Key Highlights:
- Google collaborates with PBS to launch a media literacy program that will combat misinformation.
- Its goal is to educate students, educators, and the general public.
- It will focus on the rampant misinformation and phished sources of data going viral across the web.
Bolstering the Reputation
Google has spent the last few years attempting to restore its reputation as a source of misinformation by implementing a number of initiatives, including the Google News Initiative (GNI). Recently, the company has partnered with PBS Student Report Labs (SRL) and other journalism groups to develop programmes that will help students, educators, and the general public improve their media literacy.
Workings of the Literacy Program
Google News Initiative and Student Report Labs are developing educational resources to teach young people how to talk to older family members and friends about misinformation. “Through storytelling and co-production with students, we’ll explore the media literacy needs of different communities and generations, and how they can connect with each other to find solutions,” says SRL Founder Leah Clapman.
Additional Goodwill Projects by Google
In addition, Google has partnered with the News Literacy Project (NLP), a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, to provide media literacy education to students, teachers, and the general public. Google aims to assist NLP expand its “Newsroom to Classroom” effort to additional journalists and educators in California, Colorado, Texas, Iowa, and Nebraska, which Google describes as “places struck particularly hard by the decrease in local news.”
Google News Initiative is also partnering with Poynter’s MediaWise project, which focuses on students and elders, to boost its Spanish language outreach. It will collaborate with the team to convert their “How to Spot Misinformation Online” course into Spanish and create a text-based version that will be sent via SMS, “which is how many seniors find and share news,” according to the business. The efforts, according to Google, would boost current projects such as Fact Check Explorer and Search’s “about this result.” However, the firm still has a long way to go in convincing the public and governments throughout the world that its numerous platforms are free of misinformation.
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