Media Literacy & Disinformation (BSU)
The Challenge // The Problem
In an era of rampant disinformation and the increasing targeting of the press, future journalists face the critical challenge of maintaining ethical integrity and personal safety while uncovering the truth.
The Solution // Technical Implementation
The Strategy
Delivered to the BSU Journalist Society, this talk draws from my experience as a Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Teacher. The strategy focuses on equipping future journalists with the ‘Cognitive Armor’ needed to navigate a landscape filled with state-sponsored disinformation and political pressure. In a country where doing your job as a journalist can be a life-threatening mission, this talk moves beyond basic fact-checking to explore the deeper ethics of resilience, the “Truthiness Check” as a survival tool, and the high-stakes responsibility of being a truth-seeker in the modern perimeter.
Core Workshop Topics
- Deconstructing Disinformation: Identifying the mechanics of fake news and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
- The Journalist’s Perimeter: Navigating safety and ethical boundaries in a high-pressure political environment.
- Media Literacy as Defense: Transitioning from passive consumption to active, verified orchestration of information.
- Verification Protocols: Advanced strategies for cross-referencing and validating sources before publication.
- The Future of the Press: Exploring what it means to aspire to truth-telling when the targets are real and the risks are high.
- AI & The Newsroom: How emerging technologies impact both the creation of disinformation and the tools used to combat it.