Helping young students cope with the threat of fake news: efficacy of news literacy training for junior-secondary school students in Hong Kong

As fake news proliferates, the urgency to educate young students in news literacy grows. Research indicates that while young adolescent students recognize the detrimental impact that fake news has on society, they lack the knowledge and motivation to combat it. We conducted news literacy training with 101 Hong Kong students (aged 11 to 14) evaluating their news literacy, susceptibility to fake news, perceived responsibility, as well as motivation to engage in protective behaviours. The training significantly enhanced participants’ news media knowledge, perceived control, and reduced their vulnerability to fake news. Participants became more motivated to report fake news, warn others, suggest alternative sources, and manage preferences to filter our problematic news sources. Participants also demonstrated an improved ability to evaluate the credibility of a real-world news article. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the training for this age group and suggest its potential for implementation in junior secondary-school classrooms.