Apple Launches 'Media Literacy' Initiative to Encourage Critical Thinking and Better Informed Evaluation of News

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced the launch of a new media literacy initiative that's designed to encourage critical thinking and empower students to be better informed.

Apple is teaming up with several nonprofit nonprofit organizations in the United States and Europe that offer nonpartisan, independent media literacy programs, including the News Literacy Project (NLP) and Common Sense in the U.S. and the Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori in Italy.

Each of these nonprofits will receive support from Apple to help them further their media literacy goals. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that news literacy is "vital" to maintaining free press.

"News literacy is vital to sustaining a free press and thriving democracy, and we are proud to be collaborating with organizations on the front lines of this effort," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We've been impressed by the important work being done by the News Literacy Project, Common Sense and Osservatorio, empowering young people to be active and engaged citizens."

Alan C. Miller, founder and CEO of NLP, said that the organization is grateful for Apple's commitment to fighting misinformation.

"We are grateful for Apple's commitment to fighting misinformation and sustaining quality journalism," said Alan C. Miller, founder and CEO of NLP. "NLP is committed to equipping the next generation with the critical thinking skills to discern what news and other information to trust and the tools to become informed and engaged participants in our country's democracy. We welcome this timely initiative to help achieve our vision of seeing news literacy embedded in the American educational experience."

The News Literacy Project and Common Sense are both aimed at teaching students skills to become "smart, active consumers of news" and other information.

These media literacy programs are designed to teach students to identify different types of media and understand the messages that are being sent. The skills taught in these programs allow students to take a look at why something was created, who created it, and whether it's credible or not, evaluating viewpoints, hidden messages, and persuasive intent.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Launches 'Media Literacy' Initiative to Encourage Critical Thinking and Better Informed Evaluation of News

 

[mozumder]

Need people to pass high school for any media literacy to work. Teach them scientific principles, on how to determine facts from evidence. Too bad many anti-science activists are against that.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

People need less news. LESS news.

 

[scrapesleon]

Too bad the new generation doesn’t know how to even think consciously at all

 

[lunarworks]

The "FAKE NEWS!" crowd isn't gonna like Apple teaching people how to identify actual fake news.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Too bad the new generation doesn’t know how to even think consciously at all

This isn't a new problem. Critical thinking has always been a struggle.

 

[StellarVixen]

Apple is becoming too political lately.


I liked the old Web better. You had all the sources available to you, and you had to pick what you think is right.


This is just another face of censorship.

 

[lunarworks]

Apple is becoming too political lately.


I liked the old Web better. You had all the sources available to you, and you had to pick what you think is right.


This is just another face of censorship.

It was a lot more difficult to spread hate, misinformation, and propaganda on the old web. You had to pay your monthly hosting bill, which could be expensive depending on your traffic, and getting your message out there was more difficult because search engines were primitive and you didn't have social media to propagate it.

Now people use the web as their primary source of news, hosting is dirt cheap, and you can spam your crap on Facebook and Twitter.

 

[LordVic]

One of the biggest failings of modern education is the lack of critical thinking skills and the focus on rote memorization without understanding.

Anyone who thinks that learning critical thinking is a bad thing has an agenda and is trying to keep you uneducated and placid for their own gain. A well informed population with critical thinking is important to a stable, and healthy society.


edit: forgot half my sentence.

 

[Huntn]

People need less news. LESS news.

Citizens need to be informed with neutral, accurate information (not propaganda), especially when they are making decisions about our collective future, that is if they bother to make any decisions.

 

[lunarworks]

One of the biggest failings of modern education is the lack of critical thinking skills and the focus on rote memorization without understanding.

Anyone who thinks that learning critical thinking is a bad thing has an agenda and is trying to keep you uneducated and placid for their own gain. A well informed population with critical thinking

Last year a conservative government was elected in Ontario, and the new premier (brother of noted crackhead Rob Ford) is currently taking an axe to the education system.

 

[LordVic]

Last year a conservative government was elected in Ontario, and the new premier (brother of noted crackhead Rob Ford) is currently taking an axe to the education system.

yup, and parents are fUMING. Not a parent myself. Also not a Ford supporter.
replacing teachers in Grade K-3 with ECE staff to save money? they really thought that's a good idea? of course not. But it helps reduce education levels in those grades.

I honestly don't even think it's ford's doing. he's just a puppet. it's very clear that he's got someone whispering in his ears what he's supposed to be doing. they announce all these changes, but can't actually answer any questions on them because they're clearly not Ford's ideas.

We're going to be set bck again just like we were during the Mike Harris days. I don't know if you're old enough to remember those days, but they were horrible. Everything from cuts that reduces oversight into drinking water (leading directly to Walkerton), Teachers being cut to the point they couldn't even do their jobs anymore (I was in highschool during the strike, it was a miserable experience). To selling public infrastructure for quick revenue and costing long term revenues (Ont Hydro, 407) to the first foreign investor who desired.

And here we go with Ford, who has drafts to create a two tier public/private health system with his business freinds leading it (they scrapped that draft once it was leaked). Appointing his best friend as head of OPP so that there couldn't be real legal oversight. Now, Hillier after being kicked out of caucaus drops a bomb that Ford and members of the OPC Caucasus have been doing unregulated and illegal lobbying.

I GET why Ford/OPC won. Wynne's baggage was becoming unbearable. she shoul have resigned and saved the Liberals face for the election, instead she held on despite everyone telling her to give up.

 

[AngerDanger]

Too bad the new generation doesn’t know how to even think consciously at all

As opposed to thinking… subconsciously? Dunno what you mean by "think[ing] consciously," but I do know that seeing the worst in the next generation has been in vogue for nearly 2.5 millennia.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

—Socrates​

 

[maelstromr]

Apple is becoming too political lately.


I liked the old Web better. You had all the sources available to you, and you had to pick what you think is right.


This is just another face of censorship.

So in your world the cleverest news, whether or not accurate, is what gets consumed? You have no concern at all for objectively false information, if the media entity can find people dumb enough to believe it?

And worse...you apparently object to attempts to educate people on how to identify objectively false, or purposefully misleading information.

What is the social value in encouraging people to remain not just ignorant, but misinformed?

 

[Naraxus]

“Encourage critical thinking”

Translation more of Timmy’s liberal indoctrination ******** while at the same time squashing any opposing ideas or thoughts. No thanks. Take your indoctrination and shove it Timmy.

 

[StellarVixen]

So in your world the cleverest news, whether or not accurate, is what gets consumed? You have no concern at all for objectively false information, if the media entity can find people dumb enough to believe it?

And worse...you apparently object to attempts to educate people on how to identify objectively false, or purposefully misleading information.

What is the social value in encouraging people to remain not just ignorant, but misinformed?

I never said that.

 

[lunarworks]

yup, and parents are fUMING. Not a parent myself. Also not a Ford supporter.
replacing teachers in Grade K-3 with ECE staff to save money? they really thought that's a good idea? of course not. But it helps reduce education levels in those grades.

I honestly don't even think it's ford's doing. he's just a puppet. it's very clear that he's got someone whispering in his ears what he's supposed to be doing. they announce all these changes, but can't actually answer any questions on them because they're clearly not Ford's ideas.

We're going to be set bck again just like we were during the Mike Harris days. I don't know if you're old enough to remember those days, but they were horrible. Everything from cuts that reduces oversight into drinking water (leading directly to Walkerton), Teachers being cut to the point they couldn't even do their jobs anymore (I was in highschool during the strike, it was a miserable experience). To selling public infrastructure for quick revenue and costing long term revenues (Ont Hydro, 407) to the first foreign investor who desired.

And here we go with Ford, who has drafts to create a two tier public/private health system with his business freinds leading it (they scrapped that draft once it was leaked). Appointing his best friend as head of OPP so that there couldn't be real legal oversight. Now, Hillier after being kicked out of caucaus drops a bomb that Ford and members of the OPC Caucasus have been doing unregulated and illegal lobbying.

I GET why Ford/OPC won. Wynne's baggage was becoming unbearable. she shoul have resigned and saved the Liberals face for the election, instead she held on despite everyone telling her to give up.

I was in high school during the Harris years as well. The province-wide student walkout, and the school band not even being allowed to play at my graduation due to cutback restrictions, stick clearly in my mind.

Ford had backroom deals in place well before he won the election. That is very clear, and you don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to see it. He also narrowly won the spot as leader of his party through sophisticated trickery, which had to come from an outside source.

But ya, cuts to the education system were high in his agenda, just like 20 years ago.

 

[chrono1081]

Too bad the new generation doesn’t know how to even think consciously at all

Sorry but this is nonsense. It's the older crowd that is repeatedly falling for fake news.

 

[maelstromr]

I never said that.

You expressed a fondness for the "old Web," which was defined as a (likely mythical) time where we had nothing but raw information. You then call this process Apple has promoted "censorship" which seemed to me to indicate you didn't like efforts to ID false/misleading info because it triggered your problem with the "new ways" which is apparently the existence of provider-level moderated content.

So it seems like the logical implication was that you want less moderation (maybe you would say policing) of information...which leads us right back to the problems I identify of championing a free market approach which has pretty obvious issues when it comes to the dissemination of information, since we're obviously not going back to "the old Web" of pure raw data (which probably never existed).

Even if we COULD censor the provision of information enough to require raw data only (ironic, no?), how in the world could we come up with a realistic solution to those who actively and purposefully promote lies and worse? In a free market raw data world, who but a massive and oppressive bureaucracy would determine what was actually raw data or otherwise? How could we ever justify the provision of raw data that was objectively false? Are you seriously suggesting that we can just trust the people, with no training and help in doing so, with identifying raw info on their own?

It's not the precise content of your statement, it's the logical extrapolation that is a problem.

 

[crees!]

Schools shouldn't have CNN blasting. Instead, try C-SPAN and form your own opinion instead of absorbing someone else's wholesale

 

[now i see it]

Since nowadays all "news" is suspect, the best choice is to (try to) ignore it all. It won't enhance your life. It's purpose is to rattle you, shock you, and depress you.

 

[Stewie]

Since nowadays all "news" is suspect, the best choice is to (try to) ignore it all. It won't enhance your life. It's purpose is to rattle you, shock you, and depress you.

Yes, the old stick your head in the sand and hope it goes away method. Pretty sure that isn't helpful at all.

 

[JetTester]

The ship has sailed on objective news. There just isn't a source generally available that can be trusted to not have a political agenda of some sort. I think we'd all like to think we are capable of evaluating what we are hearing with its context, and determining what is true and false. However, realistically, who has time for that?

 

[star-affinity]

“Encourage critical thinking”

Translation more of Timmy’s liberal indoctrination ******** while at the same time squashing any opposing ideas or thoughts. No thanks. Take your indoctrination and shove it Timmy.

Sounds like a bad translation.

 

[roar08]

As opposed to thinking… subconsciously? Dunno what you mean by "think[ing] consciously," but I do know that seeing the worst in the next generation has been in vogue for nearly 2.5 millennia.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

—Socrates​

It's a great quote, but in this case there's no proof of its attribution. At least not yet. But the spirit is true enough.