Year 10 - Citizenship
What is false information and what can we do about it?
How does the media hold those in power to account?
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
Pupils consider what role the media plays in democracy and how the media is used to hold those in power to account. They consider what responsible journalism is and the impact of misinformation.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain different types of false information and why it is problematic.
Key Notes
- There are different types of false information including misinformation, disinformation and malinformation.
- False information is damaging in a democracy as citizens need to be able to trust the news.
- Regulations can support in limiting the ammount of false news, but social media is more difficult to regulate.
- Citizens should critically evaluate information to consider its accuracy.
Vocabulary To Learn
- democracy: a system of Government in which citizens vote in regular, fair elections for political representatives.
- misinformation: false or misleading information shared by mistake, without intent to deceive
- disinformation: false information shared deliberately to mislead or harm
- malinformation: true information used out of context to mislead or harm
- regulation: rules or laws to control or guide behaviour for society's benefit
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Social media news posts are always accurate.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
There are different types of false information including misinformation, disinformation and malinformation. False information is damaging in a democracy as citizens need to be able to trust the news.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'democracy'
a system of Government in which citizens vote in regular, fair elections for political representatives.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Social media news posts are always accurate. Correction: There is misinformation within all media, but even more so with social media due to a lack of regulation.
More Lessons In This Unit
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