This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded not to a world leader or humanitarian activist, but to two journalists whose commitment to professional integrity and using their craft to report facts (real facts, not alternative facts) stands in stark opposition to the many outlets intent on spreading misinformation and sowing discord in our world.
This is an important achievement which should be shared with and discussed with our children. Our society is becoming increasingly polarized not just because we have differing points of view, but because lies and distorted information are being posted on social media as facts and truth, and too many are unwilling to leave the comfort of the information sources that confirm and reinforce their own innate biases (this concept is called confirmation bias and it is a phenomenon exacerbated and exploited by social media and search engine algorithms). But the gaslighting of legitimate journalism by the perpetrators of misinformation can make it difficult for novices to distinguish between reliable sources and manipulative ones.
I see this frequently when teaching students how to evaluate information. In the past few years, we've begun experiencing a new phenomenon where many students believe that there are no trustworthy news sources and that everything they encounter is "just an opinion." Pointing to examples outside of the U.S. like the work done by Ressa and Muratov may be one way to counter this thinking because they are reporting on issues that do not hit as close to home as ones we are encountering in our own country. But the point needs to be made that even in the U.S. there are professional and ethical standards to which journalists can and should be held, and that those who honor and value those standards can report on sensitive, controversial or even dangerous issues in a responsible, credible, and trustworthy manner. And in doing so, they can combat the droves of misinformation, manipulative narratives and propaganda that are being spread. Just because someone yells "fake news!" doesn't actually make it so.
Our students also need to be taught to recognize when false narratives are being generated to detract from a real issue, to denigrate a legitimate point of view, or to intentionally damage one's sense of self. This type of gaslighting is becoming more frequent in the public sphere with little remorse for the damage it causes. And while when it comes to journalism, we're talking about adults who should know better yet who engage in this type of manipulative behavior, it is also becoming commonplace among adolescents on social media. Consider the ways in which cyberbullying plays out. We used to call it "spreading rumors," but what was once primarily words and stories spread "through the grapevine" that often dissipated when a new story took hold, these false and damaging narratives now find a permanent and easily distributed home in group text messages, manipulated photographs, and viral memes. When these tactics are used to engineer and disseminate lies about a kid, how do they fight back against that? How do they protect themselves from feeling a dwindling sense of self? How do they continue to feel like they have a safe place in the world?
The Nobel Peace Prize is certainly not an answer to this large and looming problem our children and our society are facing, but being able to point to individuals like Maria Ressa and Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov as strong characters who stand up for what they believe in and are true to themselves, despite the risks, despite the lies, despite the manipulation, because they believe that the truth is the only way forward for humanity - well, that's a start.