to guard against misinformation, California mandates media education for all students

From January 1, 2024, Californian schools, from primary to high school, will be required to implement media education, with the aim of helping students recognize fake news and not get caught up in misinformation.

Media education courses will be provided in Californian schools, starting January 1, 2024. These will not be weekly courses. The idea is to disseminate teaching across different subjects, in this case English – the equivalent of French for us – mathematics, history and science, throughout schooling.

It is quite rare to point out that the bill “AB 873” was approved by both Republicans and Democrats. Signed last October by the governor, the measure aims to make students capable of identifying, in different media, information or fabricated data, which is manipulation. When Americans talk about the media, they talk about the press, television, radio, but also very naturally “social media”, social networks in French.

Too much confidence, too much influence

A 2022 Pew Research Center survey reveals that adults under 30 trust information found on social media as much as information provided by traditional media. Spotting disinformation therefore seems more relevant than ever.

This is what Marc Berman, the Assembly member who carried the bill earlier this year, explains. He cites a study from Stanford University, according to which 82% of middle school students could not distinguish an article from an advertisement. Similarly, a video purporting to illustrate electoral fraud in the United States was shown to high school students. The video was actually filmed in Russia, but it fooled one in two high school students into believing it was evidence. The elected Democrat explains that he saw “the impact of disinformation in the real world” and how “it influences the way people vote”, or pushes them to overthrow democracy.

Urgent question for associations

The law does not convince everyone. The Hoover Institution, a conservative research center, is already wondering whether teachers really have the legitimacy to speak about disinformation, when many adults are also victims. Another criticism: is there a need for a law to teach what is ultimately only a form of critical thinking? Yet this is what we expect from school, in addition to learning to read, write and count.

California is not the only state to have legislated on the subject. Illinois, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Delaware have implemented similar measures. According to the Media Literacy Now association, 18 states, out of the 50 that make up the Union, have looked into the issue. Media Literacy Now alerts local legislatures about the importance of training children about misinformation. The American Psychological Association has joined this warning, especially to prepare young people for the multiple risks posed by social networks. In California, the law does not provide a budget for teacher training or the incorporation of librarians into the curriculum. This is not a problem, they say on the legislator’s side, these are details that elected officials can adjust. The priority was to have the text ready quickly to train the students without delay.