Video summary
- PBS NewsHour's four-part series on "Junk News" explores who is behind creating inflammatory news sites and why.
- Science correspondent Miles O'Brien profiles a leading purveyor of junk news, Cyrus Massoumi, who has made millions of dollars exploiting the trend toward hyperpartisan news.
- In order to attract readers toward his websites, Massoumi and his team create eye-catching or sensational headlines that are divisive and misleading, also known as clickbait.
Discussion questions:
- Essential question : What role does technology play in how people consume the news?
- What does it mean to be partisan? What does it mean to be hyperpartisan?
- What do you think a scientist would have to say about the current debate over junk news as described in this series or so-called fake news?
- Choose either question : What effects does inflammatory news have on a democratic society? How should the government respond to inflammatory news sites?
- Would you take a job spinning facts or creating inflammatory news if it paid a lot of money? Why or why not?
Extension activity:
Check out this lesson on misinformation based on the information of PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs' youth journalism program. Click here for the full site .
