GCCCD Fake News and Bias Questions

Media Literacy: Fake News, Confirmation Bias, and the Danger of the Single Story

Two of the most important historical-thinking skills you can develop are how to recognize bias (in yourself and in others) and how to synthesize a broad range of sources/perspectives to determine what actually happened or what is factual.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that people make/write history (in the past and today) and that when done well, historical writing (and the news) should be a blend of many stories, not just that of one person, group, or perspective. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, especially during this era of “Fake News” and “Alternative Facts.”

Directions:

Watch three videos onhttps://www.ted.com/talks/stephanie_busari_how_fak…

https://gcccd.instructuremedia.com/embed/0d08ff57-…

F

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie…

This will take about 35 minutes.

Answer the following four questions:

1. What are the consequences of fake news? There are a couple of ways to think about this:

• • What can happen as a result of people believing false news reports/information?
  • What can happen when government leaders claim that substantiated, factual information is “fake news?”

When answering provide a real-world example. Please do not use the same example discussed in Stephanie Busari’s video.

1. How does bias, including confirmation bias, impact how we find and view information?
2. How can we lessen or reduce the impact our biases have on how we process information?
3. What are some of the “dangers” of trying to understand a situation/event/group of people when you only know one story about it/them?