Teaching Information Documentation in a “Post-truth” World: A Challenge for a Critical Education

Abstract

AbstractProtest movements or more recently the first post-truth pandemic Covid-19 have brought to the fore, in a context of information profusion, the issues of misinformation, alternative facts and fake news. At a time when people have less confidence in the media and institutions, when there is easy access to all kinds of content and a strong emphasis on storytelling and emotions, teaching information-documentation is a challenge for teachers and teacher librarians concerned with these issues. Therefore, information culture needs to be reconsidered in a broader and stronger sense. How do teacher librarians and teachers deal with Information and Media Education in a so-called post-truth world? We present the context of our study, and define information disorder and fake news, and then question how a critical education can be implemented, its potential and limitations. We rely on data collected over time (2018–20) in two middle and two high schools, in France.KeywordsInformation cultureFake newsInformation disorderPost-truth worldCritical information educationInformed citizen