KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Maria Leon Mantei, a senior at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, does not typically follow the news.
“I really don’t know what’s going on. I kind of figured it out from things that people talk about around school, and if I have more questions about what it is, I’ll generally go to Google and then look on different websites; see what different perspectives are saying about it,” Leon Mantei said.
She recognizes the importance of understanding what you’re taking in and from what sources.
“Knowing the difference and choosing what you prefer to let influence you is a huge part in your life as a person,” Leon Mantei said.
As more Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts students walked into their broadcast and TV production class, junior Christopher Rodriguez expressed an openness to learning more.
“Knowing what is true and what is false could come a long way,” Rodriguez said.
Zelverick Gordon, a broadcast and TV production teacher at Paseo Academy, wrote a question on the white board: where do you get your news from?
Some students said they watch Telemundo at home. Others get their news from TikTok, Instagram, X or YouTube.
“The kids nowadays are not getting their news from the same sources as we did when I was coming out — your traditional news,” Gordon said. "I think it’s important that they understand what they’re getting and how to understand if this is factual news that they’re getting.”
During class, these high school students shared some ideas for how to separate fact from fiction.
Those include confirming whether a social media profile is connected to a real person or legitimate news organization, and searching for outside evidence that supports the claims in an article they may read.
“It’s just so important to be able to get them at their age because they’re consuming so much. And as they get older, they’re the leaders that will be in the future,” Gordon said. “So if they’re getting information that’s not correct now, and then they continue to go on to have this mindset of, they don’t know what to believe or who to trust, it will be hard for them to operate in certain spaces.”
After learning what misinformation and disinformation are — and how to identify different variations of both — Rodriguez and Leon Mantei said they now know something they can use beyond the classroom.
“Helped me realize what I can do instead of just sitting there and watching all the fake stuff going around,” Rodriguez said. “Could post about it saying, 'This is fake,' what’s true and what’s not, and do research about it.”
Leon Mantei said, “I’ll admit, I’m definitely guilty of spreading what probably could have been fake news. But I’ll definitely make sure to find other sources. We don’t want to be lied to. We’re all lost in the confusion as it is – we don’t need another lie.”
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