Hidden Biases and Fake News: Finding a Balance between Critical Thinking and Cynicism

Autor/in	Friesem, Elizaveta
Titel	Hidden Biases and Fake News: Finding a Balance between Critical Thinking and Cynicism
Quelle	In: Social Education, 82 (2018) 4, S.228-231 (4 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0037-7724
Schlagwörter	Critical Thinking; News Reporting; Deception; Democracy; Negative Attitudes; Information Sources; Information Literacy; Political Attitudes; Social Bias; Language Usage; Media Literacy; Teaching Methods; Learning Experience; Educational Strategies; Ethics; Intention; Economic Factors + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kritisches Denken; News report; Reportage; Täuschung; Demokratie; Negative Fixierung; Information source; Informationsquelle; Informationskompetenz; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Sprachgebrauch; Media skills; Medie competence; Medienkompetenz; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Lernerfahrung; Lehrstrategie; Ethik; Ökonomischer Faktor
Abstract	The term "biases" often comes up in classroom discussions about fake news. Teachers warn students that some sources of information are less trustworthy than others because their creators are biased, prejudiced, subjective, guided by unreasoned opinions. The country's political polarization is on the rise, and the term "biases" is often used to explain why the "other side" is wrong, or how its actions are damaging for democracy. It is not surprising that the same kind of language and reasoning is used in media literacy classrooms. To address the complexity of fake news, media literacy should help students reflect on a variety of hidden biases. Over the last two decades, so-called implicit biases have attracted much attention. Scholars argue that all people are biased in one way or another and that it is likely that we all have hidden biases that influence our perceptions and behavior in different--albeit subtle--ways. This leads to a question: How are teachers to frame conversations about fake news if, apparently, we are all biased in one way or another? This article grapples with why this challenge is important and how it can be done in the classroom. Several strategies are presented for allowing the complexity of this issue into media literacy classrooms without letting it undermine the students' learning experience. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01