News Repetition; Brain Frames to Understand News

The news repeats same stories again and again, and typically the stories repeated are stories that are salacious and sensational. This repetition can confuse people with regard to how often events like that happen--people can become confused about the statistical truth of events when stories are repeated again and again. That's why we all have a responsibility to look behind the story at the stats to understand the severity of the story and how this story fits into the context of our times past, present, and future.

How can we make good change related to this?

We can begin to demand that stats become part of the story. For example with the horrible beheading story that's in the Massachusetts news this week, the stats could be included as to how often something this horrible happens and where that happens. The historical perspective could be added too. For example, stories could add how often events like that happened in the past and now, with speculation about why the change in stats over time.

The news needs to grow up, get better, and include a more holistic view of stories that include geography, stats, trends past and present, and more. Also people have to become better consumers of the news. As educators we have to teach students the brain frames they need to read, hear, and understand the news with accuracy and depth. Students need to address news stories with questions like these:

• Where did it happen?
• What is the frequency of the event past, present, and into the future?
• Is the story accurate? How can I research that?
• Does this story matter with respect to my life, my community, my world? Why or why not?

I know there are multiple resources out there to help educators do this. This is a critical need in our culture today.