This is the time of year to pull out those recipes that have been sitting in well-worn binders and folders for the past 12 months.
In my house, the best recipes are usually loose pages printed long ago, interspersed with ingredients I’ve been cooking for years, and annotated with tips for improving results or satisfying specific tastes. .
One of my family members is a new doctor in his first year of residency. Last week, as they finished their final rotation in Everett, they joined my daughter and I for a morning of tealing baking time. This is a Christmas candy that has a long tradition in every family, going back at least several generations. My family recipes are scrawled with years of trial and error and notes of delicious victories, including the word “NO” I wrote in all caps next to the step to add the powdered sugar frosting years ago. I did.
Despite warnings that no frosting was needed, one of the two tea rings we made ended up with a white sugary substance that looked like a cinnamon roll in the shape of a wreath. It turned out to be a sweet baked confectionery, and I took it home with my doctor. An apartment in Seattle shared with a friend. They were very happy and happy to know that their family recipe was transformed once again.
I think the whole point of a recipe is to make something good. The best way to do that is to share them.
I have a favorite recipe and would like to share it with you. I hope it becomes a tradition in your family (if it isn’t already). This is a recipe for increasing news literacy. It may not sound very tasty, but it is incredibly delicious. News literacy is the ability to judge the reliability of news and other information and to recognize fact-based journalistic standards to know what to trust, share, and act on.
It’s so important to be able to find real journalism and understand how much we need it every day. So I hope you try this recipe and pass it on to the next generation, especially if you want to foster healthier communities and stronger democracies. Because that’s what local journalism can do.
This recipe includes five basic steps to help you determine if a source is legitimate, and the source is: News Literacy Projecta leading provider of nonpartisan education on the news.
Recipe for “Is it legal?”
Step 1: Perform a simple search. Perform a simple search beyond social media for information about news sources.
Step 2: Find the standard. Reputable news organizations strive for ethical guidelines and standards, including fairness, accuracy, and independence.
Step 3: Check transparency. Quality news sources should be transparent not only about their reporting practices but also about their ownership and funding.
Step 4: Find out how errors are handled. Look for evidence that the source takes responsibility for the mistake and is correcting or clarifying the mistake.
Step 5: Evaluate news coverage. Take the time to read and evaluate several articles to determine whether the report is original, from another source, or just an opinion.
Details for each step can be found at the following URL: newslit.org/tips-tools/is-it-legit-five-steps-for-vetting-a-news-source. Please take the quiz!
The great thing about media literacy is that you can share that recipe in a variety of ways, in bite-sized pieces.
For example, if you have a lot of people on your holiday gift list, especially young students in Snohomish County, consider giving them the gift of a Daily Herald subscription (either a digital subscription or a print subscription with digital access). That way, your loved ones, friends, neighbors and colleagues can learn about and experience local journalism. Talk to them regularly about what they read in the Herald and how they use that information. Ask them what they are reading and how they know what to trust.
Another good thing to remember about sharing media literacy is that it’s never too early to start helping others learn recipes. One morning this week, I was talking to my almost 3-year-old granddaughter about the weather outside, with a thick fog covering the yard. I said it was foggy. She objected because she is only 2 years old. And I said, “It’s an indisputable fact that it’s foggy.” Granted, “undisputed” probably wasn’t the best word choice for communicating with a toddler, but I think she understood that facts mattered.
We hope you enjoy reading “Is It Legit?” recipe. Have fun and come up with great ways to share it for the good of our community and democracy.
We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a new year full of trusted local news.
Brenda Mann Harrison is the Daily Herald’s director of journalism development. To learn more about the impact of Local Her News and how you can join others in supporting community Her journalism, please visit: Email heraldnet.com/local-news-impact, brenda.harrison@heraldnet.com or call 425-339-3452. The Daily Herald maintains editorial control over content created through community-funded efforts.