by Maggie Fox | 28 Jan 2020 | Decoders, Health and Wellness, Media Literacy
Coronavirus headlines are taking readers on a roller coaster of fear, hope and confusion. Here are tips for telling what’s true and what’s not. Medical staff check the temperature of passengers at Nanjing South Railway station in Nanjing, China, 27 January...
by Maggie Fox | 27 Jan 2020 | Decoders, Health and Wellness, Media Literacy
What’s more harmful to your health — sugar or fat? Is it most important to exercise? The answers can depend on who’s paying for “scientific” research. Cans of soda and bottled water in New York, 7 May 2018 (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) “I love...
by Jonathan Lyons | 3 Dec 2019 | Donald Trump, Media Literacy, Middle East
Iran’s nuclear programme has held much of the world in suspense for years. But what if the real story, largely overlooked by the media, is elsewhere? Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, hold a poster of a Hezbollah leader during a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, 3 March...
by Harvey Morris | 8 Oct 2019 | Decoders, Media Literacy
Are the Houthis in Yemen “Iran-backed” or “Iran-aligned”? Are Hezbollah members “terrorists” or “liberators”? Labels can make a big difference. Hezbollah supporters wear headbands with pictures of Iran’s Ayatollah...
by Ivonne Flores Kauffman | 31 Jul 2019 | Asia, Human Rights, Media Literacy, Ryerson University, Youth Voices
Filipino journalists Fermando Sepe Jr. and Maria Ressa have exposed government corruption and abuse — and persist despite threats to their safety. Human rights activists demonstrate in front of an office where Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was detained, Manila, 14...
by Nelson Graves | 18 Jul 2019 | Media Literacy, Personal Reflections
We all have our convictions. But the world’s a complex place, where opposing viewpoints co-exist. Humility can be the first step to understanding. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, seen in London on 11 July 1961, was the first man to orbit the Earth, not U.S....
by Nelson Graves | 14 Feb 2019 | Donald Trump, Fake News, Media Literacy, United States
A standoff in Washington involving high school students, a Native American and Hebrew Israelites offers many lessons — not all of them gloomy. Student Nick Sandmann (L) and Native American Nathan Phillips on the U.S. National Mall (photo taken from YouTube) An...
by Julian Nundy | 22 Jan 2019 | Donald Trump, Fake News, Future of Democracy, Media Literacy
Threatened by populists and “fake news,” democracy is in crisis. But it remains better than alternatives — and a holy grail for states ditching dictators. Britain’s Big Ben clock tower, a symbol of parliamentary democracy, with a nearby statue...
by Elaine Monaghan | 21 Dec 2018 | Donald Trump, Fake News, Future of Democracy, Indiana University, Media Literacy, Personal Reflections
Journalists practice a dangerous craft and now are accused of peddling fake news. With the world facing annihilation, is it worth plying that trade? Photographer Shah Marai, among several Afghan journalists killed in a suicide bombing, is buried in Afghanistan, 30...
by Randall Mikkelsen | 29 Dec 2017 | Media Literacy
Fake news: It dominated many conversations in 2017. And it was the focus of the story that attracted the most views on our site last year. (Ad Fontes media) Below is News-Decoder’s most viewed story among the 227 articles that we published in 2017. This is part...