Use these questions to reflect on how you build your own media diet — the principles behind choosing sources, dealing with information overload, and staying intellectually honest in a fragmented media landscape.
Describe your current media diet honestly. Where do you get most of your news — and why those sources? Have you chosen them deliberately, or did you drift into them? If you were designing an ideal media diet from scratch, what would it look like?
Try to use: editorial independence, credibility, bias, editorial line, transparency
The most widely shared news is not always the most accurate, and the most accurate journalism is not always the most widely read. What does this gap between popularity and reliability tell us about how information spreads — and what responsibility do individuals have when they share news?
Try to use: credibility, reliability, accountability, transparency, primary source
We live in an age of information overload — more news is produced every day than any person could read in a lifetime. How do you decide what to read and what to ignore? Are your filtering habits helping you stay informed — or helping you stay comfortable?
Try to use: filter bubble, confirmation bias, editorial line, credibility, accountability
Think tanks, research institutes, and policy organizations publish reports that are widely cited in news coverage. But many are funded by corporations, governments, or ideological donors. Should we treat their research like academic research — or like advocacy? How do you tell the difference?
Try to use: think tank, transparency, editorial independence, bias, peer review
Some argue that we have a civic duty to stay informed — that democracy depends on citizens who understand the world. Others say that constant news consumption is harmful to mental health and that strategic ignorance is sometimes rational. Where do you stand?
Try to use: accountability, credibility, reliability, editorial independence, wire service
By the end of this course, has your relationship with the news changed? Are there sources you now trust more — or less? Are there questions you now ask that you didn't ask before? What is the single most important thing you will take away from these twelve sessions?
Try to use: credibility, transparency, editorial independence, primary source, accountability