
Reading News Online
Common Sense Education
2 mins 16 secs
Ages 5 - 10

This video provides guidance on how to navigate online news articles effectively. It highlights the importance of verifying URLs, understanding headlines, distinguishing between factual and opinion pieces, and being cautious of misleading images and advertisements.
Knowing what's going on in the world is awesome, but reading the news online can be tricky. What you see can be distracting, confusing, or even completely false. So, if you're reading a news article online, it's important to know your way around. The URL is a one-of-a-kind address for every webpage. Always double-check to make sure you're actually on the page you're looking for. Headlines tell us what the story is all about, but sometimes they can exaggerate or say something different from the article to get you to click on them. Most news sites have different sections to tell you what type of article you are reading. If you want the facts, just be sure you're not on an opinion article. The byline is the writer's name, and the date is when it was published. No byline? No date? The article might not be trustworthy. Images or videos help introduce the story and show details that words can't, but pictures that seem too crazy to be true or ads before a video could be misleading. Related articles can be useful, but keep an eye out for pieces that don't report just the news. Sponsored content is links to things on other websites, but watch out for clickbait. Don't let shocking headlines or wild images trick you into clicking. Advertisements link to other websites that are usually selling something, but some ads are disguised to look like news. The comments section has thoughts and opinions from readers, but remember that anyone can post just about anything there, even if it's mean or completely untrue. It's a lot to keep in mind, but if you know what to look for and what to look out for, you'll be the first to get the story.