media literacy

This is the first academic year when districts in Washington are required to teach a stand-alone civics education course, not just something embedded in existing social studies classes. It’s the result of a bill approved by legislators three years ago.

Dr. Lawrence Pintak joins this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella" to discuss what you can do to understand the Muslim world, how to check your news sources and give a history lesson on American exceptionalism. Pintak is a former CBS News Middle East correspondent, founding dean of the WSU Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, and author of "American & Islam: Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump" and "The New Arab Journalist."

The video, which condemns "fake news," fakes a CNN segment from last year. Twitter's move is unlikely to go unnoticed by Trump, who has vehemently resisted the company's fact-checking attempts.

A well-funded and elaborate social media disinformation campaign played out online Sunday night, experts say, showing how polarization creates situations where lies go viral.

Middle and high schools have been adding courses about how to spot fake news. Older adults also struggle to sort disinformation online, but they have fewer resources tackling the problem.