Can journalists help improve the ability to judge the reliability of news? A case study of high-school students in northern France

The rise of social media has contributed to an ever-expanding information landscape. The overabundance of information makes it increasingly difficult to assess the reliability of online content, including news. The concept of news literacy addresses these challenges, as it is defined as the abilities and knowledge needed to access, analyze and evaluate news content, and the understanding of the changing information context in which it is produced, distributed and consumed. This paper is part of a PhD thesis investigating the effects of media information literacy (MIL) activities on high-school students’ abilities to assess the reliability of news, as a part of their news literacy. 89 high-school students took part in MIL workshops organized by journalists over a six-week period. Students completed a written questionnaire before and after these workshops. As part of this questionnaire, participants were asked to describe two news items, decide which one they found the most reliable, and justify their answer through open-ended questions. A qualitative analysis of their answers identified 23 different arguments participants used to justify their decision. A hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify arguments used simultaneously by our participants. Three clusters appeared in the pre-test, and six clusters in the post-test. The analysis suggests that the students used fewer arguments after the workshops, but the clusters identified are more homogeneous. The thesis project overall questions the relevance of involving journalists in media education and aims to highlight the MIL factors that can help to improve media education activities.