Roy S. Whitehurst is a former CIA analyst and instructor. He spent 30+ years evaluating written information, photos, videos, and other media collected by the CIA and taught media literacy skills to new CIA analysts.

He’s the author of Teaching Media Literacy with Social Media News: Practical Techniques for Middle and High School Classrooms.

We talk about:

• Some of the types of media to evaluate and what makes them challenging
• Velocity of information
• Disinformation, misinformation, malinformation
• Evaluation skills
• Is media literacy scalable?
• Do people want to be informed?
• What makes Roy optimistic and pessimistic

Get Teaching Media Literacy with Social Media News from Routledge.

About the guest

Roy S. Whitehurst is a former CIA analyst and instructor. He spent 30+ years evaluating written information, photos, videos, and other media collected by the CIA and taught media literacy skills to new CIA analysts.

Roy argues that anyone—not just CIA analysts—can learn how to evaluate the accuracy, credibility, logic, and argumentation of posts on social media. He believes that these skills are critical for us to engage in civic discourse and build a stronger democracy.

He maintains a website, www.medialiteracysleuth.com, where he periodically posts evaluations of social media, including trending pop culture media and media appropriate for use in civics, ELA, and social studies curricula.

About the host

Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Bluesky or LinkedIn

I also host Sideline Sessions, a podcast for coaches and parents of student-athletes. The show features conversations with coaches and performance experts in the NFL, NBA, NCAA, Olympics, and more. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3Rp0QGt