With an abundance of sources for news, not all of which are reliable or trustworthy, many people today may feel a disconnect with the media and the people who report it. And while adults may cite reasons such as media bias, children and young adults simply don’t understand the media – according to a 2016 Stanford University study, 82 percent of middle-schoolers cannot distinguish between an ad labeled “sponsored content” and a real news story on a website. Providing the right tools for young news consumers will help them learn how to spot fake news; how to tell the difference between ads, blogs and news reports; and how to draw their own informed conclusions.

We’ve rounded up several age-appropriate books to help kids at home or in the classroom learn how to navigate the news, just in time for back-to-school.

‘Fact, Fiction and Opinions: The Differences Between Ads, Blogs, News Reports, and Other Media (All About Media)’ by Brien J. James

This book is a good starting point for young news consumers. James defines the primary concepts of media using simple, informative text for emerging readers who are yet to learn the important differences between the kinds of information and stories available to them through the media.

Key quote: “You need to think carefully about news reports you read or hear. Sometimes stories that appear to be news reports are really ads. Other times news reports won’t include all the facts or both sides of a story.” [p.18]

Age range: 6 – 8 years old

What your kids will get out of it: By learning basic concepts of the media and the difference between fact and fiction, as well as the difference between blogs, news reports, advertisements and more, young children will have the tools to be knowledgeable media consumers and become more engaged with media in general.

‘Viral News on Social Media (Young Citizen’s Guide to News Literacy)’ by Paul Lane

Social media is a nonstop content generator that moves as fast as we can scroll through our feeds. We now experience a 24-hour news cycle that can be as beneficial to readers as it is harmful. At a time when clicks and shares are frequently valued over accuracy, readers face an additional challenge – and responsibility – of identifying false sources.

Key quote: “Many times, a picture or a headline that misleads about the actual story is all it takes for a story to be shared, regardless of whether the user reads the article. This helps news spread like an actual virus would spread between people (…)” [p.10]

Age range: 9 – 12 years old

What your kids will get out of it: Students will learn what fake news is, how to identify and respond to it, as well as how to identify reputable sources. Kids will also learn about the power of social media and how viral content spreads, regardless of whether it’s true.

‘Understanding the News (Cracking the Media Literacy Code)’ by Pamela Dell  

Children usually perceive news as foreign and unrelated to them; some choose to ignore news simply because they were never given the tools to understand it. Dell’s book highlights the importance of being media literate and gives readers access to the essential skills they need to really engage with the news.

Key quote: “Telling the difference between fake news and reals news takes the skill of an investigator. You must follow the clues that lead to the truth.” [p.28]

Age range: 8 – 10 years old

What your kids will get out of it: Children will learn the importance of media literacy, as well as the many ways news is presented and how to know if they’re using a reputable source. They will also learn how to identify fact from fiction and quality news websites from those that might be biased or fake.

‘Choosing News: What Gets Reported and Why (Exploring Media Literacy)’ by Barb Palser

News is virtually everywhere – practically everything e do is informed by the events that make up “the news.” But how do news producers decide what events should be part of the news we’re presented, whether online, on television, or in print and digital newspaper media? Is news just limited to major national stories about plane crashes and kidnapped babies, or are road closures and malfunctioning traffic lights in local communities news, too? Palser offers a simple and informative guide that answers these questions and helps kids identify real, high-quality news.

Key quote: “Call it the Awareness Instinct. We need news to live our lives, to protect ourselves, bond with each other and identify friends and enemies.” – Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel [p.4]

Age range: 10 –13 years old

What your kids will get out of it: Preteens and teens will learn how to identify what is a potential news story, and on which news platform(s) they would find it. They will learn about journalism standards, types of bias, and how blogs and aggregators work compared to traditional news outlets.

The post Teaching Kids About Media Literacy appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

I had a writing class about the power of news that turned into a heated discussion about how we categorized “fake news.” Turns out, none of us were certain. No matter how many articles we read — How to Identify Fake News, or What Makes an Article Credible? — at the end of the day, when a class of 30 junior writing college students could not come up with one straight answer, I realized that the problem was much bigger than I expected.

For the next class, our professor asked us to post five news articles we knew for certain to be true in our discussions board. Only seven completed the assignment. I’m ashamed to admit I wasn’t one of them. The truth is that I spent hours scrolling through articles in search of the right ones, and I was never certain. Most were biased, not by blatant opinions, but the words they used to describe the event. I had to get out of one site and search for another regarding the same topic to make up my mind. None seemed real enough. The easiest to pick apart were the ones messily crafted — with multiple spelling and grammar mistakes — and resurfacing old stories under a different headline or context – those were the red flags that I began to recognize after reading several articles.

But what about those who don’t like reading as much as I do? Do they ever get the truth of the specific matters they are interested about?

A new initiative by the News Literacy Project (NLP), Newsroom to Classroom, made me consider it. According to Suzannah Gonzales, Associate Director of Education at NLP, the organization was founded after Alan C. Miller visited his daughter’s middle school and realized how overwhelmed these young students were by content, and how little they understood about the practice of journalism. By taking a day of students’ school education — the last day, when not a lot of information is likely to be taught — journalists could clear up these foggy topics that not only middle-schoolers, but a large majority of us, are still unfamiliar about.

As a volunteer with NLP’s Newsroom to Classroom program, award-winning radio and print journalist and CBS Professor Emerita of Professional Practice at Columbia Journalism School in New York City Ann Cooper “visited” via video conference fourth graders at the Carl Von Linné School in Chicago on their last day of school. While Cooper only discussed why freedom of the press is important and how a student should cover a story about bullying, NLP offers other resources that address matters like fake news, and how to successfully spot the difference between professionally-crafted journalist reports and misinformation. According to Gonzales, “The Newsroom to Classroom program is a return to News Literacy Project’s roots, when journalists made in-person visits to classrooms.”

And who says that it must stay between middle school classroom walls? I could use a lesson like the one Cooper taught to the students at Carl Von Linné School to inform my college class discussions about fake news, and I’m sure other students who question their judgment about the news could use it to become more confident news consumers outside the classroom.

The Newsroom to Classroom program needs journalist volunteers who are willing to visit their local schools and teach middle school and high school students about these important topics, as they are not currently included as part of standard lesson plans in schools across the U.S.

Journalists who are interested in volunteering for this program just need to email journalists@newslit.org.

The post News Literacy Project’s Newsroom to Classroom Not Just for Middle Schoolers appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

The Alliance launched the Support Real News campaign nearly two years ago to combat the spread of misinformation and highlight the need for and importance of quality journalism from trusted, respected sources. Today, with bad information still rampant via online platforms and the increasing attacks on the media, our campaign has never felt more essential.

With the release of our newest ad last week, we — along with our Support Real News partners — are responding to recent attacks on the media, highlighting the importance of press access for the preservation of our democracy. In the ad, we called on the public to support press access, noting that the ability of reporters to accurately inform the public depends on their ability to ask questions of those in power.

While politicians have more opportunities than ever to speak directly to the public through social media, they are not held accountable in the same way. Only when questioned by professional journalists, who are committed to the profession’s code of ethics to seek and report the truth, are they held to their promises and required to answer to the public.

“While other avenues exist to obtain information, the robust, public back-and-forth we’ve come to expect in the James S. Brady briefing room helps highlight that no one in a healthy republic is above being questioned,” said Olivier Knox, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, in The New York Times. “This retreat from transparency and accountability sets a terrible precedent.”

Under the Trump administration, the White House has done away with the regular press briefing, dropping the near-daily meetings between the press secretary and the press in favor of letting the president’s tweets and rallies — and the occasional official statement — fill the void. Since September 2018, Trump has averaged one briefing per month, and during the rare full-corps briefings, he has not always taken questions from the media.

Trump’s horrible comments and tweets about the media being “the enemy of the people” have undoubtedly influenced public perception and contributed to increased attacks on reporters. On Wednesday, Trump did it yet again with The New York Times after they published an article about his attempts to influence investigations into him and his associates. And the day before our Press Access ad ran in newspapers, on February 11, a Trump supporter pushed and shoved a BBC cameraman at a rally in El Paso, Texas, while the cameraman was attempting to capture the event for BBC viewers.

These attacks on the press are no more acceptable than the murder of five reporters from the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2018 – an attack which was also motivated by a belief that the journalists were producing “fake news.”

In addition to these physical attacks, the press is now getting stymied just trying to attend press conferences and other political events, most notably in November, when the White House revoked CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press pass after Acosta tried to ask Trump a follow-up question during a rare briefing.

Journalists work hard every day to deliver critically important news and information to the public, which is why “freedom of the press” is specifically protected by the First Amendment. Central to this freedom is the ability of journalists to ask questions of government officials and others in positions of power. Without press freedom, our democracy is at risk — which is why we all need to speak up now and support journalism and the right of the press to ask hard questions and seek uncomfortable truths.

The post CEO Column: Press Access Is Essential to Democracy appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

No Questions = No Answers

No questions from journalists = less accountability in our democracy.

Denying press access is a violation of your First Amendment right to a free press.

Without press access, we all lose.

Support Real News. Support a Free Press.

As part of our Support Real News campaign, the News Media Alliance is proud to provide two print ads, as well as digital banners and cube JPEGs, for use in your print and online newspapers.

Print Ads:

You can customize the print ads, available in full- and quarter-page sizes, with your name and logo.

You can download the ads in EPS (via Dropbox) or PDF formats below.

Ad 1:

Full-Page PDF (10″ x 21″): Click here
Full-Page EPS (10″ x 21″): Click here 

Quarter-Page PDF (5.7″ x 10″): Click here
Quarter-Page EPS (5.7″ x 10″): Click here 

Ad 2:

Full-Page PDF (10″ x 21″): Click here
Full-Page EPS (10″ x 21″): Click here 

Quarter-Page PDF (5.7″ x 10″): Click here
Quarter-Page EPS (5.7″ x 10″): Click here

Digital ads:

Link to: www.newsmediaalliance.org/supportrealnews

Digital Cubes (300 x 250px) – JPEG:

Digital banners (728 x 90px) – JPEG:

Return to the Support Real News Home Page

The post Support Real News – Press Access Ad appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

2018 was a year of serious fact-checks and cries of fake news. Did you survive with all your facts intact? Take our quiz to see if you can spot the truth amongst the lies in this collection of wild headlines from the past year.

The post Quiz: Can You Pick Out 2018’s Top Fake News Stories? appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Media Contact:
Lindsey Loving
Communications Manager
571.366.1009
lindsey@newsmediaalliance.org 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2018

News Media Alliance Wins Two Gold Awards in Association TRENDS 2017 All Media Contest

Arlington, Va. – The News Media Alliance has been honored with two awards – a Gold award in the “Best Advocacy Campaign” category for its Campaign to Support Real News, and a Gold award in the “Book/Manual/Catalog” category for its 2017 News Media Alliance Playbook – in the 2017 Association TRENDS 2017 All Media Contest. They were two of nearly 300 entries in the association publications contest.

“We are honored to be recognized by Association TRENDS for the Support Real News Campaign and Playbook,” stated Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern. “I’m extremely proud of our staff, who worked hard to produce these programs that would be valued by our members and the public. We’re grateful to the designers, writers, and reviewers who contributed to helping us create these award-winning programs.”

Award recipients were honored today at the 39th Annual Salute to Association Excellence at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., where Alliance VP of Innovation, Michael MaLoon; VP, Public Policy, Danielle Coffey; and VP, Membership and Business Development, Michelle Harris received the awards on behalf of the Alliance.

The Alliance conceived the Support Real News campaign to respond to the growing problem of fake news and to highlight the importance of real news, provided by respected journalists employed by trusted news organizations. The 2017 Playbook offers an introduction to the Alliance and the news media industry, and was designed as a portable flipbook that could be used on the Hill with lawmakers and in meetings with members and partners.

The Association TRENDS All-Media Contest is an annual competition held exclusively for associations, recognizing the most creative and effective communication vehicles developed in the industry over the prior year. The 2017 competition included about 300 entries in 23 categories of association communications.

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Association TRENDS is dedicated to providing association executives and industry partners the training, data and insights you need to better understand and serve your organization. See Association TRENDS for more industry analysis and news.

The News Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 2,000 news organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States. Alliance members include print, digital and mobile publishers of original news content. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the association focuses on ensuring the future of news media through communication, research, advocacy and innovation. Information about the News Media Alliance (formerly NAA) can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org.

The post News Media Alliance Wins Two Golds in Association TRENDS Contest appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Media Contact:

Lindsey Loving
Manager, Communications
lindsey@newsmediaalliance.org
571.366.1009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News Media Alliance Ad Puts Exclamation Point on Campaign: “We Are Real News”

Next phase of campaign will focus on trust

Arlington, Va. – The News Media Alliance today launched the final ad of the second phase of its Campaign to Support Real News. The new ad puts an exclamation point on the storyline it began in October 2017 with a strong statement: “We Are Real News”, and unlike other news “publishers”, our high-quality investigative journalists are committed to reporting the truth.

The campaign, which initially launched in March 2017, was created to shine a light on the harm to the public caused by fake news and the importance of real news produced by respected, trusted news organizations employing these journalists.

The latest phase of the campaign, “What is Real News?” focuses on the need for news literacy. Each launch of this phase has included a print newspaper ad, with each message building on the one preceding it. The third and final ad distinguishes real news providers as those who “take our responsibility to report the truth very seriously” and “work tirelessly to uphold our commitment to the truth because at the end of the day, if we don’t, no one else will.”
The ads have appeared in several Alliance member newspapers representing over 14.25 million print editions (as well as other non-member newspapers) over the last ten months.

“The fact is, our members are the ones who are out there investigating the stories people want to know. Without them, there would be no accountability by public officials,” stated Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern. “The sensationalist, unsupported-by-facts ‘news’ stories you are seeing out there are just noise that detracts from the quality news being delivered by trusted news organizations.”

Throughout the campaign, the Alliance has unveiled a variety of resources on its website and social media channels to help the public learn how to distinguish real news from fake, and to take action by supporting real news in the form of subscriptions and donations. To coincide with today’s launch, the Alliance is offering new sharable social media graphics that explain common journalism terms and phrases that people often get wrong; and a listicle of the best books on combating fake news.

As this phase of the campaign comes to an end, the Alliance is looking ahead to how the campaign will evolve.
“We will be hosting an event this spring centered around the critical issue of trust in news media,” stated Chavern. “With people in positions of power attacking the credibility of respected news media, it is that much more of a challenge for us to have to overcome to help the public know who they can trust. But we are up to the challenge and I believe that ultimately, consumers are smart enough to figure it out.”

Partners of the Support Real News campaign include:

• Center for Public Integrity
• Inland Press Association
• International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
• Local Media Consortium
• Newseum Institute
• Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA)
• Stony Brook University School of Journalism, Center for News Literacy
• University of Washington
• WAN-IFRA
• World Editors Forum
• Washington State University Edward R. Murrow College of Communication

For more information, visit www.newsmediaalliance.org/supportrealnews

Click here to view the campaign video.

For a list of programs, articles, tips and other resources on evaluating news for authenticity, visit www.newsmediaalliance.org/isitrealnews

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The News Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 2,000 news organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States. Alliance members include print, digital and mobile publishers of original news content. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the association focuses on ensuring the future of news media through communication, research, advocacy and innovation. Information about the News Media Alliance (formerly NAA) can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org.

The post Alliance Ad Puts Exclamation Point on Campaign: "We Are Real News" appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

We Are Real News

We take our responsibility to report the truth very seriously. That is why we invest in the resources needed to seek out and report the truth.

As part of its Support Real News campaign, the News Media Alliance is proud to provide this print ad, as well as 15-sec digital banner and cube GIFs, for use in your print and online newspapers.

Print Ad:

The print ad, available in full- and quarter-page, can be customized with your name and logo.

They can be downloaded in EPS and PDF formats.
Full-Page PDF (10″ x 21″): Click here

Quarter-Page PDF (5.7″ x 10″): Click here
Full-Page EPS (10″ x 21″): Click here 
Quarter-Page EPS (5.7″ x 10″): Click here 

Digital ads:

Link to: www.newsmediaalliance.org/isitrealnews

Digital Cube (300 x 250px) – GIF:

Digital banner (728 x 90px) – GIF:

Return to the Support Real News Home Page

The post Support Real News – ‘We Are Real News’ Ad appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

The media landscape has become littered with false news stories, making it much harder to find the real news. This year, in response to this growing phenomenon, we have seen an increase in the introduction of several initiatives around the world  (including the Italian government) aimed at combating the proliferation of fake news. People recognize that fake news is a real and growing problem and want to ensure the continued existence of real news.

Among the many efforts out there, you may have seen PSAs in local and national newspapers over the last several months calling on Americans to “Support Real News”. These PSAs are part of our Support Real News campaign, which first launched in March, with the most recent ad being released today. The mission of the campaign is to shine a light on the harm to the public caused by fake news and highlight the importance of real news produced by respected, trusted news organizations.

The two latest ads are part of a three-part series that focuses on the need and importance of improved news literacy; that is, the ability to tell the difference between real and fake news and, if it’s not obvious from the headline (which, often, it is not) – how to find out which one it is.

The first ad advises readers to “Use a Trusted Source”, such as a respected news organization, to ensure they are getting real news. It also sends readers to a website, Is It Real News, which is filled with resources from third-parties – including universities, nonprofit foundations, independent media organizations, fact-checking organizations and other educational groups – to help people learn how to tell if something is real news, or whether it is fake.

The second, newest ad focuses on the critical role quality journalists play in ensuring news is truthful and accurate. In this case, we provide a helpful acronym, leveraging a key word in the world of news literacy – SOURCE. The ad uses the letters to help readers remember how high-quality journalists help deliver real news. They: Seek Out the truth. Unbiased in their Reporting. Correct all Errors.

This campaign is about helping people to recognize when something is real, and when it may not be and they should do more research. A solid and real news story will include credible sources and will be fact-checked for its ability to withstand inquiries as to whether statements in the story are true.

Professional journalists adhere to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, which mandates that they seek and report the truth, even if they don’t agree with it. It also states that they must “gather, update and correct information throughout the life of a news story.” They must admit their mistakes and remain open and transparent with readers. Ultimately, they must take responsibility for the truthfulness and accuracy of their work.

Other content producers simply posting information to the web are not bound by this Code of Ethics. They may publish information for which they did not quote a credible source, or that has not been vetted by team members or fact-checked.

How do you know that an author isn’t simply quoting a fake source? Many fake news stories, on the surface, are made to look like real news.

If the article is raising red flags and something just isn’t adding up, chances are, there is a reason for that. Trust your instincts and dig deeper – do some investigative work of your own to be sure you aren’t getting duped!

I can usually tell that an article is real news when I see the author’s corrections detailed in notations immediately above or below the article. To me, it is not so important that the author made a mistake, but that he or she corrected the error, admitted their mistake and held themselves accountable. I would trust that reporter’s work going forward, unlike a story containing false information that, upon the inaccuracy being pointed out, is not revised and no explanation or apology given for the misleading information. Why should I ever take that author’s word again? Why should you? We should demand more from our news! There are real news organizations out there that can and do stand up to the scrutiny, because their journalists adhere to the Code of Ethics and their reporting stands up to the test. Those are the sources from which I want to get my news.

The Support Real News campaign is about raising awareness and calling attention to those who knowingly exploit media communication channels to advance their agendas, by lying and even pretending to be an authentic news source. We can fight back against this problem through widespread education and calling on the public at-large to be vigilant and skeptical about recognizing fake news sources and not continuing to spread it, while supporting the providers of real news. Our original campaign video sounds the alarm on fake news and clearly conveys the reasons we need to support quality, investigative journalism now. Real news holds those in power accountable and is critical to preserving our democracy.

The third ad in the series, coming soon, will be the voice of real news, sharing why they do what they do, and why reporting the truth, even if they have to risk their lives, is so critical to the knowledge and education of our society.

To access helpful educational materials for improving news literacy, visit Is It Real News.

The post The Best SOURCE for Real News? Quality Journalists. appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Nina Burleigh on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

In the past year, journalism has changed more and faster than in all its previous years combined. Between outlets having to change how they do business because of economic difficulties to the distrust of the media that grew during the 2016 presidential election to the attacks on the media by President Donald Trump, the news industry has had to fight constantly — for money, for respect, for access.

Nina Burleigh of Newsweek has been through such changes before. She got her start in the 1990s and covered politics from the beginning, starting fresh out of college with a job covering the Illinois State House. Since then, she’s written for outlets like TIME, Rolling Stone, BusinessWeek, and People Magazine, just to name a few. She covered the Clinton White House and the Whitewater scandal, has traveled extensively through the Middle East as a journalist covering the Arab Spring, and has written five nonfiction books, with a sixth in the works.

We sat down with Burleigh to discuss how her career has changed over the years and what she sees as the state of journalism in 2017.

The following is condensed from a longer interview.

As a journalist, it seems as though you’ve written for everyone and done just about everything. But how did you first get started?

When I graduated college, I didn’t really know what I was going to do, and a professor told me about this program at the University of Illinois – Springfield where you could get an internship covering the State House in the State House press room with one of the media outlets. I got an internship with the AP and started covering the state legislature and really learned everything I needed to know about how bureaucracies work, how courts work. That education was crucial, and it’s applicable everywhere.

Is there a difference in how you worked covering more local issues from how you work now on the national level?

It’s much more complex at the federal level because there’s so much more going on and they’re overseeing a much bigger geographical area. But the same concepts of reporting apply. Work your beat, get your sources, meet them face-to-face if you can, which even in this day and age I find incredibly useful.

Has covering Trump, with all of his attacks on the press, changed how you work at all?

I don’t know that he’s changed the way I write. I think that his rise and now this presidency has challenged my energy levels because there’s a daily spew of mayhem, of newsworthy stuff. Before he came along you’d sit down and write stories about things like this maybe once a week, and now you have these things happening six or eight times a day. I think journalism, especially general-interest journalism, really provokes that and feeds on it.

It’s true that we’re more openly antagonistic to the administration because the lying is just such a big challenge to what we do for a living. They don’t care about the facts and so when they lie you have to say that this is a lie.

I do think that Trump is getting a raw deal because of the way that people respond to him. I do think that there might be things he’s working on that could be covered in a different way. So I hope that when reporters are calling him out that they’re covering him fairly. I hope that I cover him fairly and that I make the right calls on whether something is accurate or not.

You mentioned earlier that you sometimes get attacked on Twitter for calling out the president’s lies. Do you think that pointing out those lies is hurting the trust people have in the media?

I’m sure that presidents have lied and told stories ever since this country was founded. But now we’re living in a time where we see it more amplified because of the internet.

There are a lot of people who really don’t know who to trust. Is there anything you think the media can be doing to show those people that the media can be trusted?

I honestly don’t know the answer to that. [If you] continue to do your job with integrity, I assume that the thinking, right-minded, rational people will come around. I think the majority of the people do have the sense that the journalists aren’t at fault here. But on the other hand, there is certainly a lot of alienation in the country from power centers, and we in New York and Washington are perceived to be disconnected from what’s going on in the center of the country.

Short of every journalist who lives in Washington or New York decamping to Akron or Cincinnati or Huntsville or something and living there for a year, I don’t know what you can do. But I understand that alienation. I’m from Illinois, I grew up in the Midwest, so I completely understand feeling that disconnect from what’s going on in New York.

I’m always trying to find common ground — and I think you can always find common ground with people if you talk to them. But do I worry that I’m disconnected with them? No, because I actually feel like I carry that around with me all the time.

The post Five Answers With Newsweek’s Nina Burleigh appeared first on News/Media Alliance.