News Literacy

Our society faces international challenges from cyber attacks and dissemination of fake news with a goal to destabilize our society. Fake news can be used as a weapon with destructive effects as powerful as any military attack. Fake news can spread as fast as a wildfire carried on the winds of social media. Students and all citizens need to be prepared and informed of ways to quickly understand and distinguish real and fake news. Preventing the potential destructive effects of fake news is the purpose of this book. The focus is upon providing a resource for educators to develop “news literacy” skills of students in objectively evaluating the news.

Is there a subject that we need to study as urgently as the matter of what is, and is not, fake news? Social media have provided a platform for the dissemination and absorption of untruths in a way our ancestors could not have dreamed of—with what now looks like grotesques implications for societal progress, citizenship, and the social contract. Janke and Cooper could not be writing at a better time and their excellent and very readable exploration of this topic should be on every teacher’s (and teacher trainer’s) reading list., Our democracy depends on a citizenry that can evaluate ‘facts’ and distinguish between accurate and fake news. This book serves as vital resource for educators and students in a period of cyber warfare—and political attacks on the news media., With the explosion of various forms of social media and their use in the widespread distribution of fake news, there has never been a previous time in our nation’s history when it has been more important to inform our students with the knowledge to separate the true from the false. This timely book provides teachers with valuable information to impart in an effort to combat a serious threat to our democracy.

Robert W. Janke is professor of education at Baldwin Wallace University with almost 50 years of experience as a teacher, psychologist, and professor. He received a PhD from the University of Michigan.Bruce S. Cooper is professor emeritus in education leadership, administration, and policy at Fordham University. He receive a PhD from the University of Chicago and has published over forty books on policy, finance, leadership, and school improvement.