Overview
Quotes taken out of context can completely change the meaning of what someone says. This tactic is commonly used to spread misinformation with potentially serious consequences, such as provoking violence or providing fake evidence to spread conspiracy theories.
Students will learn how quotes have been manipulated to spread conspiracies about the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and read upstream to get at the truth behind a quote that's been taken out of context.
These lessons were developed by PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs in partnership with MediaWise and the Teen Fact-Checking Network , which are part of the Poynter Institute . This partnership has been made possible with support from Google.”
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Explain how contextomy can be used to spread misinformation
- Read upstream to find the original source of excerpted quotes
- Explain how contextomy changes the meaning of quotes
Subjects
media literacy, social studies, language arts, journalism, English, ELAGrade Levels
6-12Supplemental Links
Standards
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Common Core
CC.8.5.6-8; CC.8.5.9-10.A; CC.8.5.11-12.A - Citing informational text
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College, Career, and Civic Lice (C3)
D3.1.6-8. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection. D3.1.9-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
KEY VOCABULARY
- Contextomy — quoting someone out of context in a way that distorts what they actually said or did.
- Reading upstream — the act of following a link or claim in a news story back to the original source of information.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Warm-up : Compare the out-of-context quote that founding father John Adams is often cited as saying to his full quote. How does the context of the full quote change the meaning?
Used with written permission by Gary N. Curtis
Background : This "contextomy" (fancy word for quoting someone out of context) is sometimes cited by people who argue against religion and want to appeal to Adams' authority, or who use the quote as evidence that the founding fathers opposed religion.
Watch the MediaWise Teen-Fact Checking Network (TFCN) video and answer the following questions. According to the video…
- What is a big red flag about the meme and the quotes?
- How did the teen fact-checker narrow down the Internet search?
- What original document did reading upstream discover?
DIG DEEPER
Read upstream to find the original source of the quotes in the supplemental links activity that have been used out of context by conspiracy theorists to claim that the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were actually an act of the government. For each quote, add the missing context from the original source of the quote and explain how the meaning changes.
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