Unraveling #fakenews from opinion-making information: a News Literacy discussion

A second installment of a series of panels organized by UNAOC at UNHQ relevant to Media and Information Literacy; following February’s discussion “Media and Information Literacy: Educational Strategies for the Prevention of Violent Extremism”, this panel will focus on the “fake news in social media” phenomena from the perspective of News Literacy.

News Literacy is defined as the development of critical thinking skills applied to judge the reliability and credibility of information, whether it comes via print, television or the Internet. News Literacy is generally affiliated with schools of journalism more than with schools of education. For some it is a sub­‐sector under the general Media and Information Literacy (MIL) umbrella; for others a distinct and unique entity, far from the academic debates that often imply MIL discussions. The panel will not engage on these discrepancies and different interpretations.

What UNAOC is interested in is in the urgency of developing News Literacy in the current political and social state of the world. Where the so­‐called “fake news” widely distributed through social media platforms have the capacity to twist the opinions of individuals and shape the imagination of societies towards particular ideological patterns and visions of the world.

News Literacy is an acutely important skill in the Digital Age, as citizens struggle to deal with information overload and the difficulty in determining the authenticity of the reports. The ability of the next generations of citizens to judge the reliability and relevance of information will be a leading indicator of the public health of civil society around the world.

• Select Start Month: September
• Select Start Date: 7
• Select Start Year: 2017
• End Month: September
• End Date: 7
• End Year: 2017
• Venue Name: United Nations Headquarters
• City: New York
• Country: US
• Website: https://www.unaoc.org/event/unraveling-fake-news-from-opinion-making-information-a-news-literacy-discussion/
• Organizer: UNAOC
• Contact Email: contactaoc@unops.org