Special Edition: Teens, Trust & Truth - New Data on News Literacy

The NewsWorthy

Erica Mandy

News, Daily News, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A new national survey shows many teens don't trust the news. It found, for example, many underestimate how often journalists follow ethical standards and overestimate how often newsrooms make things up.

Today's guest is Peter Adams from the News Literacy Project. He explains what the data really shows, why young people may be so skeptical, and how to tell credible reporting from everything else online.

We also talk about AI's impact on the information landscape, and why recognizing good journalism matters just as much as spotting misleading content.

Plus: what gives him hope about Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and what all of us can do to help strengthen trustworthy news in our communities.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today is Saturday, November 8th. Here on The Newsworthy, we try to help you navigate the overload
0:04.5	of news there is every day. We use our journalistic backgrounds and pull from a variety of credible
0:09.5	sources for each story. But I'm guessing you still feel bombarded by all the noise and information
0:14.9	around you sometimes. And especially for teens, it's not always easy to figure out what's real,
0:20.3	honest and fair, and what's real, honest, and fair, and
0:21.7	what's fake, malicious, or biased. In fact, this week, a new survey is raising some alarm bells
0:26.6	about how teens view the news and how that might make them more susceptible to misinformation
0:31.3	and conspiracy theories. The News Literacy Project found many teens don't have a clear idea
0:36.6	of how true journalism works on a daily basis and who they can trust.
0:41.1	So today, our guest is the Senior Vice President of Research and Design at the News Literacy Project, Peter Adams.
0:46.3	He oversees the curriculum, research, and programs related to helping people identify credible information.
0:52.2	Today, he's helping to break down what this new data tells us
0:55.0	about teens, trust, and the future of news. Welcome, welcome to The Newsworthy Special Edition
1:02.8	Saturday, when we sit down with a different expert or celebrity every Saturday to talk about
1:06.7	something in the news. Don't forget to tune in every Monday through Friday for our regular episodes
1:11.0	where we provide all the day's news in 10 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. It's now time for today's
1:15.9	special edition Saturday. Peter Adams, thank you so much for joining us here on The Newsworthy.
1:23.0	Thanks so much for having me. Let's just start with the headline findings from this latest survey
1:26.9	about how teens are viewing
1:29.0	the news and their overall level of news and media literacy.
1:32.4	I think it revealed some challenges, right, and some misconceptions in the way that the
1:37.3	press does or doesn't operate.
	...

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