Propaganda education: How can students learn to distinguish truth from lies?

I cannot think of a more urgent education topic than this one. So many adults are so bad at distinguishing facts from falsehoods, lies, and propaganda distortions. How can we expect students to be any better?

The last six months make this urgent topic even more urgent – and awkward. Fake news and propaganda, and our society’s poor ability to distinguish truth from lies, have been major problems for years. But the Trump Administration’s goals for using them as a means to permanent power have placed the USA in a place of unprecedented danger.

Eliminating dissent, either by intimidation or monopolized control is the Trump Administration’s top goal – above tax cuts or deportations or tariffs or anything. Fake news and disinformation messaging is being centralized and remade into a top-down tool of authoritarian control. Permanent power is the goal.

Meanwhile, educators and scholars have been working for years to find ways to educate students in “media literacy” so they can distinguish truth from lies and misinformation (wrong or probably wrong) from disinformation (deliberately wrong and aimed to deceive them). Now, with societal institutions just wilting in the face of the onslaught and threats, and the Right laser focused on making sure ONLY their POV gets taught, the country’s task is much harder.

But not hopeless. At least, not yet. The mainstream news media is not built for these times. Yet, others are trying to fill the truth gap. About one-half of the states require media literacy education, and many state/local govts will not meekly cave to the pressure to only teach the history, civics, and science that MAGA demands.

Below are some readings on (1) the current emergency and (2) how media literacy is often taught to students. I hope we can focus on the practical tools of media literacy, including for adults.

Optional Backgrounders –

The Crisis -
· This is what we were up against – back in 2019! The problem is mass belief in conspiracies, not kids seeing random fake news. It didn’t have to be this way.
· And now, this. Trump's New Strategy to Terrorize the Media and Punish Dissent. Recommended. Why So Many Key Institutions Have Folded Rather Than Challenge Trump.
· And, more broadly, this! Recommended. Control and reshape all major societal institutions so only MAGA-friendly info/opinion reaches the public. News media, social media, , education, etc., controlled by govt from the top. All others silenced or limited to minor criticism.

Hold on! Media literacy works, somewhat -
· Many states are crafting media literacy curricula.
· A little such education goes a long way. No, media literacy won’t save us - but we can make it better. Recommended.
· Finland teaches all school children how to ID fake news / evaluate propaganda beginning at age six. Taiwan, others req. media literacy edu.
· Critical thinking urgently needed. But how can they teach it without its time-consuming factual context?

Resources -
· Democracy Toolkit’s - Resources for teaching how to identify, verify and report on false information.