Or use a new video and free resources to empower your students to tell fact from fiction online. Email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
[link removed]

Graphic by Alexa Volland


** Good stuff, free!
------------------------------------------------------------

Have you ever uttered the phrase, “I never win anything!”?

Well, first off, good for you for not wasting money on a lottery ticket or slot machines (my personal Vegas guilty pleasure). Today I’m here to tell you that you’re a winner in my book — though I hope you already knew that — and that we are giving you a chance to access some really great fact-checking resources for free. After all, empowering your students to spot misinformation online means everybody wins.

Your first option is to bring a live fact-checking workshop to your classroom via our Campus Correspondents ([link removed]) . Our trained college students appear virtually in your classroom to deploy our Poynter- and MediaWise-approved fact-checking workshop. What better way for your students to internalize fact-checking materials than when they are delivered by one of their peers?

We have a set number of spots remaining for this semester, so if you are interested in booking a session, simply email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) and I will send you to our enrollment portal.

The sessions take about an hour and we have 10 different correspondents available to deliver training, so it’s likely there’s a spot that will fit your class time.

Alternatively, if your semester is set and there’s no room for an hourlong presentation, consider showing our 18-minute video, “Media literacy masterclass with MediaWise Campus Correspondents,” ([link removed]) or assigning it as homework. It’s a distilled, fast-moving version of the same fact-checking workshop you’d get in a live presentation by our Campus Correspondents.

Here’s a teaser video ([link removed]) to inspire you to get excited about this incredibly helpful content.

We also like to remind folks that you and your students can follow us on social media at our Instagram ([link removed]) , YouTube ([link removed]) and TikTok ([link removed]) , where you can amass a number of fact-checking skills for the low, low price of absolutely nothing.

We also offer “Hands-on Fact-checking: A Short Course” ([link removed]) for $14.95 and the MediaWise Voter Project Fact-Checking Certificate ([link removed]) f0r $99.95 (and remember that students at campuses with Follett bookstores can charge this content to their bursar accounts).

As mis- and disinformation continues to negatively impact our democracy, we are committed to bringing you relevant and effective ways to help your students tell fact from fiction online.


** More on Teachapalooza
------------------------------------------------------------
Graphic by Chris Kozlowski

I heard from many of you this week who wanted more details on the content for Teachapalooza, and I’m happy to report that we are close to releasing a schedule.

Here are some highlights of what you can expect (subject to change):
* Five ways to prove to your students and yourselves that journalism is vital
* How to teach your students to freelance for a living
* Practical ways to infuse diversity, equity and inclusion into your curriculum
* How to handle fact-checking and the midterm election
* Considerations before creating news/academic partnerships
* How to use partner videos, lesson plans and other First Amendment resources
* Helping students deal with stress, trauma and burnout.

Register here ([link removed]) for this rejuvenating and hands-on in-person and virtual course. As a reminder, if you apply for the preconference Diversity Across the Curriculum ([link removed]) and get accepted, you’ll get $100 off your Teacha tuition.


** Employing the rule of three
------------------------------------------------------------

I saw three notable “what I learned” pieces surface last week.

In “What I Learned in 25 Years of Writing for Slate,” ([link removed]) author William Saletan offered a passage that I thought was particularly salient for you all: “When you’re young, and you’re lucky enough to get a platform — in my case, a writing job at an opinion magazine — it’s natural to think you’re there to churn out opinions. You have your issues, your passions, your takes. Then, gradually, you begin to understand how little you know and how wrong you often are. You become aware of your biases, your weaknesses, your tiresome rants.” Preach it, William. Please?

Then there was “Four Lessons from Two Decades of Newsroom Lawyering,” ([link removed]) from Richard J. Tofel, a former in-house attorney at The Wall Street Journal and founding general manager of ProPublica. There were some great takeaways from that piece, including this gem: “One of the very first lessons I learned in reviewing stories prior to publication is that press lawyers are at the mercy of reporters. Quite simply, the attorney must assume that the facts in a story are accurately reported … behind all of the best press lawyers stand great reporters.”

And then I decided to lump this one into the “what I learned pile,” because it’s hilarious: “Becoming Wordle Man.” ([link removed]) See? “I like to tell young journalists about how disorienting it can be when people finally start reading your work. If you settle on a career in the media, you will likely churn out a mountain of content that reaches an audience of precisely nobody until one fateful day where a piece strikes a furtive nerve lingering deep within the cryptic framework of virality. Without warning, the algorithm draws your name out of a hat. Ideally, that moment occurs when you have written something deservedly transcendent, but far more often you will be suddenly shunted above water, into the overwhelming daylight of attention, because your byline is attached to a piece that has melded with whatever transient, disposable trend is eating up the bandwidth.”


** Prep work
------------------------------------------------------------

The Ida B. Wells Society is offering three virtual internship prep sessions ([link removed]) with advice from the experts on how to stand out when applying to any journalism internship. They are scheduled for Monday, Feb. 7 from 5:30-7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 8 from 10-11:30 a.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 16 from 10-11:30 a.m. (all times Eastern).

(Speaking of interns, our team at MediaWise is looking for an audience engagement specialist ([link removed]) this semester).


** Diversifying your visuals
------------------------------------------------------------

If — like me — you’re a fan of Wonder Tools from CUNY’s Jeremy Caplan, then you saw his “Diversify your visuals” ([link removed]) newsletter last week. If you’re not yet familiar, this is just one example of the great content he provides. If nothing else, it’s worth a forward to your student media team for more diverse stock images. Bonus: A ton of them are free.


** Headlines about higher ed
------------------------------------------------------------
* Florida Bill May Shield University Presidential Searches From the Public ([link removed]) (Chronicle for Higher Education)
* University of Utah suspends fraternity and sorority activities after 2nd sexual assault report ([link removed]) (Salt Lake Tribune)
* ‘This Is Not New’: Unsettled by Threats, HBCUs Reflect on a Long History of Racist Intimidation ([link removed]) (Chronicle for Higher Education)


** Great journalism to share with your students
------------------------------------------------------------
* What Scares the World’s Most Daring Olympians ([link removed]) (New York Times)
* Polar bears move into abandoned Arctic weather station – photo essay ([link removed]) (The Guardian)
* Editorial: UCLA puts lives in danger through failure to communicate timely amid threats ([link removed]) (UCLA Daily Bruin)
* Florida renters scramble for shelter as affordable housing erode ([link removed]) (Tampa Bay Times)
* Opinion: This is gerrymandering at its worst. It doesn’t have to be this way. ([link removed]) (Washington Post)
* He Spent 25 Years Infiltrating Nazis, the Klan, and Biker Gangs ([link removed]) (Rolling Stone)
* Deplorable conditions, unclear mission: Texas National Guard troops call Abbott’s rushed border operation a disaster ([link removed]) (Texas Tribune with Military Times)
* Who Writes the Rules for Cops? ([link removed]) (Esquire)


** Diversity, equity and inclusion
------------------------------------------------------------
* How white power changed Herbie Husker ([link removed]) (Flatwater Free Press)
* Journalism can’t keep losing mothers and other family caregivers ([link removed]) (Poynter)
* ‘A community deserves options’: Why these Black journalists launched their own publication ([link removed]) (Washington Post)


** Internship Database
------------------------------------------------------------

This week, we’re featuring Chalkbeat’s community listening and engagement intern ([link removed]) . From the listing: “At Chalkbeat ([link removed]) , engagement means reporting with and for communities, not on or about them. Engagement is baked into the core of Chalkbeat’s mission to provide essential reporting on schools across America, and our engagement team works with Chalkbeat’s eight local bureaus to ensure we’re listening to our communities and responding to their information needs.”

You can find this and many other internship opportunities in our database ([link removed]) .


** Lessons learned
------------------------------------------------------------
Screenshot

This week’s lesson is from Stephan Malick, an adviser and instructor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He writes:

“A simple and effective way for advisers and instructors to encourage professional development is to have all your students create and maintain a portfolio of their work. Many portfolios seem to center around a specific project or are representative of only senior year work. This isn’t just for graduating seniors preparing for the workplace, but a practice students should incorporate the moment they enter any journalism, or program.

Incorporating portfolios serves multiple purposes for students and advisers:
* Portfolios are an easy way to track clips for students to curate, and for instructors and advisers to grade.
* Portfolios are an effective way for students to promote their work via their personal and institutional social media to build professional habits and practice.
* Portfolios are an effective way to encourage additional readership to student media when students share and link their individual efforts.

I’m not platform specific. I encourage students to use a free WordPress site ([link removed]) (tons of free resources, how-to’s and an awesome developer community); however Weebly ([link removed]) , Wix ([link removed]) and others work fine, too.”

Here ([link removed]) are ([link removed]) some ([link removed]) examples ([link removed]) of his students’ ([link removed]) portfolios.

(Have a lesson, tip or guidance you think would be helpful to your fellow journalism educators? Please email me at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Be prepared to send a blurb, a photo and pertinent links if you have them!)


** The Lead
------------------------------------------------------------
Georgia players celebrate after the College Football Playoff championship football game against Alabama Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, in Indianapolis. Georgia won 33-18. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

I got a ton out of “What 8 young sports journalists want students to know about starting their careers.” ([link removed])

Subscribe to The Lead ([link removed]) , Poynter’s weekly newsletter for student journalists, and encourage your students to do the same.


** This week’s Professor’s Press Pass
------------------------------------------------------------
Former quarterback Joe Theismann, left, speaks in front of Dan and Tanya Snyder, co-owner and co-CEOs of the Washington Commanders, and former defensive tackle Jonathan Allen during an event to unveil the NFL football team's new identity. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Get ready to talk about air space. In this week’s Professor’s Press Pass ([link removed]) , a Washington, D.C.,-area news team flies over the stadium and discovers what appears to be the team’s new name. What — if any — are the ethical issues to consider before airing the footage?


** One last thing
------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I learned some new words last week ([link removed]) . (This one probably isn’t family friendly. At least not when you solve it.)


** Resources for educators
------------------------------------------------------------
* Covering COVID-19 with Al Tompkins ([link removed]) (Daily briefing) — Poynter
* Language, Math and News Literacy Certificate ([link removed]) (Self-directed course) Start anytime
* Teachapalooza: Front-Edge Teaching Tools for College Educators ([link removed]) (In-person or Online Seminar) — June 10-12, Apply now ([link removed])

[link removed]
I want more Poynter resources for college journalism.
GIVE NOW ([link removed])

[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed] mailto:[email protected]?subject=Feedback%20for%20Poynter
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
© All rights reserved Poynter Institute 2022
801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
If you don't want to receive email updates from Poynter, we understand.
You can update your subscription preferences here ([link removed]) or unsubscribe ([link removed]) .