News of the Day

NEWS OR NOT?: Over the past few weeks, CJ has spent many, many hours researching "fake news." What is it? How can you identify it ? That sort of thing.

Early this morning, an email popped up in my inbox from the Newseum (a fun hybrid name of news and museum). 

WIth a subhead of "There's more to every story," Newseum is a wonderful resource. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Newseum promotes, explains and defends free expression and the five freedoms of the First Amendment: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

It turns out Newseum has been producing a weekly series about fake news, per a post from their Media Literacy Maven. https://newseumed.org/idea/the-media-literacy-maven/

The email I received today reminded us "NewseumED’s Media Literacy Maven is your resource for teaching the importance of being critical news consumers. Periodically, she takes viewers through her favorite media literacy moments from the past week, providing tips that teachers can give their students on how to tell real news from fake news and navigate the current media landscape."

And it listed a whole bunch of short Media Literacy Maven episodes we've missed to date. Fortunately, they're archived. 

Following is a list of what we missed. We watched the first two episodes today, and shared their content with the kids' social studies club. 


It's not the flashiest presentation, but the content is so important. Check a couple of them out!

Episodes:
April 28, 2017: If your reaction to a news story is, “Aha, I KNEW it all along!,” you might be exhibiting confirmation bias. Watch the Media Literacy Maven explain how we tend to look for information that confirms our beliefs and ignore information that challenges them. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 11.

WATCH EPISODE 11
April 14, 2017: They say that seeing is believing, but can you always believe what you see? The Maven discusses how fake news stories use the power of image to make their stories seem more credible, and how your students can avoid getting tricked by this tactic. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 10.

WATCH EPISODE 10
April 5, 2017: The substitute Maven provides tips and resources to debunk fake science stories, including that bananas are bad for you and Pluto gets planet status again. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 9.

WATCH EPISODE 9
March 24, 2017: The Maven discusses how fake news can move quickly through the fake news ecosystem, whether publications with fake news should be prominently displayed at grocery store checkouts, and how you can’t always trust primary sources. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 8.

WATCH EPISODE 8
March 17, 2017: The Maven discusses defamation in the news — what content is and isn’t protected by the First Amendment. Learn the difference in defamation laws between public and private figures, and dig into a current defamation case involving a well- known celebrity. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 7.

WATCH EPISODE 7
March 10, 2017: The Maven discusses how to analyze polls being cited in the news. Learn how to dig deeper into poll results by evaluating four key factors: timing, sample size, method and participants. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 6.

WATCH EPISODE 6
March 3, 2017: Using newspapers from the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages exhibit, our Media Literacy Maven highlights press choices in different local papers’ coverage of President Trump’s address to Congress. Learn how to identify a news outlet’s potential biases or preferences based on things such as article placement, headline and image selection. Interpreting the values of different publications based on their coverage can be a valuable skill in assessing media bias. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 5.

WATCH EPISODE 5
Feb. 23, 2017: The Maven discusses the wide variety of motivations behind fake news, how easily it can be spread, and how the backlash caused by it can even be used as a promotional tool. For example, 20th Century Fox’s advertisement campaign for the new movie “The Cure for Wellness” involved creating several fake news websites that were very realistic. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 4.

WATCH EPISODE 4
Feb. 15, 2017: Enter the throne room of our Media Literacy Maven as she delves into some tricky issues in the media today, such as the pros and cons of anonymous sources, distrust in the media, and fake Twitter accounts. As any journalist worth their salt knows, you gotta verify verify verify! Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 3.

WATCH EPISODE 3
Feb. 10, 2017: The Maven tackles the balance between freedom of speech and privacy, phony news sites, Photoshop manipulation and deception, and the dangers of sloppy reporting. Part of becoming media literate is learning to recognize the distinction between regular news outlets and truly fake news outlets. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 2.

WATCH EPISODE 2
Feb. 3, 2017: Katharine Kosin premieres as our Media Literacy Maven, as she shares some of her favorite media literacy moments from the week! Parody accounts, jumping the gun, voter biases and more — it’s happening all around us, all the time. Watch as our Maven separates fact from fiction. Download a PDF of links cited in Episode 1.

WATCH EPISODE 1

MEANWHILE, ON MARS: So, the amazing Mars Science Laboratory continues to crank out the data. 

For instance, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover examined a mudstone outcrop area called "Pahrump Hills" on lower Mount Sharp in the not too distant past.

"Below, these view shows locations of some targets the rover studied there. The blue dots indicate where drilled samples of powdered rock were collected for analysis.

The rover drilled a sample of rock powder at "Confidence Hills" in September 2014 and analyzed it with internal laboratory instruments. Then the mission conducted a walkabout survey up the slope, along the route indicated in yellow, stopping for close inspection at the red-dot locations. Observations from the walkabout were used to choose where to take additional drilled samples for analysis during a second pass up the slope. The "Mojave 2" sample was collected in January 2015 and the "Telegraph Peak" one in February 2015.

This view of the outcrop and other portions of Mount Sharp beyond is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam) in September 2014. A larger version of the mosaic is at PIA18608.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam."

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.