Media Literacy Report

The first-ever statewide initiative to survey media literacy in schools providew an action plan of recommendations to advance media literacy efforts. This initiative was done in collaboration with the Media Education Lab and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It draws on a year-long study that included interviews with educators, input from national experts, and survey responses from Massachusetts teachers.

The results are clear: educators see media literacy as essential, and they’re already incorporating core practices like media analysis, student media creation, and inquiry-based research, with a strong interest in expanding instruction for the youngest learners. But the report also shows what’s missing—system-wide training, clear guidance, and equitable access—especially as AI rapidly changes the media environment students navigate every day.

“This report provides a practical roadmap for Massachusetts and other states who want to prioritize comprehensive media literacy education,” said Kyra Brissette, CEO of Media Literacy Now. “As we look to 2026, we are excited to champion these policy recommendations in Massachusetts and nationwide to ensure every student learns to think critically, evaluate information, and engage safely and confidently in today’s digital world.”

Media Literacy Now. (2025). Media Literacy in Massachusetts: A Landscape Scan and Policy Recommendations,

https://medialiteracynow.org/ma_dese/

Teens and Media Literacy Survey

 A new report  reveals that 94% of teens believe media literacy should be a mandatory part of school curricula, yet only 39% have received such instruction. The report highlights the prevalence of conspiracy theories on social media, with 80% of teens encountering them and 81% inclined to believe at least one.

News literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits and skills. (2024). News Literacy Project.

https://newslit.org/news-literacy-in-america/ 

Teens and Conspiracy Theories Study

 About 80% of teenagers encounter conspiracy theories online, and many believe at least one, according to a recent report. Many teens also struggle to distinguish between advertisements and opinion, independently reported news and digital marketing campaigns, the survey found. And most think professional news organizations are just as biased as other content creators, according to the survey that formed the basis for the report. The findings underscore the need for stronger media literacy education to help students navigate misinformation. 

News Literacy Project. (2024). News literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits and skills. NLP.  https://newslit.org/news-literacy-in-america/

Media Literacy Report

 This report provides a comprehensive overview and a road to follow in seeing that media literacy becomes part of every nation's cultural fabric, and notes the library's role in supporting and advancing media literacy.

Jolls, T. (2022). Building resiliency: Media literacy as a strategic defense strategy for the transatlantic. Center for Media Literacy.

https://www.medialit.org/sites/default/files/Building%20Resiliency-Media%20Literacy%20as%20a%20Strategic%20Defense%20Strategy%20for%20the%20Transatlantic%20%28Final%29%20copy.pdf

Media Literacy Study

 "A new survey finds that most people did not learn to reflect on media messages in school, and few learned to use media literacy skills when considering science news. Only 38% of survey respondents reported learning to analyze media messaging in high school. However, a majority of respondents – 84% – said they supported required media literacy education in schools."

Media Literacy Now and Reboot Foundation. (2022). Science Fictions: Low Science Knowledge and Poor Critical Thinking Are Linked To Conspiracy Beliefs. Reboot Foundation. 

https://medialiteracynow.org/nationalsurvey2022/     https://reboot-foundation.org/research/science-fictions-low-science-knowledge-poor-critical-thinking-linked-to-conspiracy-beliefs/

Lateral Reading Study

 Lateral-reading instruction -- a fact-checking strategy that includes verifying sources and considering author intent -- can help improve students' media literacy, according to a study conducted by a Nebraska school district in partnership with the Stanford University History Education Group. The study has put the district's media literacy instruction, led by school librarians and social studies teachers, in the spotlight.

Wineburg, S. et al. (2022). Lateral reading on the open Internet. SSRN.

https://ssrn.com/abstract=3936112 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3936112

Media literacy education report

The U.S. Media Literacy Report 2020 provides a state-by-state progress report for media literacy education laws in K-12 schools. The report outlines both legislative successes and areas for improvement as well as recommendations to ensure that media literacy is an active part of every student’s education. 
U.S. Media Literacy Policy Report 2020. Waterton, MA: Media Literacy Now. 
https://medialiteracynow.org/mlnpolicyreport/ 

News literacy study

In a report released in November, the researchers evaluated the ability of 3,446 students – from 16 urban and suburban school districts in 14 states – to judge the credibility and accuracy of digital sources of information.  Overall, on four of the assigned six tasks, over 90 percent of students received no credit at all. Out of all of the student responses, fewer than 3 percent earned full credit. Students continued to display a troubling tendency to accept websites at face value. A few of the lowlights from the report:

• Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. The video was actually shot in Russia. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video –  even though a simple Google search would have quickly exposed the ruse.
• Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.
• Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain (.org or .com), or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

 Breakstone, J. et al. (2019). Students' civic online reasoning. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University. 
https://sheg.stanford.edu/students-civic-online-reasoning

Student Media Literacy Research

A nationwide sampling of high school students were assessed for their ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet. Nearly all students floundered. Ninety percent received no credit on four of six tasks. Some of the specific findings follow: 

• Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries (the video was actually shot in Russia) constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video, even though a quick search turns up a variety of articles exposing the ruse. 
• Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.
• Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on superficial markers of credibility: the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain, or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

Breakstone, J., Smith, M., Wineburg, S., Rapaport, A., Carle, J., Garland, M., & Saavedra, A. (2019). Students’ civic online reasoning: A national portrait. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford History Education Group & Gibson Consulting. https://purl.stanford.edu/gf151tb4868

Media Literacy Education

Media literacy is being defined in multiple ways, in part, because it represents various fields, including core subjects as well as journalism, political science and sociology, according to a recent  report. The report identifies the need for a more unified approach and an interdisciplinary commission, plus strategies to assess media literacy.
Huguet, Alice, Jennifer Kavanagh, Garrett Baker, and Marjory S. Blumenthal, Exploring Media Literacy Education as a Tool for Mitigating Truth Decay. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2019. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3050.html. Also available in print form.

Remaking Videos

In analyzing 93 video remakes, inspired by the video "Love Language," researchers found that producing remake videos may enhance media literacy competencies by offering a means for youth to develop creative skills through strategic imitation.
Hobbs, R., & Friesem, Y. (2019). The creativity of imitation in remake videos. E-Learning and Digital Media.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2042753019835556

Media literacy

Teacher librarians can help students gain media literacy so they will be discerning media users.

Here are some websites and research to back up those practices.

http://cyberfamilies.blogspot provides family-oriented theme-based Internet activities.

http://tinyurl.com/FakeNewsLibGuide offers lots of activities to build skill in identifying fake news.

http://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/ Media over Media analyzes contemporary propaganda

http://en.childrenslibrary.org/ provides thousands of online books, including hundreds in non-English languages.

https://www.schooltube.com/ offers lots of fun educational videos.

http://www.readingrockets.org/ teaches reading and helps struggling readers.

Supporting research:

UNICEF (2017). The state of the world’s children in 2017: Children in a digital world. New York City, NY: United Nations Children’s Fund. https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2017_ENG_WEB.pdf

This article by NPR provides a roundup of some of the latest research, as well as some previous reports, on the pros and cons of children using digital resources, with the goal of helping guide decision-making in families around screen use.

Rideout, V. (2017). The Common Sense census: Media use by kids age zero to eight. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/csm_zerotoeight_fullreport_release_2.pdf

Common Sense’s study views the media habits of children in the United States. That in turn has helped inform adults about important matters affecting children, such as how much screen time to recommend.

Robertson, C. (2017). Tech control of your future on special media. Paper presented at Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, Belfast, Oct. 2-5. http://www.hmc.org.uk/blog/young-people-rebelling-social-media-survey-reveals/

The study provides evidence of a growing backlash among young people who wish social media did not exist due to negative aspects such as online abuse and fake news.

The Children’s Society safety net: Cyberbullying’s impact on young people’s mental health – Inquiry report (2017). London, England: The Children’s Society. https://youngminds.org.uk/media/2189/pcr144b_social_media_cyberbullying_inquiry_full_report.pdf

This study determined how social media can cause anxiety among youth – specifically through cyberbullying

Youth Judgments of Statement Accuracy

This study investigates youth judgments of the accuracy of truth claims tied to controversial public issues. Consistent with research on motivated reasoning, results showed that youth assessments depended on (a) the alignment of the claim with one’s prior policy position and to a lesser extent on (b) whether the post included an inaccurate statement. To consider ways educators might improve judgments of accuracy, the researchers investigated the influence of political knowledge and exposure to media literacy education. They found that political knowledge did not improve judgments of accuracy but that media literacy education did. Given this information, educators can work to shape their approach to presenting information to studnts in order to better support avenues to academic success.

Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2017). Educating for democracy in a partisan age: Confronting the challenges of motivated reasoning and misinformation. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 3-34. https://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0002831216679817

News and Teens Study

In a newly released study, 66% of the children surveyed nationally said they trust "a lot" of the news they receive from their family, compared with 25% who said they trust news organizations.  Just 44% of the children surveyed agreed they can tell fake news stories from real news stories.Youth  consume a wide range of news, often as a byproduct of their frequent use of the mobile devices and social media applications they carry around in their pockets. But they view much of the news they encounter as biased and unreflective of their own experiences. Some other findings about 10-18 year olds' new behaviors follow:
Children often receive news information from their families, friends, and teachers.
Still, children—especially teens—prefer to get their news via social media.
Fake news is still a big problem, not not the only one. What they see and read often makes them feel afraid, angry, and depressed.

Common Sense Media (2017). News and America's Kids: How Young People Perceive and Are Impacted by the News.

Fake News and K-12 Information Literacy

An 18-month study shows that students all the way to college age are not recognizing the basics of evaluating a source. Especially as students are looking more and more to social media for their daily news, they may mix satire and "hard" news. The new ACRL information literacy framework reflects the importance of ascertaining the nature of news with its lens that "Authority Is Constructed and Contextual."
Stanford History Education Group. (2016).  Evaluating information: The cornerstone of civic online reasoning. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University.
http://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Executive%20Summary%2011.21.16.pdf 

Media use and attitudes report

This report examines children's media literacy. It provides detailed evidence on media use, attitudes and understanding among children and young people aged 5-15, as well as detailed information about the media access and use of young children aged 3-4. Researchers found that only a third of young people aged 12 to 15 knew which search results on Google were ads, while this figure was even lower — less than one in five — for children aged 8 to 11. Other tests showed that 19% of 12- to 15-year-olds  believed that if a search engine listed particular information then it must be true, while  46% of children could say for sure that Google itself was funded by ads.
Children and parents: Media use and attitudes report. (2015). London:  Ofcom. 
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/research-publications/childrens/children-parents-nov-15/

Online use and civic participation study

The Internet Makes for More Engaged Citizens, According to New Research

The Internet makes for more engaged citizens, according to the first-of-its-kind study of high-school students' online habits and civic participation. The research will continue to study the impact of the Internet and digital media on democratic and political engagement.

The first-of-its-kind longitudinal study by civic learning scholars of high school students' Internet use and civic engagement found that:

• For many youth, their interest in the Internet translates into engagement with civic and political issues.
• Contrary to popular belief, it is rare for individuals on the Internet to only be exposed to political perspectives with which they agree, but many youth are not exposed to political perspectives at all.
• Teaching new media literacies such as credibility assessment is essential for 21st century citizenship.

Kahne, J. (2011). Digital media literacy education and online civic and political participation. MacArthur Foundation.
http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/publications

European media literacy report.

This study covers the 27 EU Member States. It offers a comprehensive view of the concept of media literacy and an understanding of how media literacy levels in Europe should be assessed.
EAVI. (2009). Assessment Criteria for Media Literacy Levels in Europe.
http://www.eavi.eu

Copyright use study

Fair use confusion threatens media literacy
In too many classrooms across the country, sweaty palms and the fears associated with a call to the principal’s office aren’t just student afflictions: Educators, especially those who teach media literacy, are experiencing a collective anxiety about what is legal and what is not when using digital images and recordings in their lessons, according to a new report (PDF file) by the American University Center for Social Media. The educational goals of cultivating critical thinking and communication skills are compromised by unnecessary restrictions and a lack of understanding about copyright law.
American University Center for Social Media. (2007). The cost of copyright confusion for media literacy. Washington, DC: Author.
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/Final_CSM_copyright_report.pdf