Communication Nation Episode One: Speaking the Truth: Media Literacy & Misinformation is the first of a four part radio series exploring communication to better understand one another. We can only have effective communication when we can trust our sources. We learn about media literacy and misinformation from Eisha Buch at Common Sense Media.

Speaking The Truth Learning Guide for Educators

Find the full set of educator tools and activities at the bottom of this page

This is the first episode in our four part radio series Communication Nation. This episode, Speaking the Truth – Media Literacy & Misinformation features the Kids Crew in conversation with Eisha Buch from Common Sense Media. We learn about how our critical thinking skills can help us identify media sources we can trust, and keep us aware when something doesn’t quite add up. Understanding what is fact and what is fiction takes an effort by the media consumer. We are all media consumers.

The word media refers to any television, social media, internet news sites, newspaper, book, magazine, podcast, movie, and other source of information we use to learn about the world around us, and to be entertained. Eisha begins by teaching us what the term media literacy means.

Media literacy means asking yourself who created this media, why did they create it, do they have a bias toward a specific point of view, is this the full story? As we explore media literacy, we learn about the concept of a media diet. Do you know how much media you are consuming, and which kinds? Track your media diet!

My Information Diet

Think about, write down, and share examples of media you interact with regularly including TV shows, movies, social media, advertisements, and magazines or newspapers. How does your information diet compare to others?

Information Diet Activity

We also explore misinformation on this episode with Eisha Buch. Sometimes people might post something online that is false information in order to make a joke. Other times people post information without fully checking the sources, and using their media literacy skills.

But there is also another reason a story in a publication online, in social media, or elsewhere might be written with fake information. Sometimes someone, or groups might try hurt their competition by pushing disinformation. Disinformation is hurtful, and makes people believe things that are not true.

Know Your Media Sources

To avoid the spread of false information and determine if a source is reliable, it is important to practice critical thinking. Choose a source of media that you have seen recently, such as from a social media or streaming account that you follow or subscribe to. As you review and research the media source, use the graphic organizer and checklist to help you analyze it.

Analyze A Source Activity

Top 10 Challenged Books for 2023 image of portions of covers presented by the American Library Association

Learning how to critically consider media is an important skill that kids need to have mastered for a lifetime of learning. Common Sense Media has a Media Literacy Resource Center for students of all ages. Explore their tools, and find even more ideas in our Learning Guide found if you scroll down.

Everyone has a bias which is our view of the way things are, even if it’s not accurate. Favoritism for or against a thing, idea, person, or group, can lead to unfair treatment, and judgments that are not true. Our media has biases too. When you hear a story about whether something is good or bad, remember to ask who is telling the story, why are they telling it?

Analyze and Compare Perspectives

We know that everyone has their own point of view. That’s their perspective of a situation, and it reflects the bias they hold. When you hear a story, look for the perspective of the author and consider if there is a bias that impacts how the story is told. This activity helps kids explore perspective in a story.

Perspectives Activity

This show was produced by our Executive Producer, Katie Stone, with help from Senior Producer Christina Stella, and producer Eli Henley. Chad Scheer provided live engineering at Outpost Performance Space. Lorraine Archibald wrote our learning guides. We also had support from 2024 Summer Intern Thaniel Lentz.

Playlist: Speaking The Truth

title	artist	album
What's the Story? (feat. Rachel Trudel)	Tara Trudel	Fractured: Fairy Tales Remixed
Tell the Children the Truth	The Gaylads	The Gaylads: The Best Of...
Good News	Ian Carrick	Earthlings
The Great Tv Rebellion	The Missoula Coyote Choir & Friends	Ask the Planet
Onward	Podington Bear	Uplifting
Who Decided (feat. Silly Bus)	Kid Pan Alley	Best Friends
The Social Media Song	Shoeless	The Lost Year
Matter of Fact	Elliott Park	The Mouth
Truth (feat. Kelli Welli, Mo Phillips & SaulPaul)	Aaron Nigel Smith & Red Yarn	Smith & Yarn
Turn Off Your Phone	Ion Bodi and Kathleen Martin	Turn Off Your Phone
Are We Loose Yet	Blue Dot Sessions	Bodytonic
Adults Don't Always Know	Jumpin' jamie	Never Mind the Blocks: Here's Jumpin' Jamie
You Can't Learn It All On the Internet	Nick Bayard	Wishing Well
Screen Time	Animal Farm	We Are One
Jester	Podington Bear	Background
Take Time In Life	VooDoo Katz	VooDoo Katz