Breaking the News: What's Real, What's Not, and Why the Difference Matters

by Robin Terry Brown

Overview

In this timely and relevant title, National Geographic Kids shines a light on the history of news to reveal where we started, how far we've come, and the serious impact that misinterpretation and misinformation can have on the world.

Headlines leap out at us from mobile phones, TV screens, computers, newspapers, and everywhere we turn. Technology has opened up exciting new ways to tell interesting stories, but how much of it is news ... and how much is just noise? This refreshing and up-to-date media literacy book gives kids the tools they need to distinguish what is fact from what is fiction so that they can make smart choices about what to believe.

Topics cover a broad range, from defining freedom of speech, the journalists' code of ethics, the dangers of propaganda, and the future of news.

Packed with profiles of influential journalists, fun facts, and iconic photographs, this ultimate guide to the information age will get kids thinking about their relationship and responsibility to media.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426338885
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	225,237
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

ROBIN TERRY-BROWN graduated from the master's program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a passion for writing, editing, and getting the facts straight. She carried this passion throughout her 17-year career as a senior editor with National Geographic. Terry-Brown currently lives with her husband in northern Virginia, where she works as a writer, editor, and truth-seeker.

SUSAN GOLDBERG, contributor, is an award-winning journalist, editorial director of National Geographic Partners, and editor in chief of National Geographic magazine. Prior to National Geographic, Goldberg was an executive editor at Bloomberg News in Washington, D.C. She has also held posts at several news organizations, including The Plain Dealer, San Jose Mercury News, USA Today, the Detroit Free Press, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In 2017, Washingtonian magazine named Goldberg one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful women.

Editorial Reviews

Starred Review. [Breaking the News] provides a sharp-looking survey that examines the history of news-how it began, how it evolved, and what consumers of all ages must consider before accepting a truth as the truth. Cool bits of history, funny hoaxes, and the scary reality of propaganda are packed in simple bites easy to absorb. Excellent design and a clear narrative help readers navigate the vast and fast-changing concept of news.—Kirkus

Robin Terry Brown’s “Breaking the News,” written in consultation with several journalism luminaries, is laid out the way magazines used to be, with captivating images, bite-size fact-filled blurbs and intuitive design. “Breaking the News” urges young people to leave their social media feeds and “read reliable news and information from many different sources.”—The New York Times

From the Publisher

11/01/2020

Gr 6–9—News literacy is an important skill; students can find it difficult to gauge "fake news" and misinformation. Terry-Brown expertly breaks down why real news matters and how to become a more discerning consumer. The text describes the principles of journalism, why those principles matter, and how readers can use them to assess the validity of the information. Readers learn how to spot fake photos, bogus websites, and biased opinions. Propaganda and its historical uses are explained. Think viral hoaxes are a new thing? Not at all—several historical hoaxes that fooled many are detailed. Terry-Brown spends much (valuable) time showing readers how to evaluate sources, especially emphasizing the necessity of cross-checking information with multiple reputable sources. The information and back matter are rock-solid. However, the interior layout is busy. Photos, drawings, text boxes, off-set text, and multiple other distractions clutter the pages. VERDICT An excellent tool for teachers and librarians to use to explore the idea of information and media literacy. It's very unlikely that a middle schooler would pick up this title for an independent read, but every student (and adult) should know the principles within.—Lisa Crandall, formerly at the Capital Area Dist. Lib., Holt, MI

School Library Journal

★ 2020-07-28
The press: a great and powerful tool that preceded strokes of the pen and became mightier than any sword.

With color-coded info boxes and brightly colored pages, Terry-Brown provides a sharp-looking survey that examines the history of news—how it began, how it evolved, and what consumers of all ages must consider before accepting a truth as the truth. Cool bits of history, funny hoaxes, and the scary reality of propaganda are packed in simple bites easy to absorb. For example, Terry-Brown reminds readers that back in ancient Rome, people gathered in town squares to learn the latest news, and gossip was widely accepted as fact. Compare that to the present day, 2,000 years hence, when the internet has become an accepted source of news and information, turning into the digital age’s answer to the ancient town square. The author walks readers through the panorama of newsgathering, showing its evolution from spoken news to scribes providing written reports and then how Johannes Gutenberg put the scribes out of business. Later, radio and television made global news instant. One of the more fascinating and timely sections shows how the growing popularity and availability of televisions in the 1950s and ’60s aided in the civil rights movement’s call for justice for people of color.

Excellent design and a clear narrative help readers navigate the vast and fast-changing concept of news. (timeline, glossary, sources, resources, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews