Background Reading https://misinfocon.com/nutrition-labels-for-the-news-a-way-to-support-vibrant-public-discussion-20c64225637c

This is a lesson activity designed to encourage critical thinking and analysis of news articles. It is adapted from a workshop at MisInfoCon.  There are no right or wrong answers, the activity provides a lens through which students must analyse the stories rather than merely consume them.

Materials;

• Printouts news articles from a variety of sources
• Example food labels
• (Optional – multimedia such as a news video or podcast)

How to do it;

Introduce the activity by showing some example food labels, ask how do we know if a food is good for us?

Briefly discuss or recap what sort of things you would look for to determine how reliable and accurate a news story or piece of media is.

(You could use the cheat sheet from the theory presentation)

Ask students to work in pairs to create their own labelling system for news. They should aim to choose 4 or 5 key ingredients. Give each group one story to work with. Once they have produced their ‘tool’ give them a different story and ask them if their tool still works.

Each pair should then present back their ideas to the group.

Created in conjunction with Rula Awad and MisInfoCon