Conn. Public Radio: How disinformation preys on our values

NLP in the News


Connecticut Public Radio interviewed NLP’s Peter Adams for a March 9 All Things Considered segment, Why Disinformation Preys On ‘Our Most Sacred Beliefs And Values. He spoke about why misinformation has become a significant problem, what he thinks social media companies should do to curb it, why he believes legislation is coming to fight it and why all students deserve news literacy education.

“We have to understand how misinformation works — that it’s fundamentally exploitative, that it seeks to capitalize on our most sacred beliefs and values, our patriotism, our desire for equality, for fairness, our religious faith and seeks to use that against us, right, to provoke a strong emotional reaction, kind of override our rational mind, and get us to click share and reshare without thinking,” Adams says.

On the topic of whether legislation to mandate news literacy education is needed, he says, “It’s too vital, and in my view we really owe it to young people because this is the basis for their civic agency. If they can’t differentiate between something that’s true and something that’s false, they can’t make good decisions for their lives, for their families, for their futures and for the country.”

More Updates

NLP president and CEO talks news literacy on The Strategerist podcast

In a recent episode of The Strategerist podcast, presented by the George W. Bush Presidential Center, NLP president and CEO Charles Salter discussed why news literacy is a critical life skill, how to help young people navigate information on social media and evidence supporting the efficacy of news literacy instruction. “We’re empowering the individual to…

NLP in the News

NLP ambassador on navigating the spread of misinformation among Latinos

NLP news literacy ambassador and Chicago high school teacher Alba Mendiola recently appeared on PBS station WTTW to talk about misinformation in Spanish-speaking communities. Many Latinos rely on social media sites for their news and other information, according to data from a Pew Research Center survey. Since fact checking in Spanish is less available, Latinos…

NLP in the News