Photo: Jodie Jackson
Jodie Jackson, a mother of three in the UK, feels strongly that young people need skills to not only be able to spot fake news, but also to understand how to balance its overwhelming negativity. Despite spending over a decade researching how the negativity bias in the news affects our mental and societal health, she felt unequipped to “be an effective mediator” between her children and the information they are exposed to. She wrote a children’s book and started creating resources for parents and teachers; this led to her creating the News Literacy Lab, a nonprofit that highlights the impact of solutions journalism. Hope is also a critical component of Jackson’s work; it was one of the biggest themes that emerged from students engaging with solutions journalism. Research shows that hope is a critical ingredient for civic engagement and that it has a profound impact on driving positive social change. “This is because people who believe the future can get better tend to more competently engage with negative information,” the article says. "Without hope, we won’t actively pursue the positive changes we want to see in our lives and world" Jackson said.
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