Media and government

We found that teenagers have experienced frustration with the UK government this year.

They did not trust the government to make appropriate or transparent decisions for the public and felt their age group was being overlooked when decisions were made.

They also felt that news media mostly offered negative coverage of the pandemic and made them feel anxious.

Initial evidence shows that news about COVID-19 has included lots of scaremongering, and we know that this can induce high levels of public anxiety.

We can support teenagers in making sense of government decisions and promote their involvement in decisions that are being made about them.

There are also ways to support teenagers in managing their engagement with news media and to help them critically evaluate what they read and watch.

Resources

The resources below support the development of skills to help learners critically evaluate the information they read online and how to fact check sources of information.

• EAVI’s Beyond Fake News presents 10 types of misleading news.
• Shout Out UK has provided a guide on how to fact check information.
• The BBC has compiled lesson plans and resources to help students be critical with the information they read online and how to spot false news.
• The BBC released an article about the spread of viral misinformation about COVID-19.

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