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Media Literacy

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Essay

How to Avoid Extremism on Social Media

May 3, 2022

Extremist groups have been trolling the internet for decades, and they have learned to temper their words and disguise their intentions. A new scorecard can help users—or parents, or advertisers, or the social media companies themselves—understand when they might be interacting with extremist content.
Tool

Engaging Youth with Public Policy: Middle School Lessons to Counter Truth Decay

May 24, 2022

As part of RAND's efforts to counter Truth Decay, researchers developed a series of five lesson plans to help teachers introduce middle school students to a key element of civic education: understanding and engaging with public policy topics.

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Blog

Restoring Public Trust, COVID-19 and Thanksgiving, Vaccinating Teachers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the Biden-Harris administration can restore public trust, the risk of Thanksgiving becoming a super-spreader event, why teachers should be among the first to get a COVID19 vaccination, and more.

Nov 26, 2020
Commentary

Putting America's Civic Infrastructure on the Biden-Harris Agenda

Much like our bridges and roads, America's civic infrastructure has been allowed to crumble. This has allowed Truth Decay to set in. The new administration can begin to repair the deep fissures in our society by explicitly and implicitly rehabilitating the nation's civic infrastructure.

Nov 19, 2020
Report

The Drivers of Institutional Trust and Distrust

Trust in the government, news media, and other institutions has declined in the past two decades. What factors might explain this decline? And what else do we need to learn in order to begin rebuilding public trust?

Nov 17, 2020
Commentary

Three Under-the-Radar Lessons from COVID-19

COVID-19 has sculpted into high relief already recognized societal problems, which could be addressed once COVID-19 passes. Failure to do so could be a failure to learn the meta-lessons from COVID-19.

Nov 2, 2020
Essay

The Importance of Teaching Civic Responsibility in America

A survey of civics and social studies teachers asked what they teach, how they teach it, and what they think students need to know. Most said their students absolutely need to learn to be tolerant of different people and groups. And they want their students to see themselves as global citizens.

Oct 29, 2020
Commentary

Think Tanks in the Era of Truth Decay

Truth Decay is the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life, and it cuts much deeper than any political party or demographic. It's why nonpartisan think tanks like RAND are as important now as they have ever been.

Oct 22, 2020
Report

Facebook Users May Spread Russian Propaganda Less Often If They Know Its Source

Russian propaganda is hitting its mark on social media, generating strong partisan reactions that help intensify political divisions. But Facebook users are less apt to press the like button on content when they learn that it is part of a foreign propaganda campaign.

Oct 15, 2020
Commentary

Police Officers: This Article Will Make You Better at Combatting Misinformation

By deliberately addressing misinformation, police officers can promote safe and healthy behaviors among those in their communities. The actions they take to combat misinformation and improve protections in their communities are a critical part of the collective campaign to end the pandemic and help people return to their normal lives.

Aug 24, 2020
Report

Social Studies Teachers' Perspectives on Key Civic Outcomes in 2010 and 2019

High school social studies teachers play an important role in fostering the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students need to thrive after graduation. How have these teachers' perspectives on student civic development changed from 2010 to 2019?

Aug 3, 2020
Commentary

How You Can Fight Russia's Plans to Troll Americans During Campaign 2020

The goal of Russian interference is to trigger emotional reactions and drive people to ideological extremes, making it nearly impossible to build a consensus. But Americans are less likely to have their emotions manipulated if they are aware that manipulation is the goal.

Jul 14, 2020
Blog

Preparing for a COVID Surge, Reducing Police Violence, Media Literacy in Schools: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on helping hospitals prepare for a surge in COVID-19 infections, an approach to reducing police violence, teachers' concerns about students' media literacy, and more.

Jul 2, 2020
Report

Understanding Media Use and Literacy in Schools

Schools can play a key role in fighting Truth Decay—the diminishing role of facts in U.S. public life—by teaching media literacy to students. How much emphasis do teachers and schools put on this subject?

Jun 29, 2020
Commentary

A Machine Learning Approach Could Help Counter Disinformation

Disinformation has become a central feature of the COVID-19 crisis. This type of malign information and high-tech “deepfake” imagery poses a risk to democratic societies worldwide by increasing public mistrust in governments and public authorities. New research highlights new ways to detect and dispel disinformation online.

Jun 25, 2020
Blog

A Message from Our President and CEO, America's Wealth Gap, Disinformation: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on doing more to address systemic inequalities and structural racism, paying the bills during COVID-19, America's growing wealth gap, and more.

Jun 5, 2020
Multimedia

COVID-19 Briefing Series: A Crisis of Disinformation

RAND's Jennifer Kavanagh and Todd Helmus discuss the effect of the pandemic on public trust in important sources of information and institutions that provide information.

May 22, 2020
Blog

What Happens When States Reopen, Truth Decay, Telemedicine: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the health and economic consequences of states reopening, the dangers of 'Truth Decay' during the coronavirus crisis, helping refugees, and more.

May 22, 2020
Commentary

Exposing Russian Information Operations Does Not Violate the First Amendment

Russia's hostile information operations are continuous and extend to a broad range of domestic issues. First Amendment concerns are important, but they do not protect hostile information campaigns by foreign actors, nor are they a legal excuse for inaction by the United States.

May 11, 2020
Blog

A Proposed COVID-19 Cure, Economic Decline, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the unintended consequences of a proposed COVID-19 treatment, another wave of economic destruction, North Korea after Kim Jong Un, and more.

May 1, 2020
Article

What Americans Think of the News—and What That Means for Democracy

RAND researchers asked a nationally representative sample of adults about their news-consumption habits. The answers reveal clues about what it might take to address Truth Decay—the decline of facts in U.S. public life.

Apr 28, 2020
Commentary

How to Contain the Disinformation Virus

Like COVID-19, disinformation spreads only if we help it spread. While we have all been asked to stay at home as responsible citizens to contain the virus, we should also feel responsible for making it harder for disinformation to spread.

Apr 9, 2020

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RAND Education and Labor