The news comes at us at a furious pace, and these days it can be more challenging than ever to filter through it to find information that is factual as well as unbiased. Navigating the media landscape is tough for adults, but it can be especially difficult for students. That’s why I’m excited to again offer news literacy webinars for educators.

The core objective of this annual series is to equip educators with media literacy tools that they can seamlessly integrate into their existing curriculum. We firmly believe that news literacy is an essential skill in today’s hyper-polarized media landscape, and by empowering educators, we can foster critical thinking in the next generation.

Our resources provide educators with guidance on how to use the Media Bias Chart® effectively in the classroom, facilitating discussion, engaging through interesting activities, and completing critical-thinking exercises. We also provide detailed criteria for evaluating the bias and reliability of news sources. Teaching students how to evaluate the information they see, hear and read every day is essential in making them wise news consumers.

Please join me for our free, three-part webinar series, “Teaching News Literacy in the Era of Hyper-Polarized Media.” The webinars will be offered at 7 p.m. EST on July 29, July 31 and Aug. 7.

This webinar series can be used for continuing education credit. A recording will be available for those who register but are unable to attend live. The webinars are free, but registration is required.

I encourage all teachers and librarians, from K-12 to university level, to join me in helping the next generation to become savvy news consumers. Register today!

Vanessa Otero is a former patent attorney in the Denver, Colorado, area with a B.A. in English from UCLA and a J.D. from the University of Denver. She is the original creator of the Media Bias Chart (October 2016), and founded Ad Fontes Media in February of 2018 to fulfill the need revealed by the popularity of the chart — the need for a map to help people navigate the complex media landscape, and for comprehensive content analysis of media sources themselves. Vanessa regularly speaks on the topic of media bias and polarization to a variety of audiences.