allow lies to actually get on the same playing field as facts, it taints the entire public sphere,” she said in a 2019 interview with The New York Times.

She continues to uphold the highest standards of journalism and push back against Duterte’s regime, despite being arrested and jailed and becoming the target of multiple death threats. Ressa has personally experienced how hard it is for journalists to hold the line against an authoritarian leader when press freedoms are threatened.

For decades, Muratov has fought for freedom of speech and professional ethics and standards of journalism under worsening conditions, harassment, threats and violence. Six journalists at Novaya Gazeta have been killed since its founding nearly three decades ago.

Alan C. Miller, News Literacy Project founder and CEO, is a winner of AARP’s prestigious Purpose Prize^®,  a national award that celebrates people 50 and older who are using their life experience and wisdom to tackle societal challenges and inspire others.

“AARP is honored to celebrate these extraordinary older adults, who have dedicated their lives to serving others in creative and innovative ways,” AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said. “During these trying times in our country and globally, we are inspired to see people use their life experiences to build a better future for us all.”

AARP awards $50,000 to each honoree’s organization and provides technical assistance supports and resources to help broaden the impact of its work.

In a profile on AARP’s website Miller describes what motivated him to create NLP, the problem he hopes to solve and what makes NLP’s approach stand out. “I founded the News Literacy Project in 2008, with the belief that knowing how to identify credible news is an essential life skill in an information age — and that this was not being widely taught in schools,” Miller said.

Watch the short video that AARP produced to learn more about Miller and NLP’s impact. Recipients of the Purpose Prize also are eligible for the AARP Inspire Award. The public votes to choose the winner, whose organization receives $10,000. In this video, Miller answers AARP’s three “inspire” questions.

“We realized last year that misinformation is such an existential threat to democracy that we could not limit ourselves to reaching just the next generation. We are racing against a toxic tide of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories that is undermining our trust in institutions,” Miller said. “We must find a way to bridge this divide by creating a shared narrative around verified, agreed-upon facts.

A sense of purpose

“One of the things that distinguishes NLP is our focus on news literacy, which is a subset of media literacy,” he explained. NLP uses the standards of quality journalism as an aspirational yardstick against which to measure all news and information, partners with journalists who share their skills, provides an understanding of how quality journalism works and instills an appreciation of the First Amendment and the role of a free press in our society.

“We don’t teach people what to think; we teach people how to think. We help them develop critical thinking skills to make judgments about whatever they encounter in the information landscape.”

He also shared his advice for others who want to make a difference in the world. “Start with something for which you have a passion and a sense of purpose. For me, journalism was always a calling, not just a career. In NLP, I feel blessed to have found a second professional calling.”

Read about this year’s other Purpose Prize winners, as well as Honorary Award recipient actor Michael J. Fox, selected for his advocacy work to help advance scientific progress toward a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

Andrea Lin
Washington, D.C.

This is part of a series that introduces you to the people behind the scenes at the News Literacy Project.

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to NLP?

How I joined NLP has often felt like a stroke of luck! I studied public relations and graphic design in college, and after graduating, I knew I wanted to explore opportunities that would allow me to contribute to my passions in design, journalism, and youth development. For a bit, I felt torn on what direction to follow, like I had to make a choice on one or the other. When my previous managing editor forwarded me the visual designer opening at NLP, I couldn’t believe how perfectly this position matched the intersections of the ways in which I wanted to make a difference in the world.

2. While studying at American University, you were editor-in-chief of a student magazine and co-chair of the university’s Student Media Board, which comprised 10 publications. Did you confront issues related to news literacy in that work, or have you been able to look back on those positions through a news literacy lens?

I think American University is a very well-read bubble, evident in the number of students active in media organizations and the multitude of professional opportunities given for networking and internships. It was exciting to be able to learn and collaborate with classmates and professors who were all very invested in the mission of quality journalism and meaningful storytelling. I was an undergrad between 2014 and 2017, and I think one of the more prevalent conversations was one that was also happening across other college campuses at the time: the role of a journalist and the standards of objectivity when they come up against current social movements. We had ongoing conversations about distinguishing the ethics and role of op-eds, freedom of speech and what it means to represent critical perspectives.

Looking back now, learning to navigate these issues as they played out across the country was an invaluable way for us to really see the immediate and pressing consequences of news literacy on civic engagement. I think that same ethos is also how Checkology® and NLP have found such a winning formula in how they approach news literacy education, tying these concepts to real-world current issues with real impacts on our everyday lives.

3. What is the most surprising thing you have learned or experienced since joining NLP?

I used to believe plainly that having more information and more access to news sources was always a “good” thing and meant it was easier for more people to stay informed. Early on when I joined NLP, I was surprised to have this belief challenged, although it feels very obvious now. More access and more information alone does not lead to more informed decisions — they have to be accompanied by critical thinking skills and the ability to sift and evaluate what is worth consuming. I think about this NLP tip about an abundance of information and how true it has been with the spread of COVID-19 misinformation.

4. What news literacy tip, tool or guidance do you most often use?

I love digital verification tools that help me fact-check shared images or videos on social media. As easy as it is these days to manipulate images, there are also so many neat resources online that are free and accessible that we can use to investigate digital media ourselves. Both in my work and in my personal life, it’s been super useful to know what kind of visual clues to look for in a photo and how to do a reverse image-search or using Google Maps.

5. Aside from fighting for facts, what else are you passionate about?

In my spare time, I volunteer annually for a weeklong Taiwanese American youth summer conference in the Midwest. We foster personal growth and leadership skills with our campers from grades one through 12. I love getting to see our young campers challenge themselves and grow so much in just one week. Being with my community is very grounding, and it fills my heart every year to see how much these children care about the world around them. They are constantly impressing me and surprising me with what they accomplish. Folks love to underestimate children all the time, but I see for myself how individuals can thrive when you show them that you believe in them.

6. Are you on team dog, team cat, team wombat? Or do you prefer stuffed animals to pets? (If you have a pet, please consider sharing a photo.)

I am a big fan of all furry pets, and I will always stop to admire a cutie when they pass on the street, but I am unquestionably Team Cat.

7. What one item do you always have in your refrigerator?

I get made fun of for this all the time, but I genuinely just enjoy the taste of V8 and tomato juice. When I’m feeling particularly wild, I’ll indulge with the spicy hot version of V8.

At NLP, we know that our programs and resources work — our metrics tell us so. But statistics don’t show the personal impact of news literacy education, and we find those stories inspiring.

That’s why we recently checked in with Valeria Luquin. We met her in 2019 when she was a freshman at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Van Nuys, California. Journalism teacher Adriana Chavira introduced Luquin and her classmates to news literacy using NLP’s Checkology^® virtual classroom when they were ninth graders. Valeria quickly grasped the concepts and applied what she learned to her daily life. She did so well we named her our Gwen Ifill Student of the Year! In this video she talks about helping family and friends become more news-literate and acting as a good role model for her younger sister.

Today, Luquin is a high school senior and news magazine editor-in-chief at her school’s student-run news website, The Pearl Post.  She also represents the student body as its vice president. “I look back on who I was freshman year [and] I notice a huge growth in myself as a person and as a student journalist,” said Luquin, who is also co-host of the school’s new Room 22 podcast.

Changing with the times

Chavira, who still teaches journalism at the school, tackles the changing trends in how students get their information. “As students increasingly rely more on their news from social media platforms such as TikTok, I’ve put more of an emphasis on asking them where they get their information,” she said. “I’ve always encouraged them to double-check the information to ensure that they are re-posting accurate information, especially in the past year with news of the Jan. 6 insurrection and COVID-19 pandemic.”

The students are changing as readily as the information landscape, Chavira said. “I’ve noticed that my freshmen this year come in with more news literacy skills than in previous years. They already know to double-check the information on social media, especially if it’s only one account reporting certain information.”

That kind of savvy is simply a part of who Luquin now is. “I still find all of the information from Checkology to be useful in my everyday life,” she said. That includes identifying credible sources and having a deep appreciation for the work journalists do to inform the public. “I am still not sure what I would like to major in, but a career in the journalism field is one of my top choices.”

Whatever path she chooses, Luquin credits her involvement with NLP for giving her an advantage early on. “The News Literacy Project opened up a lot of doors for me, especially after I was awarded the Gwen Ifill Student of the Year award. I am grateful for all they have done for me and for the work they continue to do to teach young teenagers about the importance of journalism.”

We’ve just launched the second season of NLP’s Is that a fact? podcast, and this time we are going beyond examining misinformation’s ability to mislead to look at the origins of false narratives and the actual harm they have caused. The new episodes will explore how fictional information  emerges and then bubbles to the surface to misdirect the country’s civic and cultural discourse.

As the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approach, we look back at the untruths and myths that surround that fateful day. One of the core catalysts of 9/11 misinformation was the film Loose Change. Our first guest, Esquire magazine correspondent John McDermott told us, “remains probably the single most popular piece of conspiracy media ever created.” He explains how the film started a movement of conspiracy theorists that planted the seeds for today’s Qanon believers.

The second guest, James Meigs, former Popular Mechanics editor-in-chief, discussed how his team of journalists debunked many of the myths propagated by  Loose Change even before the film came out. “What was really powerful about Loose Change wasn’t the specific claim,” said Meigs. “It was the overall mood of the filmmaking …  It had really cool music. It had all this slow motion. It had this very compelling narration, even if a lot of it didn’t make a lot of sense. It was quite powerful to watch.”

9/11 impact: A personal perspective

Our final guest, Ann Van Hine, whose husband was a firefighter killed the day of the terrorist attacks, explained how she deals with the anniversary in personal terms.  “Everybody has a part of that day. Everybody knows where they were. Everybody has a memory, but you’re actually talking about the day that my daughter’s dad died, the day my husband died. I told my girls early on, if people started saying weird stuff about September 11^th, which happened as time went on, then just blow them out of the water. Just say flat out with no preparation for them, ‘My dad was one of the firefighters killed that day.’ Cause that’ll suck the air out of the room. Not to be mean, but sometimes people need a reality check.”

We hope you’ll listen. Over the rest of the season, we’ll examine false narratives about the misperceptions that Democrats and Republicans have about each other, the Sandy Hook shootings, race relations and more. Please join us every other Wednesday for new episodes of Is that a fact? Listen here or on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Amazon Music and wherever podcasts are available.

In a new piece for CNBC,  journalist Salvador Rodriguez reported that amid the pandemic, quarantines, and homeschooling, “QAnon and anti-vaxxers brainwashed kids stuck at home.” With schools open, “teachers have to deprogram them.”

Rodriguez highlighted the efforts of  Sarah Wildes, a seventh-grade teacher in Alabama who is helping students filter out misinformation and find reliable news sources using lessons from the News Literacy Project’s (NLP) Checkology virtual classroom.  Checkology is an online platform that helps educators teach students how to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and apply critical thinking skills to separate fact-based content from falsehoods.

“The pandemic, the election, social justice issues — people are looking for reliable information, and educators need support to navigate the disinformation that’s out there,” said Shaelynn Farnsworth, NLP’s director of educator network expansion. As Wildes’ experience illustrates, Checkology is the perfect resource for this.

To read the full piece, click here.

When you think of a librarian, do you envision that old movie cliché of a timid woman putting a finger to her lips and “shushing” readers? If so, you’ve never met K.C. Boyd, a public-school librarian in Washington, D.C.

Last year, Boyd became one of NLP’s first News Literacy Ambassadors, educators who work in their communities to help bring news literacy education to their schools and create a generation of civically engaged news-literate adults. Boyd is a passionate advocate for her profession, her students and her community.

For example, earlier this month she and her fellow librarians worked to support an amendment to the District of Columbia’s public schools budget to provide $3.25 million for the restoration of full-time librarian positions in 36 schools, many in under-served neighborhoods. That amendment, introduced by District of Columbia Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, was unanimously approved by the District Council in early August. Boyd said the victory was the result of hard work by a coalition of educators, school district leaders and parents. “We’d been fighting for 18 months,” she said. “It was a big lift, and I’m thankful for the unanimity. Now we’re making an extra push to make the positions essential.”

Second generation educator

Boyd’s deep commitment to education runs in the family. Raised in Chicago, both of her parents were science teachers, and her mother later became a computer science teacher. But Boyd, who has been a librarian for 24 years, says she at first resisted her parents’ encouragement to become an educator. After college, she worked in corporate America as a recruiter for a Fortune 500 company. When she began to feel stalled in her position, her father again made his case. “He swooped back in and got me to go back to school for a master’s in library science,” said Boyd, who has been a librarian at the district’s  Jefferson Middle School Academy for five years.

Previously, she served as the Area Library Coordinator for Chicago Public Schools and was a District Coordinator for the Mayor Daley Book Club for Middle School Students. She also was  the lead librarian in East St. Louis, Illinois. She also holds master’s degrees in media communications and education leadership.

‘You’ve got to give them a platform to discover’

Boyd currently serves on the executive board for the District of Columbia Library Association and the Advisory Board for EveryLibrary. She is a member of the American Library Association Chapter Council representing Washington D.C., the American Association of School Librarians Digital Tools and the Washington Teachers’ Union Equity Collaborative.

Over the course of her career, she has seen how technology has changed libraries and the way  people use them but says the essence of her role is largely the same. She continues to help students discover the joys of reading every day, improve their research skills, receive the preparation needed to succeed in high school and grow into upstanding digital citizens. That concept, practicing responsible digital citizenship, is embedded in the media studies course that she teaches.

“I incorporate many different programs in this course. I use current events from The Sift® [NLP’s free weekly newsletter for educators] and apply that to a lesson or activity,” she said. “It challenges their thinking and their place in the world. And they learn a lot. You’ve got to give them that platform to discover.”

Having seen students struggling to discern credible sources and information from a flood of misinformation, Boyd wants to make an impact outside her classroom as an NLP ambassador. After a school year disrupted by the pandemic, she is looking forward to developing a plan to involve educators in D.C., Maryland and Virginia in efforts to promote news literary education and hopes to get organizations that serve educators and librarians on board. When you visit Boyd’s website The Boss Librarian Blog, the passion that makes her an ideal ambassador is evident in the tagline at the top of the page: “Bringing the zeal back to school librarianship.”

With the start of the school year, are you ready to dive into news literacy education? Becoming news-literate helps students learn to better navigate our complex information landscape and avoid spiraling down misinformation rabbit holes. It’s also essential to being civically engaged.

The events of the last 18 months have made it clear just how urgently students need news literacy skills. If you want to help your students discern facts from falsehoods, start with the News Literacy Project (NLP). We’re the leading provider of impactful, relevant and FREE resources and programs for teaching news literacy.

Begin by registering for NLP’s e-learning platform, the Checkology® virtual classroom, where your students will learn to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, recognize misinformation and help stop its spread. The lessons also help them understand the role of the free press and the First Amendment in our democracy, and they are aligned to the C3 Framework, Common Core State Standards-ELA and to the ISTE standards. Checkology lessons also enhance students’ comprehension across disciplines. And be sure to join NLP’s NewsLit Nation, a national network to engage and mobilize more than 40,000 educators in all 50 states.

Events for the new school year

NLP supports your work throughout the school year, beginning with a variety of events and offerings. Choose the one that works best for you.

• Register for the webinar Getting Started with Checkology. Select from one of three dates: Aug. 19, Aug. 30 or Sept. 15.
• Take part in our Twitter chat on blended learning Aug. 26, from 4 to 5 p.m. ET at #NLPchat.
• Don’t miss our free virtual NewsLitCamp®, a unique professional learning event presented with our news partner, The 19th*, on Aug. 27.
• Teach your students about the dangers of conspiracy theories with the Sept. 2 EdWeb webinar Avoiding the rabbit hole: Teaching concepts in conspiratorial thinking.
• Go deeper with our fall news literacy webinar series, which covers foundational concepts and curriculum integration. The series begins Friday, Sept. 3, at 4 p.m. CT
• Challenge your students to compete in an “InfoZones” lesson contest. Ask your students for examples of information about topics that interest them and we’ll feature the winning content in a new “InfoZones” exercise. The contest closes Oct. 15.

Online resources always available

• Explore the FREE classroom-ready material on our website, including the new infographics, How to teach news literacy in polarizing times and Eight tips to Google like a pro.
• Check out our “News Literacy Foundations” collection on Flipgrid.
• Watch these videos to see how other educators found creative ways to teach news literacy during the challenging 2020-21 school and benefit from their lessons learned.

Throughout the pandemic, when thousands of schools had to rely on distance learning, demand for Checkology surged. Aaron Feldstein, a middle school social studies teacher in California, is one of many educators who told NLP how much they valued our work. “If I were in charge, Checkology would be part of a national mandated curriculum for sure,” Feldstein said.

Whatever this school year brings, you can be sure NLP will be there to continue supporting educators and students avoid misinformation and become more news-literate.

Peter Adams, senior vice president of education, discussed a recent survey examining COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook in an August 4 interview with Chicago’s PBS affiliate, WTTW. 

Adams was asked to weigh in on what social media companies can do to curb the spread of misinformation on their platforms, and why misinformation spreads so quickly across platforms like Facebook.  

When asked how big a role social media plays in allowing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation to spread to  the general public, Adams responded, “You know, the cause and effect is a little tricky here. It might well be that people who are cynical and nihilistic toward mainstream media turn to Facebook. It might be that folks who are not that way to start with seeing messages on Facebook that enflame them and turn them to misinformation. It’s probably both, but what we know for sure is that despite Facebook’s statements saying that they will take down misinformation if they see it, there’s a lot of COVID mis- and disinformation on the platform.” 

View the full segment here. 

By Hannah Covington and Suzannah Gonzales 

While discussing the Derek Chauvin murder trial in the death of George Floyd, a student alerts the class about the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. On a separate day, another student asks why there was little coverage about a certain aspect of the deadly Atlanta-area shootings. The morning after a grand jury’s September decision in the Breonna Taylor case, a student wants to talk about it. Others bring up national politics.

In a school year of historic upheaval, partisanship and vitriol can easily seep into the classroom when controversial current events come up. Faced with charged students — as well as parents and guardians — some educators may question whether it is worth broaching these difficult topics at all.

But teaching current events through the lens of news literacy can help students engage meaningfully with the headlines they encounter without exacerbating strong emotions or divisions — and also empower them to identify credible news and information. Below are six tips and strategies for teaching news literacy in polarizing times.

1. Approach news reports like other texts

News coverage — like poetry, short stories and other class texts — offers rich opportunities for discussion and analysis. Remind students to approach news stories as they would other texts in class: closely and critically, evaluating each piece of information and any supporting evidence. If a student makes a polarized claim during class or in an assignment, challenge them to support the claim with fact-based evidence.

2. Focus on journalism standards

Center discussions of news articles on the standards of quality journalism, which can help build common ground. Even those who disagree on controversial issues can agree that credible news coverage should incorporate standards, such as fairness, accuracy and transparency.

For instance, asking students to read a news article with credible sources in mind — “Where is information coming from? How many different sources are there? Are any relevant voices or perspectives missing?” — can sharpen the focus of a class conversation and help move students beyond kneejerk reactions to a story topic.

3. Emphasize specifics

Rather than labeling an entire news report as “biased,” students should concentrate on particulars, such as a specific headline, caption or word choice. Pose questions like, “Is this specific element of the story fair and accurate?” or, “If you had to write a headline for this story, what would it be?”

Students, for example, could compare wording in breaking news alerts about the decision in the Breonna Taylor case. Or, they could focus on how news organizations label coverage of major developing stories, such as the deadly Atlanta-area spa shootings.

Focusing the conversation on specific parts of news coverage may help avoid fights over the topic itself.

4. Reflect on personal biases

Students benefit from becoming aware of their own biases as news consumers. Personal backgrounds and life experiences — as well as factors like race, ethnicity and gender — shape how we see the world. Ask students to consider how these biases might affect their perceptions of news reports and opinion pieces.

Following the Atlanta-area shootings, for example, students could read guidance published by the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) for newsrooms reporting on the shootings. Then, they could review news coverage and see how it compares to AAJA’s recommendations, taking note of language choices, context and sources.

5. Consult diverse news sources

Encourage students to explore various points of view by diversifying their media diet and turning to credible news sources that take journalism standards and ethics seriously. It’s easy to fall into partisan news bubbles, especially on social media. Challenge them to seek out multiple sources and perspectives — not just the ones they typically consult and agree with or that confirm their existing views. Being open to opposing viewpoints can help combat polarization.

Coverage comparisons, including headlines, work especially well: How did different news organizations cover this same topic? What similarities or differences do you notice?

One way to discuss the Chauvin case, for instance, could involve comparing coverage from local, national and international news organizations.

6. Remember learning outcomes

News literacy can give students practice using critical reading and observation skills. It aims to teach students how to think — not what to think — about news and other information (including sensitive issues). And with so many recent breaking and controversial news events that affect students and their communities, learning outcomes for news literacy apply well beyond the classroom.

*           *           *

Journalism documents today’s history. The unprecedented events and major news of the last school year have made teaching news literacy more crucial than ever. The current polarized climate may raise concerns over angry students, parents and guardians, but it also can present opportunities for productive dialogue. While recent events and controversies may feel overwhelming to teach, incorporating news literacy alongside a few simple strategies can help address important stories of the moment while making classroom conversations worthwhile.

Hannah Covington is the senior manager of education and content at the News Literacy Project. Suzannah Gonzales is a university adjunct instructor and former director of education and content at the News Literacy Project.

NLP’s app is now heavy on TikTok content! Our game-like app, Informable®, has added a Mix-Up Mode made up entirely of videos from the hugely popular social media video platform. Users are challenged to develop a news-literate mindset — identifying whether a video has credible evidence for a claim or whether it’s an ad or not, for example.

Informable, free on iOS and Android, is for people of all ages. It helps develop key news-literate habits of mind with four brain exercise modes each made up of three levels. The questions become more difficult as a user progresses from level 1 to level 3. The four modes are:

• Checkable or Not? (Is each item fact-based or opinion-based?)
• Evidence or Not? (Does each item provide strong evidence for the claim it makes?)
• Ad or Not? (Is an item advertising or something else — news, opinion, personal endorsement on social media, etc.)?
• News or Opinion? (Is each item news or opinion?)

To advance, players must correctly identify at least seven of the 10 examples presented in each level. Points are awarded for accuracy and speed. Users can review their answers to learn more about each item and see why they were right or wrong.

Once users complete all three levels in all four modes, they reach Mix-Up Mode, which presents random examples from all modes to simulate the information flow they might experience in real life while scrolling a social media app. This is where the new TikTok examples come in.

The first level is generic, while the second focuses on COVID-19 and the third, newest level is made up of 10 TikTok videos. The game is perfect for anyone who uses the platform regularly or someone who doesn’t. It challenges users to use a critical eye to look for things like #Ad and sources with credible information. Users will leave any Informable experience as smarter news consumers, with a more informed view of TikTok and other content they see on social media.

Download Informable today on iOS or Google Play.

 In part one of a two-part series for the Education for Sustainable Democracy podcast, John Silva, NLP’s senior director of education and training, and Miriam Romais, NLP’s senior manager of educator engagement, discussed the importance of news literacy and strategies to help young people become smart news consumers.

“We have the assumption that because students are digital natives, they aren’t digitally naïve,” Romais said. But young people don’t always know how to tell the difference between social media posts that are misleading, and ones that are credible.  “If you’re basing all of your decisions, actions, and emotions on something that is false, how do you move through life? So, we try to get to the point where we help the educators and the general public [with news literacy skills], and educators specifically because they’re going to amplify this to their students.”

Silva, a former educator who taught for 13 years in Chicago Public Schools, said integrating news literacy into the classroom strengthens the overall curriculum. “As a history teacher, as a social studies teacher, we are continually talking about, ‘How do we know what happened? What are the sources we can go to in order to know the who, the why, the where, and the when?’ News literacy  helps provide a different understanding of journalism, because that… is what reporters are doing, they’re telling us what happened – the who, the what, the where, the when. There’s a famous quote, ‘Journalism is the first draft of history,’ and understanding how to evaluate that, in the modern sense, helps to understand history, but it also helps when we’re talking about current events and things that are happening in civics.”

You can listen to all of part one of the podcast here.

How can consumers figure out fact from fiction in the current media landscape? What strategies should they use to know whether the news they are following is credible? John Silva, NLP’s senior director of education and training, shared his expertise on this topic during a recent panel discussion with CT Mirror, a nonprofit news site in Connecticut.

Silva was joined by Marie Shanahan, associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut, and Izaskun “Sassy” Larrañeta, managing editor of The Day of New London. CT Mirror presented the June 29 event in partnership with the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut.

Silva explained that false context is one of the most frequent types of misinformation consumers face.

“One really common example is how often people will take a fake screenshot from a satirical article and post it as if it’s a real screenshot,” Silva said. “There was an example from the Babylon Bee, where they had a fake CNN screenshot and it was taken out of the satirical context, published as if it was a real CNN screenshot, and that created this false context and misinformation.”

Silva said NLP tries to teach consumers to dig deeper when they come across content that creates a strong emotional reaction.  “You have to look at who’s posting it, where it’s from,” Silva said. It’s easy, he said, for someone to take a snippet of a longer video or an excerpt of a quote, or even to alter a caption for an image, and present it in a misleading way. That’s why understanding the context behind a post is so important.

You can watch the panel discussion here.

This is part of a series that introduces you to the people of NLP.

Miriam Romais
Saratoga Springs, New York

This is part of a series that introduces you to the people behind the scenes at the News Literacy Project.

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to NLP?
My background is in documentary photography. I was given a camera in high school, and visual storytelling has been my focus ever since. After college, I freelanced as a photojournalist for local papers in New Jersey but soon realized it didn’t completely match my interests. I wanted to spend more time with the people I was photographing and dive into stories that went far beyond the assignment. I wanted to see and learn more than just that single narrative, as we are all multi-layered, complex beings. Although I am first-generation estadosunidense, I credit that curiosity to growing up in Brazil (where my family is from), as it deeply influenced how I see and experience life — how we position ourselves and navigate the world among classes, races, cultures and experiences. Seeing a lack of representation in images we consume is also what led me to become a photo editor/publisher, director and a curator at En Foco, a nonprofit that supports photographers of African, Asian, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander heritage. My own photographic work focuses on creating images that convey the dignity of the person on the other side of the camera, and I see that as a collaborative partnership. I had recently finished my MBA with a concentration in global brand marketing and was exploring ways to bring this knowledge into the nonprofit world when I saw a listing posted by a photojournalist I knew who was then working at NLP. The more I learned about the organization, the more interested I became. And with the encouragement of friend and journalist David Gonzalez of the New York Times, who was a volunteer in NLP’s Newsroom to Classroom program in its early days, I took the plunge.

2. How has working for NLP impacted your life or changed your world perspective?
Reading and interpreting images has allowed me to apply a photo-focus to how I look at various other media. I’ve always been an obsessive note taker, making sure I have the info I need for photo captions. When I heard Nicole Frugé of the San Francisco Chronicle say in a NewsLitCamp a few years ago that “photojournalism IS journalism” — and discuss the importance of captions — I felt seen and validated. Photojournalists are more than picture-makers; they are an integral part in the story being conveyed. My pet peeve is hearing someone say “a photo is worth a thousand words” because it’s really a thousand different and sometimes conflicting words as we all see the world via our own lens and experience. And working at NLP has also made me acutely aware of the depth and reach of misinformation affecting so many more people I am close to than I ever thought.

3. How has your work as a photographer and your efforts supporting photographers of color influenced your work at NLP?
En Foco, where I worked for over 20 years, was a space for photographers of color to thrive. It was led by photographers of color, nurturing and providing opportunities that are challenging to find in the mainstream media or art world. Journalism is rife with stories “about” people of color, but often not told by them. We advocated for voices that ensured a pluralism in the field of photography. To me, the carryover to NLP is similar yet just as urgent. We have seen the consequences of inaccurately portraying or stating something or not standing up to wrongdoings, so helping others explore the information they consume — whether written or visual — is incredibly satisfying. I recall explaining what NLP does to a close friend when I first joined, and she exclaimed, “It’s like you joined the X-men in the fight against misinformation!” I still love that.

4. What is the most surprising thing you have learned or experienced since joining NLP?
The most surprising thing to me, is the prevalence of well-meaning people accidentally amplifying misinformation, or choosing to do nothing when they see it online or hear others echoing information without thinking about it first. Wasn’t that called gossip in the before-times? Most people don’t take the time to question information or consider its origin, which heightens this malaise of misinformation. I remember seeing an article saying that falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted than the truth and reach their first 1,500 people six times faster because we are distracted or feeling lazy. Those are eye-opening numbers, so I’ve been learning how to thoughtfully engage in such conversations.

5. What news literacy tip, tool or guidance do you most often use?
Lateral reading. You might think it should be reverse image search, but as a photographer, I find it way easier to spot manipulated images than to know all the details surrounding a particular context or story. I love learning new things, and drilling down to find varied and reliable sources has been an essential part of that.

6. What is the first thing you will do as we fully emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Have multiple parties with those I most cherish and hug them every two minutes, maybe more. It would be outdoors with solar lights and papel picado strung throughout the trees, candles and firepit blazing, songs and laughter (and tears for those we’ve lost), and loads of yummy Brazilian food.

7. Aside from fighting for facts, what else are you passionate about?
In no particular order: good photography, martial arts (I am a black belt in Taekwondo), scuba diving, motorcycle safety (I am a former national trainer and current RiderCoach for MSF-usa.org.), travel, the environment, especially reducing my plastic consumption, and people in all their complicated splendor.

8. Are you on team dog, team cat, team wombat? Or do you prefer stuffed animals to pets?
Team dog! We fell in love with Reign since the first photo our NLP colleague Eryn posted on Slack. She was fostering the pup, who was found as a stray in West Virginia. We drove down to D.C. to meet her and drove home together that same weekend. She has kept us on our toes ever since and spends most of her time flopping on the floor asking for belly rubs in between trying to tree squirrels.

9. What one item do you always have in your refrigerator?
Bacon and farm fresh eggs at the ready, although we don’t keep those in the fridge.

10. What’s in your pocket/backpack/laptop case right now?
I haven’t had to carry it around for so long, I had to go look! Magenta stickie note pad, my favorite mechanical pencil, extra battery pack (for when my camera with the ring-tone runs low on power), and dark chocolate (OK, that might be a bit stale by now…)

We’re proud to announce that NLP and our Checkology® virtual classroom have been selected in the annual list of the Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).  The organization recognizes electronic resources “that provide enhanced learning and curriculum development for school librarians and their educator collaborators.”

NLP was honored, in part, for providing high-quality resources that educators were able to adapt for use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Checkology was recognized as one of the best electronic resources available.

“The digital tools honored in 2021 demonstrate how education has stepped up to support remote and blended learning environments,” AASL said. “They provide high-quality resources for many content areas and engaging learning activities. In developing the list, the committee also focused on equity and access.”

The organization released the list this week and you can access the full list of honorees at www.ala.org/aasl/best.

“NLP is thrilled that Checkology is being recognized for the free resources it offers to help educators teach news literacy and to connect all students with news literacy education,” said Ebonee Rice, NLP’s vice president of the educator network. “Today’s students are navigating an incredibly complex information landscape and Checkology is more important than ever.”

Checkology helps middle and high school students learn how to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and apply critical thinking skills to separate fact-based content from falsehoods. NLP expanded access to Checkology last year by dropping the paywall for educators and parents engaged in distance learning or homeschooling, due to the pandemic and school closures.