Your Choice of News: A Quick Discussion (VJI-M2-02-EN)

• Promote critical thinking about news sources
• Promote reflection on one’s choices in news

• Students

• Step 1: The lecturer asks the students to write down their current sources of news stories on the board, and whether these sources are traditional media or trending social media.
• Step 2: The lecturer then facilitates a group discussion on the following questions:

Why did they choose that source(s)?

Why do they think it is reliable?

Could they identify the author of the story?

How many times have they re-sent, re-tweeted or posted a story without any investigations of its authenticity or reliability?

• Step 3: Evaluate the importance of critical thinking when consuming news. Explain the six questions which can help the students think critically about news sources:
  • Type: what kind of content is this?
  • Source: who and what are the sources cited and why should I believe them?
  • Evidence: what is the evidence and how was it vetted?
  • Interpretation: Is the main point of the piece proven by the evidence?
  • Completeness: What is missing? What might be an alternative explanation or understanding?
  • Knowledge: Am I learning every day what I need?

Also briefly talk about the idea of “critical ignoring”: sometimes it is better to not critically analyse an potential untrustworthy source. This takes up a lot of energy. It can be better to just ignore it sometimes.

• Step 4: End on the note that there is a fine line between healthy scepticism.

• A white board with markers

• Varied and active engagement
• Social nature of learning

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2018, September). Teaching Guide for lecturers using the E4J University Modules on Integrity & Ethics. The Doha Declaration: Promoting a Culture of Lawfulness. https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/integrity-ethics/teaching-guide/table-of-exercises.html

None.