Washington D.C. (November 3, 2017) — The term “fake news” continues to dominate headlines as the rise of fabricated news stories, websites and other forms of misinformation challenge the role of journalists and the facts around important civic conversations.
The PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (SRL) turned to its network of teen reporters in urban and rural communities around the country to find out what young people really think about “fake news,” how it has affected their lives and the role that journalism plays in their communities.
The mosaic of voices demonstrate how a generation is navigating today’s digital ecosystem as institutions and communities search for solutions to help young people learn and understand the phenomenon of misinformation. The young voices highlighted in nearly 200 interviews shed light on how students deal with living in a world where their attention is competing with a variety of sources and the hazard of misinformation overload remains constant.
Teen reporters in 69 schools across the country revealed an awareness of a new responsibility to fact-check in the process of understanding the difference between information intended to inform and information that is intended to mislead or distort.
“If there is bad information going around, how can we make rational, informed decisions about what is true and what is not?,” said Henry Smith, a student at Royal Oak High School in Michigan.
Zoe Greenwald, a student at West Ranch High School in Santa Clarita, California said, “We spend more time in the media than any other generation ever has and with all of this information being circulated, we need to make sure that the information that is getting to the audience is factual and is correct.”
Visit SRL’s full Misinformation Overload content series here.
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About Student Reporting Labs
Student Reporting Labs provides middle and high schools with a unique video journalism curriculum, teacher professional development, mentorship and relationships with local public media stations to produce original stories that explore how critical national issues impact communities around the country. Visit PBS NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Major support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, American Graduate: Let’s Make it Happen, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award.
About the PBS NewsHour
PBS NewsHour is seen by over four million weekly viewers and is also available online, via public radio in select markets, and via podcast. PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned non-profit subsidiary of WETA Washington, D.C., in association with WNET in New York. Major funding for PBS NewsHour is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and public television viewers. Major corporate funding is provided by BNSF, Babbel, and Collette, with additional support from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Lemelson Foundation, National Science Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Ford Foundation, Skoll Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Friends of the NewsHour and others. More information on PBS NewsHour is available at www.pbs.org/newshour. On social media, visit NewsHour on Facebook or follow @NewsHour on Twitter.
Media Contacts
Leah Clapman, Managing Editor, Student Reporting Labs: lclapman@newshour.org
Elis Estrada, Director, Student Reporting Labs: eestrada@newshour.org
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