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Media Literacy

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Commentary

Our Actions Determine What We Read and See Online. Algorithms Are Only a Part of That Process

Feb 7, 2020

As social media has increasingly become the main outlet for people to acquire news and opinion, there are concerns about the effect of algorithm-driven services on the spread of misleading information. But the issue doesn't merely lie with how social platforms use algorithms to deliver content.
Essay

American News Habits and the Challenge of Truth Decay

Mar 4, 2020

RAND researchers asked people where they get their news, how reliable they think it is, and whether they seek out viewpoints that are different from their own. The results provide some new clues to help diagnose and treat Truth Decay.

Explore Media Literacy

Tool

Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools

RAND researchers created a database of web tools that aim to fight the spread of disinformation. These include fact-checking tools, bot detectors, media literacy applications, and more.

Nov 12, 2019
Commentary

The RAND Institute for Civil Justice: 40th Anniversary Reflections

The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) has supplied government and private decisionmakers and the public with the results of objective, empirically based, analytic research. In this era of Truth Decay, the diminishing role of facts and analysis in public life, the ICJ's mission and research have never been more important.

Nov 6, 2019
Journal Article

Study on Media Literacy and Online Empowerment Issues Raised by Algorithm-Driven Media Services

Researchers explored the challenges of algorithm-driven media services, including the interplay between the biases in algorithms and people's own cognitive biases.

Oct 30, 2019
Blog

RAND's Summer Reading List for Congress

For busy staff, August's respite from back-to-back meetings, hearing preparation, and late votes is hard-earned. The summer recess also provides an opportunity to get ahead of issues that will resurface in the fall. To that end, we have compiled recent RAND research on topics likely to top the congressional agenda come September.

Aug 5, 2019
Blog

Truth Decay, Principals, Augmented Reality: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on media literacy education as a way to fight "Truth Decay," turning screen time into outdoor time, the importance of school principals, and more.

Jul 12, 2019
Report

Media Literacy Education as a Tool for Mitigating 'Truth Decay'

Can media literacy education help counter the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life? To find out, RAND experts analyzed what we know—and don't know—about the subject.

Jul 11, 2019
Blog

New Book by Arthur Brooks Tells Americans to Answer Hate with Love

Arthur Brooks spoke at a RAND event to discuss his new book, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt. He stressed that we don't have to disagree less but that we have to disagree better.

Jul 8, 2019
Blog

DMZ Meeting, Students with Disabilities, Iran: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un, supporting students with disabilities, the flawed logic of a proportional response in Iran, and more.

Jul 5, 2019
Periodical

RAND Review: July-August 2019

This issue spotlights a strategy to reduce roadway deaths to zero; a school principal initiative that yielded positive results for schools and students; and a data-driven effort to enhance equity in a major U.S. city.

Jul 1, 2019
Q&A

Searching for Truth: Q&A with Jennifer Kavanagh

Senior political scientist Jennifer Kavanagh helps lead RAND's work on Truth Decay, the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life. In this interview, she discusses her latest research on how news presentation has changed over time and across platforms.

Jun 26, 2019
Blog

Journalism, U.S.–Iranian Tensions, School Reform: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the news has changed in the digital age, rising U.S.–Iranian tensions, how educators feel about school improvement plans, and more.

May 17, 2019
News Release

U.S. Journalism Has Become More Subjective

U.S.-based journalism has gradually shifted away from objective news and offers more opinion-based content that appeals to emotion and relies heavily on argumentation and advocacy.

May 14, 2019
Blog

RAND's Analysis of News in the Digital Age: Three Takeaways

How has the rise of digital technology shaped the way that news is presented? RAND researchers conducted an empirical study to find out. Here's what you need to know from their findings.

May 14, 2019
Research Brief

Facts vs. Opinions: How the News Is Changing in the Digital Age

Technology has transformed how people get information. But it has also affected the way that information is produced, shared, and disseminated. How much has the presentation of news actually changed over the last three decades?

May 14, 2019
Report

News in a Digital Age: Comparing the Presentation of Information over Time and Across Platforms

In what ways has news reporting in print, on television, and online changed over the last 30 years? Overall, there has been a shift toward more-subjective reporting, but many of the changes have been subtle.

May 14, 2019
Commentary

What Role Should Schools Play in Teaching Pupils to Spot Fake News?

Since social media is not regulated in the same way as traditional news media, anyone can convey information with little fact-checking. So how do we help children develop critical literacy skills to enable them to interpret the media correctly?

Nov 28, 2018
Blog

Conversation at RAND: Truth Decay

The recent erosion of public trust in facts and institutions is not the first period of Truth Decay in U.S. history. What's different this time is the increasing disagreement about objective facts. Jennifer Kavanagh and William “Pat” Getty discussed the trend and how to stop it.

Oct 2, 2018
Multimedia

Truth Decay and Community Engagement

In this Events @ RAND podcast, RAND political scientist Jennifer Kavanagh and William "Pat" Getty, president of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, discuss Truth Decay's consequences on community engagement and resilience.

Sep 20, 2018
Periodical

RAND Review: September-October 2018

This issue spotlights RAND's research on social and emotional learning; workforce development in Appalachia; and the effects of marijuana ads on adolescents and young adults.

Sep 4, 2018
Commentary

Truth Decay, America's Latest Pastime

Detailed data and complex analysis are the foundation of decisionmaking in baseball and many other professions and occupations. But facts are out of favor in current U.S. political and civil discourse, and the public policymaking that accompanies it.

Jul 12, 2018

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