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Media Literacy

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Commentary
America May Not Be Ready for the Looming Tsunami of Deepfakes
Images and videos have been falsified since the first photographs were taken. But deepfakes are fundamentally different. Their realism, and the scale and ease with which they can be produced, make them incredibly potent disinformation tools.
Nov 10, 2022
Commentary
How Can Platforms Deal with Toxic Content? Look to Wall Street
Social media has a content problem. It's not the content itself, although the list of toxic material is long. The problem is the sheer volume of content. Instead of trusting in self-regulation, the United States could use its regulation of Wall Street after 2008 as a roadmap for regulating tech.
May 26, 2023

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Blog
RAND Commentary Highlights of 2020
The roughly 400 op-eds and blog posts published by RAND researchers during the year reflected an enormous variety of expertise and perspectives, from remote education to election cybersecurity to the economic harms of racial disparities. Here are 10 highlights that landed in high-profile news outlets.
Dec 18, 2020
Article
Want to Rebuild Public Trust? Focus on Civic Education
Truth Decay—the diminishing role of facts in American public life—has led to political paralysis, the erosion of civil discourse, and widespread uncertainty. Investing in civic education could help turn the tide.
Dec 8, 2020
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

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Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor

Researcher Spotlight

Molly Selvin

Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Molly Selvin is a legal historian who first began teaching at Pardee RAND in the 1980s when she was a RAND social science analyst. After leaving RAND, she spent 18 years as a staff writer with the Los Angeles Times, serving as a member of the Editorial Board and a business reporter.
Keytin Palmer

Ph.D. Student, Pardee RAND Graduate School, and Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND

Keytin Palmer (he/they) is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. student in the Technology Applications and Implications stream at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He has an M.Sc. in political psychology from Queen’s University Belfast and a B.A. in psychology from New College of…

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