CARMEL — This week, the parent company of E.W. Scripps, in partnership with USA Today and the News Literacy Project, is highlighting the importance of news literacy. The collaboration aims to equip individuals with the skills necessary to stay informed and actively participate in democracy.
Inside Carmel High School, journalism students are putting news literacy to work.
The next generation of student journalists is approaching the challenge of navigating fact versus fiction in the digital age.
Inside CHTV and the Greyhound Media Network, it is all things journalism — from the stories the students are gathering to the news they are sharing with their peers.
But how do they decipher fact from fiction?
The school has every form of journalism, offering students a chance to learn and see what they might be interested in for the future.
Inside the walls of Carmel High School, students were hard at work across various media platforms, including a yearbook, a functioning radio station, a newspaper, and a television station. The Greyhound Media Group is dedicated to bringing their peers the latest information, from school happenings to recent news headlines.
Where is news gathered?
"A big one is social media, and that's kind of where it begins. Because with social media, a lot of it can be fake, a lot of it is biased as well because everyone has their own opinion,” said Paulina Arana, a senior at Carmel High School.
Classmate Caroline Petry added, “I can get a story from TikTok, but I probably need to fact-check that before I give it any actual weight.”
Both seniors acknowledge that their practice of cross-checking information isn’t the norm among their peers.
Arana explained, “It can be very easy to only look for the sources that you agree with — those that have similar interests and opinions. With all news, there are multiple perspectives and sides to every story, and I think it's very easy for high schoolers to hear what we want to hear and not what we need to hear.”
How reliable is a story or source?
To navigate the complexities of media consumption, these students have developed a strategy, which they refer to as the C.R.A.P. test — Content, Relevance, Authenticity, and Purpose. These four criteria guide journalism students in evaluating the news they consume and distribute.
They use a number of tools to determine credibility.
Students say they rely on multiple trusted organizations and experts in a field.
“We usually go by, for example, this is a theater spread, so we’ll go to the theater department chair,” responded Junee Tyagi, another senior.
They also say they aren't afraid to correct their peers if they hear them spreading false information.
Adding they find it important to stop misinformation before it spreads.
By the time the broadcast goes live, these student journalists have thoroughly vetted the information, ensuring that what they share is accurate.
To watch, listen, or read work created by these student journalists, click here.
