Author: Julie Bohman

Don’t Let Confirmation Bias Narrow Your Perspective

If we limit our news and opinion information consumption to publications that we agree with, we are looking at the world through myopic lenses and miss many other valid arguments/ideas. As always, look for evidence for any argument/idea and also verify the source as credible. Here is a quick study of confirmation bias that we […]

National News Literacy Week

Save the dates! The annual National News Literacy Week (Jan. 23-27) is presented in partnership with The E. W Scripps Company. This year’s NNLW theme is trust: What makes a source of news or information trustworthy or credible? And why is trust important in news consumption? Each day of the week will feature events, resources […]

Don’t wait for information to be debunked. Learn to “prebunk”.

From: Elizabeth Gilbert from Big Think November 8, 2022 Learn to identify common misinformation techniques with these five videos. The techniques include: 1)emotional language to induce fear, anger or contempt 2)Incoherence like using multiple arguments about the same topic which cannot all be true 3) False dichotomies such as falsely presenting sides or choices as […]

Three Types of Election Rumors to Avoid

The following is taken directly from the News Literacy Project: “Elections are the lifeblood of democracy, but political campaigns are often rancorous, controversial and polarizing events. As if the misleading claims and attack ads weren’t challenging enough for the public, bad actors further muddy the waters by pushing disinformation into our social media feeds. These […]

Leaving Conspiracy Theories

A single mom in Mississippi embraced multiple conspiracy theories until one day she questioned the validity of an acquaintance’s claim that the Earth is flat. Karen Robertson, 30, shared her journey out of belief in conspiracy theories with a student reporter from PBS Student Reporting Labs. She said a previous abusive relationship led her to […]