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Social Education 80(5), pp 276– 279 ©2016 National Council for the Social Studies Developing Students’ Skills for Civic Discourse Confronting Confirmation : Giving a Fighting Chance in the Age

Alan C. Miller

Guns. Immigration. Climate change. Confronting students with this information is not created equal, they Abortion. Race relations. Trade. Global is a crucial component of teaching news also need to learn the conceptual lan- terrorism. literacy, which we define as the ability— guage, the critical tools and the habits Across the spectrum of politically as a student, as a news consumer and of mind to examine news and informa- charged issues confronting the nation, as a citizen—to discern credible infor- tion and determine its credibility for Americans are more deeply divided mation from raw information, opin- themselves—and to do so as objectively along ideological lines than they ion, and propaganda. as possible. have been in decades. This division However straightforward that may This is especially important since extends beyond partisanship: The Pew sound, it’s actually astonishingly com- research shows that when faced with Research Center reported earlier this plex. Today’s information ecosystem information that contradicts our beliefs, year that ideological divides are widen- presents students with unprecedented the thinking portion of our brain—our ing along educational and generational opportunities to access and parse an capacity to —tends to shut down, lines as well.1 enormous and rapidly growing sea of and our emotional defenses kick in. These days, it's well worth recalling a information; to create and share and Facts, in theory, should prompt us to comment by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, contribute to the national conversation; change (or at least reassess) our views; a former Harvard University profes- to be empowered and have their voices instead, they often cause us to grasp ever sor, White House aide and four-term heard. But it also offers an incredible more tightly to our erroneous beliefs or senator: “Everyone is entitled to his array of challenges to know what to misconceptions. Moreover, those with own opinion, but not to his own facts.” believe—a proliferation of raw infor- more education and higher levels of This is underscored on an almost daily mation, viral rumors and political knowledge are actually more basis by the 2016 presidential campaign, sources; pervasive clickbait; videos prone to engage in this behavior than where civic discourse has been anything of events staged to promote a cause those with less education. but civil, and truth seems to be under or advertiser; repurposed images; and In a 1985 study, when researchers at hourly assault. stealthy propaganda. showed televised In fact, Americans increasingly tend Giving students the ability to navigate images from American media cover- to see their news through prisms of red this terrain involves teaching them skills age of the 1982 war in Lebanon to two and blue—to seek confirmation of their that draw on core concepts borrowed groups of viewers—one pro-Israel and existing beliefs, rather than information from the practice of journalism itself. the other pro-Arab—each side con- that might contradict or complicate Students need to be able to understand cluded that the reporting was slanted in them. We often gravitate to sources newsworthiness, sourcing, documenta- favor of the other. In short, the research- aligned with our own and parti- tion, fundamental fairness and the aspi- ers wrote, “Our results provide a com- san leanings, and we are served a steady ration of minimizing bias in a dispas- pelling demonstration of the tendency diet of reinforcing information and sionate search for truth. They also need for partisans to view media coverage of images by algorithms that shape and to be familiar with concepts of trans- controversial events as unfairly biased filter what we discover through online parency and accountability. Not only and hostile to the position they advo- searches and . do they need to be reminded that all cate.”2 It is not difficult to imagine this

Social Education 276 Algorithms and the “” A valuable next step is to educate stu- Bettmann/Corbis dents about the hidden role of algo- “Everyone is entitled rithms—which, by determining what to his own opinion, users encounter online, can serve to reinforce these biases. but not to his own Personalization algorithms use our gender, age, location and online activ- facts.” ity to guess the information—advertise- ments, news reports, social media posts, — Daniel Patrick Moynihan search results and almost anything else available online—that we want or are most likely to interact with. This, in turn, determines the information that is provided, prioritized and featured in our searches and social media feeds and on the websites we visit. For all the use- ful filtering these complex calculations study repeated with any number of divi- Such a lack of distrust of the news do as they learn to serve us information sive subjects today. media is reflected in a recent survey that aligns with our current interests The first step in countering the natu- by the Gallup Organization (sponsored and needs, they also deliver informa- ral tendency to confirm our biases is to by the John S. and James L. Knight tion that reinforces—rather than chal- recognize it—to teach students how our Foundation and the Newseum Institute) lenges—our existing ideas and ideologi- biases affect the way we seek, accept, that found that 59 percent of college cal leanings. Combined with the natural share and act on information. This students have little or no trust in the inclination to seek out news sources or so-called confirmation bias prompts press to report the news accurately and publications with which we’re likely to people to believe assertions they agree fairly and that only half turn to a tra- concur, personalization can create what with more readily and less critically, ditional news organization first to get best-selling author and Internet activist even when these claims are provably an accurate picture of world events on Eli Pariser has called a “filter bubble.” false. Conversely, disconfirmation bias issues they care about.4 Examples of this personalization are is the tendency to disregard assertions It is vital that we teach students how vividly captured in The Wall Street that challenge one’s beliefs, even when to understand and react to news cover- Journal’s “Blue Feed, Red Feed,” which they are demonstrably true, or to simply age (or what purports to be news) with demonstrates Facebook’s role in creat- dismiss them as the result of . skepticism, rather than cynicism. While ing ideological “echo chambers.”6 This “If you specifically train people to they may indeed encounter reporting site allows users to see two contrasting recognize these biases and they have that is inaccurate, unfair or biased, they feeds that emerge when they plug in a mental checklist of what to watch need to be able to make such judgments a controversial subject—such as guns, out for, they can overcome them,” said on a case-by-case basis, rather than gen- abortion, Donald Trump or Hillary Daniel J. Levitin, the James McGill eralizing and dismissing the news media Clinton. Professor of Psychology and Behavioral because they disagree with what they The Journal explains: “If a source Neuroscience at McGill University and are seeing, reading or hearing. appears in the red feed, a majority of author of the recently published A Field Once students are made aware of the articles shared from the source Guide to : Critical Thinking in the confirmation bias, it is important to were classified as ‘very conservatively Information Age.3 guide them through experiences that aligned’ in a large 2015 Facebook study. Such training is especially impor- help to make them increasingly aware of For the blue feed, a majority of each tant, since this sort of bias can lead to their own biases. One tool is Harvard source’s articles aligned ‘very liberal.’” a that any news reports that con- University’s Project Implicit, where any- But filter-bubbling isn’t the only tradict one’s own views are automati- one can take an online test to assess his pitfall of algorithms. Because they are cally biased. This can, in turn, lead to or her own conscious and unconscious valuable and proprietary, algorithms are the cynical view that all information, biases on 90 different topics, including also extremely resistant to transparency. including news reports, is driven by ide- politics, ethnicity and .5 This makes it difficult to understand ological, commercial or personal bias. what they use (what consumer actions

October 2016 277 Blue Feed, Red Feed screenshot for Hillary page: http://graphics.wsj.com/blue-feed-red-feed/ generate usable data), what they have would otherwise be impossibly large over time until a verified, contextual (what pieces of data they gather about and unwieldy. and accurate account of events emerges. anyone) and how they work (what Today’s ubiquitous, always-on, warp- third-party data they are tapping to Tools for Teaching News Literacy speed torrent of news and information make assumptions about you). There Once students are made aware of their offers educators an abundance of teach- is also that algorithms can biases—and the ways that algorithms able moments. This applies to a wide reflect the biases of their creators, who can reinforce them—they can be range of disciplines—including social are disproportionately male and white.7 encouraged to overcome these cogni- studies, history, government, English, Moreover, there are growing concerns tive barriers by consuming news from journalism and —across nearly about privacy, now that new tools that a wide range of sources, and by seeking all grade levels. Teaching news literacy generate even more data are infiltrating out opinion pieces from a variety of is also an engaging way to connect to every corner of our lives. They include points of view. On social media, they the real world and contemporary issues. social media platforms that try to learn can “like” or follow credible sources But no single activity or tool can about our dispositions, our friends and of news—including those they may not replace news-literate habits of mind. family, and even our senses of humor; be inclined to agree with—so that these And when it comes to combating con- mobile operating systems and apps that will show up on their feeds, along with firmation bias specifically, there is grow- learn our daily routines, travel habits posts shared by friends. They can, in ing evidence that teaching students to and favorite destinations; and web- short, work to control and diversify follow these habits of mind can make based services that can see other web- their information diets. a difference. sites we visit—sometimes even when Another teaching tool is to urge stu- “Individuals who reported high levels we’re logged off. dents to try to withhold judgment when of media literacy learning opportuni- While there are ways to opt out of they first learn of an event, especially ties were considerably more likely to personalization and data collection, it on fast-breaking, chaotic and polarizing rate evidence-based posts as accurate is becoming increasingly difficult to stories such as the recent shootings by than to rate posts containing misinfor- do so. These data-producing digital or of police. The immediate aftermath mation as accurate–even when both tools are now necessary in our daily of such events is invariably marked posts aligned with their prior policy lives, and algorithms do have a legiti- by waves of speculation, rumors, false perspectives,” scholars Joseph E. Kahne mate purpose: helping us to filter and reports and even theories. and Benjamin Bowyer write in a soon- navigate an information landscape that It is imperative to follow the reporting to-be published report.8 “Those who

Social Education 278 reported no exposure to media literacy Notes 8. See Joseph E. Kahne and Benjamin Bowyer, education, in contrast, were not more 1. See Pew Research Center, “A Wider Ideological “Educating for in a Partisan Age: Gap Between More and Less Educated Adults,” Confronting the Challenges of Motivated likely to rate posts with evidence-based at www.people-press.org/2016/04/26/a-wider-ideo Reasoning and Misinformation,” forthcoming. as more accurate than posts logical-gap-between-more-and-less-educated-adults 9. See checkology™ Virtual Classroom, http:// /#partisan-divides-have-widened-on-many-political- that contained misinformation.” value. thenewsliteracyproject.org/services/checkology. Two new resources are available to 2. Robert P. Vallone, Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper, help educators develop their students’ “The Hostile Media Phenomenon: Biased Perception and Perceptions of Media Bias in Alan C. Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former ability to combat confirmation bias as Coverage of the Beirut Massacre,” at www.ssc.wisc. investigative reporter with the Los Angeles Times, is well as other news literacy skills. The edu/~jpiliavi/965/hwang.pdf. the founder and president of the News Literacy Proj- 3. Daniel J. Levitin, A Field Guide to Lies: Critical ect, a national education nonprofit, which recently News Literacy Project’s checkology™ Thinking in the Information Age (New York: launched the checkology™ virtual classroom. virtual classroom includes lessons that Penguin Random House, 2016). focus on bias, including confirmation 4. See Madeline Will, “College Students Mostly Support Free Speech with Some Restrictions, bias, and the pervasive role of algo- Survey Finds,” The Student Press Law Center rithms.9 The News Literacy Project (April, 4, 2016), www.splc.org/blog/splc/2016/04/ college-students-mostly-support-free-speech-with- also worked with Facing History and some-restrictions-survey-finds. Ourselves to create “Facing Ferguson: 5. See Project Implicit, https://implicit.harvard.edu/ News Literacy in a Digital Age,” a mul- implicit/ 6. See ’s Blue Feed, Red Feed, timedia unit designed to help students http://graphics.wsj.com/blue-feed-red-feed/. become responsible consumers and 7. Kate Crawford, “Artificial Intelligence’s White producers of news and information Guy Problem,” (June 25, 2016), www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/opinion/ (see below). sunday/artificial-intelligences-white-guy-problem. html?_r=0

“Facing Ferguson”

Facing History and Ourselves and the News Literacy Project (NLP) have created a free curriculum unit, “Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age,” to help teachers and students explore this question: “What is the role of journalism in a dem- ocratic society?”* By studying the news reports, Twitter and Facebook activity, blog posts and other information created in the weeks after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, students explore the media coverage and protests—driven to a large degree by social media—and learn to become informed and effective civic participants in today’s digital landscape. Through  lessons and a rich array of digital resources, includ- ing exclusive interviews with award-winning journalists who covered Ferguson, students explore how identity affects our responses to other people and events; understand how explicit Memorial on August 19, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, for Michael Brown, bias, implicit bias and confirmation bias affect our response the 18-year-old, African American teenager killed by police ofcer Darren Wilson (Earchiel Johnson/PeoplesWorld.org/CC BY-NC 4.0 via to the news; learn key news literacy skills, including how to Flickr) reduce bias and verify information; consider the challenges and importance of maintaining a free press; and identify the responsibilities of citizen watchdogs. NLP and Facing History staff will be presenting at the NCSS annual conference in Washington in December, and a free online workshop designed to help teachers implement the unit is scheduled for Jan. –, . **

* See https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/facing-ferguson-news-literacy-digital-age ** See https://www.facinghistory.org/professional-development/upcoming-workshops

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