BLOG: Look Both Ways When Crossing the Media Highway

April  10, 2024

by William A. Bevacqua, President & CEO, The Connecticut Democracy Center

“Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.” Whether our parents borrowed that wisdom from Edgar Allen Poe or Marvin Gaye, a healthy skepticism of the unexamined and unsubstantiated may have been an important piece of advice we received as children, not long after our first run for the school bus when Mom and Dad admonished us to “look both ways.” The quantum increase in our connectivity over the past generation has raised the stakes on that common-sense warning.

Keeping pace with a 24-hour news and information cycle, especially on a busy digital highway that now includes artificial intelligence and deepfakes makes us increasingly vulnerable to misinformation and false narratives. Parsing fact from fiction has become more challenging, while constructing “echo chambers” to reinforce our personal opinions has become all too easy. Unchecked, these trends will continue to erode dialogue, public trust, and, ultimately, our democracy.

How can we help young people in particular develop skills to assess information and better participate in productive public discussion? For middle and high school students, one potential answer is programs like Connecticut History Day (Our organization manages Connecticut’s affiliate of National History Day). This statewide – and national – academic competition challenges public, private and home-schooled student participants to conduct primary historical research on a topic of their choosing that aligns with a national theme set by NHD. Working under the guidance of teachers, students develop and present an evidence-based thesis based on the annual theme.  Every student has an opportunity to present what they have learned in a format that compliments their strengths and interests; hundreds of volunteer judges each year adjudicate academic papers, exhibits, websites, documentaries and theatrical performances across five regional and one statewide contest.

In addition to gaining appreciation for historical inquiry – studying our past to better understand our present – History Day delivers important practical instruction in information literacy, scant years or even months ahead of a young person’s first opportunity to vote. Connecticut History Day participants learn important skills such as seeking out primary sources (bypassing intermediaries, filters and commentary), evaluating the quality and point of view of a source, considering a subject from multiple perspectives, and thinking critically to draw conclusions about what they have learned. Mastering and employing these four skills is to be a sophisticated, responsible consumer of the news; and we should all, at every age, want to be competition-worthy in our own mastery of them. Together they help protect us from disinformation and other manipulations that undermine our collective efforts to make good public policy and solve community problems.

As Connecticut History Day students advance from regional to statewide competition we must acknowledge that they are not just amateur historians hoping to advance National History Day at the University of Maryland in June. They have become researchers and critical thinkers, guided by the premise that “all information is not created equal”: something we adults should keep in mind while crossing the high-speed, eight-lane super highway of news and social media.

William Bevacqua is President and CEO of The Connecticut Democracy Center which runs Connecticut History Day. The Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC) provides people with a lifetime pathway to active citizenship and the tools to take civic action in their own communities. CTDC strengthens civic engagement in the Constitution State by providing comprehensive and unbiased educational outreach on state government, civics, history, and citizenship through Connecticut History Day and other signature programs-in-residence at Connecticut’s Old State House including Kid Governor^®, We The People: The Citizen and The Constitution, and The Connecticut Democracy Center Debate Tournament.