Attention Readers: Introducing the Journalism Blog
An upcoming anti-misinformation and journalism education series, produced by The Nest’s Editorial Board and reporting staff.
Beginning in September 2020, part of The Nest’s new mandate was combating misinformation. With conspiracy theories, mis/disinformation, and other falsities easily available and sharable across the internet, The Nest’s student journalists decided it was time to actively combat the information crisis.
The Nest’s staff are knowledgable, well-researched students who work to educate their community via their reporting. An article on misinformation among youth appearing in the MIT Technology Review analyzed internet trends, finding “young people are more likely to believe and pass on misinformation if they feel a sense of common identity with the person who shared it in the first place”.
This idea that teenagers are more likely to obtain information from each other, and subsequently share it with each other, as opposed to obtaining it from a more reputable source, is one that significantly complicates and fuels the crisis of information.
However, it is also an idea that presents an opportunity for The Nest. As student journalists, we have a unique perspective of what it means to be a “young people”, as discussed earlier, We know what our peers are watching, liking, and sharing, and we know how to evaluate fact versus falsehood.
It is our duty as student journalists to act as one of our community’s first lines of defence against mis/disinformation, and as such, The Nest welcome’s its readers to its Journalism Blog.
The Journalism Blog will feature weekly and bi-weekly posts debunking the latest falsities spread on the internet, as well as publishing news media literacy content for the Eric Hamber community.
Students, staff, parents and guardians, friends, and relatives, are all encouraged to engage in the Blog’s development and send any relevant materials over to ehnewspaper@gmail.com.
Welcome to The Journalism Blog,
-- The Griffins’ Nest Editorial Board