WACO, Texas (KXXV) — In an age where artificial intelligence can create convincing fake news in seconds, Waco Independent School District students are learning essential skills to separate fact from fiction. One local video production class has students mastering the art of news literacy—and discovering why critical thinking matters more than ever.
- News literacy education: Waco ISD video production students learn to distinguish real news from misinformation through hands-on newscast creation.
- Critical thinking approach: Students are taught to pause when headlines trigger strong emotions and verify information through multiple reputable sources.
- AI detection skills: Students learn to identify artificial intelligence-generated content by recognizing visual cues like overly smooth appearances and low resolution.
- Ethical journalism standards: The class maintains integrity by avoiding AI-generated content in their own news production while developing skills to spot it elsewhere
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Students at Waco Independent School District are learning critical skills to distinguish authentic news from misinformation in an era where artificial intelligence can quickly generate false content online.
Will Burney leads video production classes at Waco ISD, where he teaches students the fundamentals of news literacy through weekly newscasts. His students are learning that credible journalism requires human verification and multiple source checking.
"News isn't just made up, we don't just decide off the top of our heads, we're going to write down whatever we feel like, the news stories that you read and hear and put together by real people, not AI, people," Burney said.
The instructor emphasizes the importance of emotional awareness when consuming news content.
"First thing I always tell students is when you read a headline and your first reaction is to get angry or to be like, oh, I know, I know this, we knew this, to sort of take a step back. Someone's usually writing headlines in order to get that reaction out of you. So the first thing to do is take a step back and then you're going to want to double check those sources. Can I find this somewhere else that's reputable?" Burney said.
The students maintain ethical standards in their own news production by avoiding AI-generated content entirely.
"Having AI write that wouldn't be very ethical in our opinion," Burney said.
However, Burney teaches his students to identify AI-generated content by looking for specific visual cues.
"A lot of times, things look a little more smooth than real life does, you know, or, um, you know, sometimes the resolution is really small because AI makes, it can't make a big, you know, 4K video, a lot of times," Burney said.
The news literacy education comes at a crucial time when young people primarily consume information through social media platforms.
"A lot of these kids aren't into news like they used to be," Burney said.
Burney believes developing critical thinking skills will help students navigate an increasingly complex media landscape.
"They're scrolling social media and just seeing what comes at them and this is the first time that they've had to be selective and ask questions and think critically about their community," Burney said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
