Nevada Lawmakers Want to Teach Teens About Fake News—While Spreading Some Themselves

CARSON CITY – In a move both ambitious and ironic, Nevada lawmakers are pushing to teach students how to spot misinformation—while proving they might need a refresher course themselves.

Assemblymember Cecelia Gonzalez, championing the cause of news literacy, lamented that false information spreads like a Nevada brushfire, citing rumors of ICE raids that “aren’t actually happening.”

It would have been a good point—except for the small fact that ICE raids are happening, even in Reno. One might say the misinformation problem is closer to home than expected.

Gonzalez and fellow Assemblymember Erica Mosca are determined to work with the Nevada Department of Education to weave news literacy into the curriculum, though exactly how remains unclear. Will it be through legislation? Policy tweaks? Leaving teachers to figure it out in their spare time? The specifics are as hazy as a campaign promise.

This effort comes as Nevada grapples with its latest educational report card, which reveals that only 39% of Clark County School District students are proficient in English—just slightly ahead of a system where you hand them a book and hope for the best.

“In a time where misinformation rapidly spreads, this is something very critical to us,” Gonzalez stressed.

She was quick to assure that teachers—already overburdened—wouldn’t be tasked with yet another impossible job.

The News Literacy Project, a nonprofit with unshakable optimism, reports that only 20 percent of teens can correctly distinguish news from ads, opinions, and entertainment. There are some adults–mostly politicians–who struggle with that, as recent events suggest. Even more alarming, 80 percent of teens admit to seeing conspiracy theories on social media, and many actually believe them.

“News literacy is the ability to discern factual information from non-credible information,” explained Ebonee Otoo, a senior vice president at the News Literacy Project.

It’s a noble goal, assuming students can tear themselves away from viral cat videos long enough to learn it. Last year, the nonprofit armed nearly 600 Nevada educators with free news literacy resources, reaching 2,800 students—many of whom will no doubt put their skills to good use correcting their parents’ dubious Facebook posts.

If lawmakers succeed in making news literacy part of the curriculum, perhaps their next challenge will be even more pronounced: fact-checking themselves before making public statements.