# data[].attributes.body
Welcome!

This is the first in a series of 5 modules on media literacy. After working through them, you will have the basic skills to start protecting yourself and your family from all the misinformation and disinformation out there.

This first module introduces the concept and everything you need to know. The next four will each contain one step you’ll acquire in your new skill as a civically smart citizen.

Also, I’ll list the links to my sources at the end of each module.

Let’s get started!

# data[].attributes.body
When we learn to read as kids, that’s literacy. Literate people are able to read signs and books and papers and participate fully in work and play and culture…

Now we need a new type of literacy. The idea of media—the source of our news—has changed since we’ve all gone online. Media has expanded beyond radio, TV, and newspapers to online streaming, online papers, podcasts, social media posts, websites, etc.

It’s a lot. How do you know who’s being accurate? How do you know what information to trust?

That’s media literacy. Your kids and grandkids are learning this in school.

Now it’s your turn.

# data[].attributes.body
Misinformation are lies and false claims that are spread unknowingly. Your Aunt Carolyn sees this on her Facebook page:

Scientists uncover plot by nation’s cats to kill their owners and take over the world!!

She’s so horrified that she shares it, with a comment: OMG! Did you see this? We can’t trust cats!

The post becomes part of a conspiracy theory that leads to people hating cats. Because Aunt Carolyn didn’t check the story’s truth, she has unknowingly become part of the misinformation machine.

Disinformation are lies and false claims spread on purpose. The people posting them, sharing them, saying them on TV or radio, know perfectly well they are lies.

People often mix up misinformation and disinformation, which isn’t that big of a problem. The bigger problem?

Why does disinformation exist?

# data[].attributes.body
They want you to feel… CONFUSED

They want you to feel…HELPLESS

They want you to give up…HOPE

They want you to stop…VOTING OR CARING OR PARTICIPATING.

Hmmm. But who are “they?”

# data[].attributes.body
1) Foreign governments: You’ll see them called ‘foreign adversaries’ or ‘disinformation actors.’

2) Americans: They spread disinformation because they know it will destabilize the country.

3) American media:  Some sources are so far to the right or the left that they believe the disinformation. Some are trying to present both ‘sides’ of a topic, even if one of those ‘sides’ is supporting its position with lies. Others are simply trying to increase viewers in order to increase profits.

MOST OF THEM ARE HIDDEN FROM VIEW…ANONYMOUS…

# data[].attributes.headline
 Who Spreads it #1: Foreign governments have realized that they can mess with us using social media. 2016 was a banner year for this…

# data[].attributes.subject
 Who Spreads it #1: Foreign governments have realized that they can mess with us using social media. 2016 was a banner year for this…

# data[].attributes.body
We know this because CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Dept of Homeland Security) tracks this. Here are a few of their examples of who’s spreading disinformation:

Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, utilized fake experts in their influence efforts around the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. GRU operatives created fake think tanks and news sites populated with articles by inauthentic personas. They established dozens of public Facebook pages to post and amplify the content. Content ranged from expressing support for Russian interests in the Syrian and 2014 Ukrainian conflicts to issues of racial justice in the United States.

The Iranian-aligned network of fake websites and personas known as “Endless Mayfly” impersonates legitimate media outlets to spread disinformation narratives. They then use their fake personas to amplify content on social media.

# data[].attributes.body
Let’s say you see this post in your social media feed that says “Candidate X eats puppies. He should be in jail!”

You are outraged. Furious. Shocked. You react with your heart and immediately share it.

Foreign ‘disinformation actors’ set up accounts, called bots, that post and repost and repost. The posts are designed to create OUTRAGE! FURY! DISGUST! The more times you see this post, the angrier you get because it feels legitimate when you see it so often.

Sadly, most people fall for it. We think we’re safe in our own little Facebook or Instagram world, when we are really being manipulated by governments who want to see democracy fail.

# data[].attributes.headline
This manipulation is called ‘astroturfing.’

# data[].attributes.subject
This manipulation is called ‘astroturfing.’

# data[].attributes.body
The CISA explains astroturfing:

Disinformation campaigns will often post overwhelming amounts of content with the same or similar messaging from several inauthentic accounts. This practice, known as astroturfing, creates the impression of widespread grassroots support or opposition to a message, while concealing its true origin. A similar tactic, flooding, involves spamming social media posts and comment sections with the intention of shaping a narrative or drowning out opposing viewpoints.

# data[].attributes.body
1) They identify a divisive issue. That’s not too hard—-we have lots of them.

2) Build a following. They do this by posting noncontroversial information at first in order to fit in and build trust. Then they start posting lies.

3) Amplify and distort. Keep posting, twisting the truth, spreading the conspiracy theories.

4) Make it mainstream. If one of their controversies makes it into mainstream media, their lies are now considered ‘legitimate.’ If Fox, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc, start covering the topic, they are now doing the work for the foreign adversary.

5) Take it to the streets. Finally, if the mainstream media spreads the lies to enough people, there will be Americans in the street shouting down other Americans.

When disinformation wins, we all lose.

# data[].attributes.headline
Who Spreads It #2: The second major source of disinformation is….Americans.

# data[].attributes.subject
Who Spreads It #2: The second major source of disinformation is….Americans.

# data[].attributes.body
Here’s an example: Three days after the 2020 election, Secretary of State Mike Pompey, the highest diplomat in the country, said, “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”

# data[].attributes.body
Biden had won. Yes, there were recounts going on, but rather than say “We hope that the recounts will show Trump has won,” Pompey proclaimed as fact that there will be a second Trump administration.

That’s disinformation. Yes, you could say it’s wishful thinking, but the Secretary of State should know better. Pompeo’s statement was part of Trump’s plan to overwhelm the system with the ‘election fraud’ lie in hopes of remaining President.

# data[].attributes.body
You don’t have to be Secretary of State to spread disinformation. Groups with hidden agendas use disinformation to help their ‘cause.’

For example, white supremists spread disinformation about Black Americans in order to encourage others to join them.  Here’s a quote from a security article about white supremist groups:

These insular communities are advocating for the white population to take up arms to spark a race war that leads to societal collapse, only to be supplanted by a new, white-led order that reigns supreme. The toxic combination of accelerationist theories, disinformation campaigns, and conspiratorial thinking during a time of national emergency represents a significant security concern.

These groups use social media to make you angry enough that you will consider joining them.

# data[].attributes.headline
Who Spreads It #3: The American News Media

# data[].attributes.subject
Who Spreads It #3: The American News Media

# data[].attributes.body
The commentators and news cast staff on Fox News knew the claims of election fraud were false, yet they continued to interview people who claimed fraud as if these people were legitimate and trustworthy sources.

This is disinformation. They should have at least presented the other ‘side’ for some sort of balance, but they didn’t. They let the words of Sidney Powell and Rudy Guliani come across as the words of experts because the Fox News network was worried about alienating Trump supporters and losing ad revenue.

Extreme left wing media sources do the same thing, using inflammatory headlines to pull you in.

It’s a mess that is difficult for the average American to sort out.

# data[].attributes.headline
So how are you supposed to know which sources are accurate and which are not? Which are sort of okay, and which are not?

# data[].attributes.subject
So how are you supposed to know which sources are accurate and which are not? Which are sort of okay, and which are not?

# data[].attributes.headline
Some think the answer is critical thinking!

# data[].attributes.subject
Some think the answer is critical thinking!

# data[].attributes.body
Many who teach media literacy teach critical thinking. It’s not a bad idea.

We use critical thinking when we are reading a menu—“I’m feeling full. I’m worried about calories. What should I eat?”

We use critical thinking when we listen to a politician—“He’s not making any sense! I don’t agree with anything he says.”

We use critical thinking when we get a flat tire—“How am I going to solve this problem and get to work on time?”

Critical thinking works really well when we are dealing with things we are familiar with, or that we can use our experiences to reason through and solve a problem.

Does critical thinking always work well? Let’s see…

# data[].attributes.headline
Look at this differential calculus equation…

# data[].attributes.subject
Look at this differential calculus equation…

# data[].attributes.headline
Can you solve this equation just by thinking critically?

# data[].attributes.subject
Can you solve this equation just by thinking critically?

# data[].attributes.body
I’m not a mathematician, so I can’t solve this no matter how hard I ‘think.’

I’m not a scientist, so carefully reading a scientific post won’t bring me any closer to knowing if it’s accurate or not.

Those who create disinformation are pretty clever.  That’s why critical thinking isn’t going to be enough.

We need something better, something we can use when we aren’t an expert.

# data[].attributes.headline
The ‘something better’ is learning to be a fact-checker. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The ‘something better’ is learning to be a fact-checker. 

# data[].attributes.body
And the person who’s going to teach us to do this in FOUR EASY STEPS is Mike Caulfield.

He’s a digital information literacy expert at Washington State University. He used to teach ‘critical thinking’ as part of media literacy, but finally realized it wasn’t working. At the end of his class, students were no better equipped to sort the bad from the good than at the beginning.

So he went back to the drawing board and came up with something more effective.

Watch the 3-minute video in the next bubble, where Mike explains something surprising.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Online Verification Skills — Video 1: Introductory Video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Online Verification Skills — Video 1: Introductory Video

# data[].attributes.body
That the ‘smart’ people failed the Stanford test stunned me. If critical thinking didn’t work for them, what hope do the rest of us have?

Fact-checking. We can learn to be fact-checkers.

Caulfield has developed a fairly quick and easy method to teach us how to be fact-checkers.

He calls it SIFT.

# data[].attributes.body
This first module has been your introduction to media literacy.

The next four modules in the series will present the four steps of SIFT, one step per module:

Media Literacy #2: Learn to Stop
Media Literacy #3: Learn to Investigate the Source
Media Literacy #4: Learn to Find Better Coverage
Media Literacy #5: Learn to Trace Claims

After going through these next four modules (taking XX minutes apiece), you will be armed with enough skills to start fighting back against disinformation.

I hope you won’t keep this skill to yourself, but will share it with friends and family. It’s time for something really valuable to go viral instead of some celebrity’s fashion TikTok.

Have fun! (And feedback is always welcome!)