and white house cleanup efforts, which is not to say that president biden's missteps are meani meaningless, they do matter, but do they matter as much as pocketbook issues? this brand-new nbc poll shows what matters most, only 22% of americans saying the country is on the right track. many feeling the pinch of inflation, one of the pollsters described america as divided, doubting democracy and tuning out. that last part is really interesting, tuning out. quoted nbc, interesting in the upcoming november midterms is down, not up. people aren't paying attention to what might happen ten months from now. they're tired, demoralized, some are just tuning out the news. with that in mind what was the most surprising story this week? well, i would nominate the successful launch of the government's website for ordering free covid tests. it's surprising partly because it took so long, two years into the pandemic now they're finally doing it and it's coming after the latest surge in many major cities, probably too late in some ways, but still it launched and actually worked. at one point the website had 700,000 people on it at the same time and it still worked. it actually functioned. it was easy. people were shocked that the government system worked. some folks say they've already received their test kits in the mail, a lot more on the way. i submit to you this is actually big news because the background news is the government's tech trouble and bureaucracy and history of failed launches. i mean, the fail care.gov debacle is literally a harvard business school case study in what not to do. i thought the same thing might happen this time. i think maybe you thought it would go wrong as well. the site is refreshingly easy to use. as bach said there is a lesson here more broadly about making government work, about making it simple, about not making people fill out paperwork and showing up in person. just make it easy and it will work and people will notice, but if it doesn't get pointed out by the press, if it doesn't get noticed, if it doesn't get -- if it doesn't become news according to news rooms, then does the administration receive any credit? and do people feel like things are getting better? it always feels the feds and to some degree the media are always caught up in the last war, the winter covid surge is already waning in many parts of the u.s., the free tests will show up in the mail after they were most needed for some americans. what's the next big story? how can we try to get ahead instead of always being behind? well, walter shapiro raises an interesting point, he says it's foolish to break the midterms until we know covid's future. we have no idea whether the pandemic will be raging or waning thus it's foolish to make midterm elections. we need to focus on the here and now, what the story is today and make sure we also notice when things actually do work. at a time when there's so much doom and gloom, let's make sure the news coverage acknowledges when things go right. with me in new york catherine rampell and cnn's oliver darcy. welcome to you both. we talked a lot about bad news bias and i think this is one of those examples. when the website actually works, not much attention, everybody kind of just moves on. if it had crashed, oliver, can you imagine we would be in wall to wall coverage. >> there is a negativity bias when it comes to the press. we are always focused on what did not work, what's going on wrong and that's not to say we shouldn't focus on those things, but it's important when something does go right, when covid cases are down, things are on the upswing we reflect that and give people an accurate portrayal of what's going on in the country. >> a lot of this relates to the economy. do the doom and gloom perceptions, do they match reality? >> it's interesting. if you look at the consumer confidence, consumer spending surveys republicans in particular are as negative on the economy today as they were during the deepest darkest depths of the financial crisis. obviously things are much better today than they were then. we have 3.9% unemployment, way lower than had been predicted a year ago. on key metrics the economy is doing quite well. of course there's that big but, but inflation, and that's what gets all of the outsized attention. i'm not suggesting that people don't care about that is correct the fact that it's pinching people's pocketbooks, their cost of living is going up, living standards might be declining, inflation is outpacing wages, that's obviously very, very important, but not to the extent that it crowds out all of the other positive news that we have gotten on the economy in many cases exceeding expectations. >> i was having this debate with oliver off camera, i was saying when i go to the grocery store and there are empty shelves as there were last weekend i notice it immediately, it's a big deal to me and my family, it's noticeable. this weekend, things back to normal. we get these stories, we go from crisis to crisis, perceived crisis, where the biden administration has to respond to every crisis and then there's very little follow-up to say, oh, yeah, do you know what, pork and chicken are back on the shelves. >> there are other crisis, too, that aren't receiving much coverage like in the mainstream press. the chip shortage is a huge issue affecting a lot of people, people can't buy electronics, can't buy cars, it's a big issue and you are not seeing a ton of coverage on cable news or elsewhere on issues like that. instead it's focused on, you know, ukraine or gaffes from the white house or things that might not really affect the every day lives or at least people might not assume that they do. >> still important, but i just think, you know, here is what's also important, you wrote about the expanded child tax credit which has helped millions of family but has now, what, expired. >> the monthly payments stopped in december, which they were always scheduled to do, this was supposed to be a temporary program that was put in place by the american rescue plan, that's the big fiscal stimulus passed last march. there had been an expectation of course that it would be so popular democrats would be -- would expand -- excuse me, extend it and that that would be done through build back better which has obviously stalled. but, you know, to a lot of press coverage it sounds like, oh, this is just kind of the daily -- >> build back better slogan, what does it mean. >> daily bickering among democrats and it's sort of cast as this personality battle when, in fact, it has a huge impact on people's lives. that particular tax credit took nearly 4 million kids out of poverty in december. biden bragged about it in his recent press conference. of course, those nearly 4 million people probably are falling back into poverty this month precisely because this bill hasn't passed. those kinds of stakes, i think, need to underpinna lot of the media coverage about this. >> right. >> that it's not just about this infighting among democrats, it actually affects people's real lives, their ability to feed and clothe their kids. >> right. there are real challenges, but then if we go to the fox-uverse, let's take a look at the manual end drama that fox news presents every day. let's do the scroll. these are just some examples of the banners on fox news in the past few days. you get the sense that america has gone to head, declining quality of life, america has an apocalyptic hell scape, that was one of the actual danners. this is a banner that's anti-biden, also anti-democrats who run urban areas and it goes on and on every hour. i wanted to give a sampling. the biden administration is a clown car driving off a clip. that's the great example of the incendiary rhetoric that you would have never seen from another channel during the trump or biden years. oliver, you wrote about this this week, it felt like fox went up another notch when it came to how they described crime and, yes, there is a crime problem, but the way it's described on fox, you would be afraid to leave your house. >> two points, brian, one, as fox is describing these cities as apocalyptic hell scapes their executives announced they will be holding two major events one in new york city and one in los angeles over the next few months. that's one. the executives obviously don't believe what they're selling to their audience. two, like you said, theres a crumb of truth to what they're saying. >> there always is. >> violent crime is on the rise. >> by some metrics, in some ways. there are also very scary specific stories that get a lot of attention. >> i think of it as an instagram filter, you start with a real image and take the filter and pump it up 1,000% and what you're left with is dis port distorted. it started as an accurate portrayal but the end result is totally different and i think that's what fox's coverage with crime really s yes, there is an issue in some places, but what they're presenting to viewers is not accurate. >> instagram filter, that's the perfect way to describe it. catherine, when we talk about polls showing most americans think the country is on the wrong track, most americans are filled with doom and gloom, we need to link it back to the media coverage. >> obviously they're getting that messaging from the media they consume. that's a set of headlines that you just scrolled through, i could feel my blood pressure rising. that's the goal, right? the goal of this kind of coverage is to freak people out, to cause them to live in fear. ironically a lot of the fear mongering is about the things that are not actually mortal threats and then there is ignoring the things that are mortal threats, you know, covid isn't real and climate change isn't real. i would argue that to me anyway those things are a little scarier or have been scarier at various points in the past couple years. it's about the immigrant hoards and senile president and critical race theory brain washing your kids, things that are if not exaggerated invented out of whole cloth. >> thank you both. coming up this hour, is this the dawn of a new era for journalism's old guard, why one unlikely source is optimistic about that. sarah palin about to get her day in court against "the new york times." jeffrey to be.is here to explain why this case could affect everyone. i am here because they revolutionized immunotherapy. i am here because they saw how cancer adapts to different oxygen levels and starved it. i am here because they switched off egfr gene mutation and stopped the growth of tumor cells. there's a place that's making one advanced cancer discovery after another for 75 years. i am here... i am here.... because of dana-farber. what we do here changes lives everywhere. i am here. hello, how can i? sore throat pain? ♪honey lemon♪ try vicks vapocool drops in honey lemon chill for fast acting sore throat relief ♪ahhh!♪ wooo! 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"new york times" v. sullivan is a landmark 1964 supreme court case protecting press freedom. the court set a legal standard that makes it very hard for public figures to sue for defamation and win. if you are a politician or celebrity and you feel wronged by a news outlet, you have to prove they said something false and you have to prove that they had, quote, actual malice. meaning that they did it on purpose or that they recklessly disregarded the truth. that's a high bar. some conservatives think the bar is set too high and they've been trying to chip away at it, trying to get it lowered. that's the context for this new case. sarah palin versus "the new york times." it's a doozy of a media battle and it all started kind of back in 2010 when palin's political operation made a map showing blue congressional issues and cross hairs. when gabby giffords was nearly killed in 2011 critics brought up that map but there was never any known link between the map and massacre. the tooils editorial page got it wrong in 2017. seemingly connecting dots that did not connect. the "times" ran a correction but palin sued, alleging defamation. normally these kinds of cases get thrown out, partly because of the "times" v. sullivan standard being so high, but in this case maybe palin's lawyers can prove actual malice. jury selection begins monday and jeffrey toobin is here to preview the case. thanks for coming on. it seems like it's heading to court. is there any chance of a settlement before this thing actually goes to trial? >> there's always a chance but it seems very remote in this circumstance. both sides seem determined to push this through the actual process. >> and do you believe the agenda for palin's lawyers is bigger than just proving defamation and getting a financial settlement? is it about trying to make it easier for other politicians to sue the press and win? >> absolutely. i think it's both. i mean, i really do think they want to make some money here and this was a clear mistake by "the new york times," but, you know, the sullivan standard has been a target for conservatives for quite some time and there's a lot of momentum behind it now. in a separate opinion justice clarence thomas joined by justice neil gorsuch said it was time to revisit the standard. so the idea is out there and with six supreme court conservatives you don't know that the rules are going to remain the way they are. they may actually change. >> but first in this case palin has to win. what i've seen in the court documents so far, the depositions with "new york times" editors, we see a lot of sloppiness, some crew ups by the editor at the time james bennett inserting language that's wrong but the next day we see a really freaked out editors and writers who are sorry, who regret it, who want to fix it. they never apologized to palin but internally you could tell there was a sense of embarrassment, they wanted to correct trecord. >> that's what this trial is b under conventional standards it does seem likely that the "new york times" is going to win this case. as you pointed out in your introduction this will be a case about reckless disregard for the truth. did the "times" behave recklessly? they made a mistake, but what they did as soon as they realized this mistake is they corrected t what the whole "times" idea, the whole sullivan case is about the idea that we want robust debate about public interest -- public issues in this country. we want -- you know, people not to be worried about going out of business if they make a single mistake. so we want to make room for exaggeration, for each mistakes. that's what the "times" standard is about, but, you know, we don't know if the "times" standard will survive. under the "times" standard by "the new york times," i mean "the new york times" versus sullivan standard, that case palin should lose this case, but the law may change and she may wind up winning. >> you think about "times" versus palin it's two americas. you have this mainstream institution versus kind of this anti-media figure. this is why it's going to be a doozy of a case. i'm sure it will be heavily covered by fox news but there could be a backfire effect, right? outlets like fox do rely on "times" v. sullivan. >> and they are relying on "times" v. sullivan in very big money cases right now. dominion voting systems, mart m smartmatic, the election machine companies that were repeatedly lied about on fox news after the election, repeatedly lied about over and over and they have sued fox for billions of lawyers. foxes lawyers understandably have said "new york times" versus sullivan protects us, we're supposed to cover robust debate. we will see whether -- i mean, i'm sure their lawyers will keep citing "new york times" against sullivan until it's overturned, but just depends -- >> and here is another story for you, npr facing a firestorm over what critics are calling a case about bad journalism. this hinges on one sentence in an article by nina totenberg. she reported chief justice john roberts in some form asked the other justices to mask up at work. asked them to mask up. justice sotomayor has legitimate health concerns, this is understandable, everyone did mask up except justice neil gorsuch that sits next to her. this seems to explain why sotomayor has been saying remote. gorsuch and sotomayor put out a statement denying any tensions. then roberts released a statement refuting the claim saying i did not request gorsuch or any other justice to wear a mask. npr's editor climbed in saying the story merited a clarification but not a correction. totenberg told "the daily beast" she doesn't care about what the public editor says. what is this about? this is about one word, the word ask and whether roberts asked everyone to wear masks or whether he, i don't know, i guess he could be suggested they wear masks. what do you think is really going on here? >> i think it's also about how opaque the supreme court is as an institution. congress has rules about whether you wear the mask, when to wear masks. the executive branch has rules. the supreme court doesn't tell us what its rules are. there is a mask mandate in the district of columbia. i don't understand why neil gorsuch wasn't wearing a mask especially as matter of courtesy, he could have worn one considering the medical condition of the woman who sits next to him. nina totenberg who in my experience is a terrifically good and reliable reporter, reported that, john roberts like any civilized boss made clear in some way that people should wear masks. it would be better, frankly, if the supreme court simply said this is our policy and like every other government institution had some measure of transparency, but they don't and that's why this crisis -- it's not a crisis, but this is why this controversy arose. >> right. right. definitely. jeffrey toobin, thank you so much. >> all right, brian. when we come back the one and only bob cast has is here to talk about the olympics and nbc's olympic sized hurdle heading into beijing. a circle that includes our researchers, driven by our award-winning science, who uncover new medicines to treat mental illness. it includes the compassionate healthcare professionals, the dedicated social workers, and the supportive peer counselors we work with to help improve - and even change - people's lives. moving from mental illness to mental wellness starts in our circle. this is intra-cellular therapies. wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitamin? 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how many restrictions will be in place in these are largely unknown -- largely unknowns. some journalists are taking precautions like bringing burner phones and laptops, the "washington post" described that this week. big media outlets have a lot on the line especially nbc universal given it's incredibly expensive contracts to broadcast the games, $12 billion through 2032. nbc has a lot on the line and there are already a lot of questions about how it's going to treat the host country. how it's going to talk about china. whether it's going to address human rights abuses and other matters. with me now legendary broadcaster bob costas, veteran of nbc, he has hosted 12 olympics. now you are with us here at hbo hosting "back on the record" on hbo. bob, i know you are asked about the nbc and you still have a lot of friends there. >> sure. >> what are you hearing about the unique challenges covering the beijing games? >> we should preface this by saying no one could have anticipated covid, no matter what the venue s but the ioc deserves all of the disdain and disgust that comes their way for going back to china yet again. they were in beijing in 2008, they go to sochi in 2014, they're shameless about this stuff. so this takes place not only amid covid, as did the tokyo games of a year ago, but as you mention, the restrictions on press freedom and the sense that everyone there is being monitored in some way. we had that feeling in 2008 in beijing, i think if anything it's been ramped up now, and any -- it isn't just nbc, any network that broadcasts big sports events is simultaneously in a position, it's quasi journalistic at best, you're reporting a news event and what surrounds it in the case of the olympics isn't just what's confined to one game in a stadium, you're reporting an event but you're also promoting the event. newspapers and cnn and whatever other outlets don't pay a rights fee to cover the white house or whatever they're covering. nbc pays a huge rights pheaa long with the production costs. they want people to watch it. it's a centerpiece of the entire network strategy at a time where everything is fractional liesed very few things draw huge audiences, the nfl does, the super bowl, the olympics do, they're part of a strategy as you mentioned generally speaking nightly news would be there, the "today" show would be there, it's almost 24/7 olympic stuff, you promote your other upcoming programs. all of that is diminished, it's not gone, but it's diminished under these circumstances. >> and these circumstances so many of them are out of nbc's control as you're saying. >> of course. >> is there anything they can control? they said this week we will acknowledge the geopolitical context of these games. is that a gentle way of saying we're going to mention what's going on with human rights abuses, but we're going to move on quickly? >> my guess would be and i have no inside information here and i want to stipulate my great respect for the job that my colleagues have done and undoubtedly will do under these difficult circumstances but i would anticipate that what we will do is the very thing that you have suggested, they will acknowledge the issues at the beginning and address them only if something specific that cannot be ignored happens during the course of the games, which very well could happen. they're also up against it because of this, the late great jim mckay said to me when i had begun hosting the olympics, remember, yes, it's a sports event but it's a cultural panorama, a travel log. nbc has no ability to take people around china, to have people share in the emotion of cheering crowds and family. all of that is reduced. >> right. >> even though people are used to sports events in some cases being broadcast remotely because covid imposed that, and they will be able to do a decent enough job from stanford, connecticut, with 90% of their coverage coming from there, but still the announcers and the producers will not have the feel of the event. they don't have the personal contact with the people involved and they won't be able to say, as jim was able to say, as i was able to say through all those olympics, i travel around australia, i went to the great wall of china. >> right. >> give people some sense of what it feels to be at an event that's so large in its scope. that is just greatly reduced. >> have you ever seen a games like this where democracy versus autocracy were competing political visions are so at the forefront? i mean, to some degree it's always a subtext when these games travel around the world but it feels much more vivid this time. >> it was there as a subsecretary t. ekt in 2008 and i tried as best i could to address t it was there in sochi in 2013 and i did address t we did pretty directly. now ng there's just a greater understanding of everything that china represents, how given obviously there are other great abusers of human rights around the world, but given china's size, influence and resources you could make a very good case, human watch -- human watch -- human rights watch. >> human rights watch. >> that's what i'm searching for. they have said it's very high on the list of the worst human rights abusers, when you consider its size and influence it may rank first on that list. >> right. >> people are more aware of it now than they were. it's almost impossible to paper it over. >> and we don't know what athletes will say or do, that's the x factor for nbc. >> the ioc makes it a policy that they don't approve of political statements during an olympics. that genie is going to be out of the bottle to a certain extent. has to be. >> bob, thanks for being here and previewing this for us. >> good to see you. coming up, inside "politico's" newsroom with founding editor john harris. he has a warning for news rooms. >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ hello, how can i? sore throat pain? ♪honey lemon♪ try vicks vapocool drops in honey lemon chill for fast acting sore throat relief ♪ahhh!♪ wooo! vaporize sore throat pain with if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech. for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market events. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. have you ever sat here and wondered: "couldn't i do this from home?" with letsgetchecked, you can. it's virtual care with home health testing and more. all from the comfort of... here. letsgetchecked. care can be this good. if you have this... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and let you see any doctor. any specialist. anywhere in the u.s. who accepts medicare patients. so if you have this... consider adding this. call unitedhealthcare today for your free decision guide. ♪ (jackie) i've made progress with my mental health. so when i started having unintentional body movements called tardive dyskinesia... i ignored them. but when the twitching and jerking in my face and hands affected my day to day... i finally had to say, 'it's not ok.' it was time to talk to my doctor about austedo. she said that austedo helps reduce td movements in adults... while i continue with most of my mental health medications. 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(jackie) talk to your doctor about austedo...it's time to treat td. td is not ok. visit askforaustedo.com. do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? try nervivenerve relief from the world's #1 selling nerve care company. nervive contains alpha lipoic acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. try nervivenerve relief. today "politico" is celebrating 15 years as a news brand. founding editor john harris says the team at the time wanted to pull away from the voice of god tone of the news and try to be more personal and individual. well, since that shift we have seen incredible changes in the way the news agenda is set, in the way digital news has changed, the way we all consume information, but harris has some new thoughts about what needs to change now. he's out with a fascinating piece for "politico" magazine, he also writes the altitude column for plit toe. john, great to see you. >> brian, good morning. >> i think you've made a really interesting and important argument about the role of media institutions. you say media outlets need to take back more agenda-setting power. kind of sounds old fashioned to me, so make the case. >> well, when we started "politico" and a small group of co-founders and myself now 15 years ago we were placing the bet on the opposite, that this was the age of the individual, that an entrepreneurial spirit needed to come to journalism and the journalists having the most impact and fun weren't doing it because they were sniff of the "new york times," jones of the "washington post," you know, stelter of cnn, they were doing it on the strength of their own brand and creativity, that was the trend 15 years ago. my idea is is we need to push back on that trend. revived institutions and many of the important media institutions now are in much stronger shape than they were 15 years ago, institutions are the only ones who can train public attention on important subjects and keep it there. some writer on substack or twitter cannot do that. it's only institutions. by the way, financially successful institutions that can stand up to pressure from government, from corporations, from even their own advertisers, so i'm hoping that over the next 15 years not that we go back to the old days, i reject old fashioned, but that we can keep some of that entrepreneurial spirit and revive some of the agenda-setting power of institutions. i think democracy and the whole strength of our political culture depends on it. >> are you just a founder who built something successful and how you're pulling the ladder up from above? >> you know, it's a fair question, i have heard that from friends, including friends who are taking the example of plit toe and starting their own bubble cases. >> that's the thing, there's all these new startups, i could name a dozen that have launched in the past year or two that are trying to become the next "politico." >> brian, my view is life like a sign wave up and above. the media business at the time we launched 15 years was was in one of those troughs. we did have a good idea and it worked. now the media business is at the top of that sign wave and things are really flush. my guess is that some of those will work, my guess is that a rather small number of them will work. there's going to be a shake out. as it happens in certain parts of the media, you know, this is limited, doesn't solve the problems of local journalism around the country but in certain places, washington, new york, maybe some extent the entertainment industry the media is all of a sudden flush, it's prospering again in a way it wasn't 15 years ago. my guess is every tide that comes in eventually rolls out. as warren buffett said when the tide runs out you find out who is wearing swim trunks and who isn't. >> when i think about the power of institutions i think about election week 2020 how all the major networks and the ap all called the race and all told the truth that president biden was the president-elect. even fox told the truth in that important moment. you think about the future of media and politics, if we don't have institutions that do that work, that do the data analysis, that know what happened in the election, you know, then we would be in a much worse place as a country. by all means we need institutions to be defended so that there's some -- there's some third party that can call it like it is and tell the truth. >> well, you say that might be an old fashioned notion, hopefully it's also a new fashioned notion. we need to revive a public square in our culture, which is that we can agree on hard facts, on some common truths about what is and then as vigorous as we possibly can over what should be. at least we are having that argument over a body of common evidence and sort of generally recognized truth. >> right. you know, there's all this talk, including here on cnn, including a prime time show last week, this week, democracy in pearil. how to make it tangible. can i show you how to make it tangible. this is a brand-new headline out of turkey today, it is a turkish journalist who was detained and arrested after allegedly in insulting president erdogan in a tv interview. this person didn't even name erdogan, it brought up old turkish proverbs to criticize the turkish president and that landed that person behind bars. when we talk about democracy at peril this is what's at risk in united states. we have to take our rights for granted this is what's happening in other countries, arrested for assaulting the president. >> i couldn't agree more. we have to recognize that this tradition that we took for granted in our country as though something that always would be it actually needs to be defended, needs to be vindity dated, nourished, you can't take it nor granted, it may be more fragile want we think. that turkey example, for all the challenges we face in the united states and nobody likes to be screamed at at twitter and nobody likes to have a door slammed in her or his face, but our problems in the united states as journalists they pale so much to places around the world where journalists are being arrested, in some cases executeds, intimidated, families being threatened for the simple angt, the profound moral act of trying to tell the truth to an audience. i think that should make us humble and i think it should also recommit us to the work of journalism which can be done in brilliant ways by individuals but does fundamentally depend on strong courageous institutions to sustain itself for the long haul. >> john, thank you so much. happy 15th birthday to "politico." >> i sure appreciate t thank you. we're covering all the rest of the week's media news, microsoft bulking up on gaming. all of this our nightly "reliable sources" newsletter. reliablesources.com. coming up sean hannity a traitor to donald trump? 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get relief finally, with magnilife® leg and back pain relief. and get living. available at your local retailer. . on tv you hear a lot about class and occurricula and teachers, so let's hear about the misinformation of facts and fictions. let's go to new york where these lessons are being applied. students are learning how to spot fake images, and in some cases they're bringing lessons home for their families. here's what i learned. barbara king wants to arm this eighth grade class -- >> all right, so today's topic is misinformation -- >> with the tools they will need in the age of information saturation. >> we're going to talk about the various types of information. they're called satire, full content, imposter content, manipulated content and fabricated content. >> just imagine trying to make sense of all of this as a teenager. >> now we go to imposter content. what does imposter mean? >> someone trying to be someone else. >> someone trying to be someone else, right? you hear that in relation to imposter. it's usually using a name, brand or logo into fooling people to believe it's authauthentic. >> as the web becomes more of a wild west every day the students here in new york know they need these lessons. >> if they're looking at stuff that's just wrong and telling everyone that it's right and giving everyone false information. >> king began teaching this five years ago. why do you think you should teach this? >> i think it's a skill our students need. there is too much misinformation in the world, and i want to give them some tools to make sense of what they're seeing. >> it is a non-profit. these lessons are now learned by 39,000 educators. >> what do i mean by i want you to critically think of about you're seeing on the internet? >> the goal is to create savvy users. >> if there is a car on the highway and there's like a shark in the water. >> so we're looking at what type of social media? >> twitter. >> twitter. >> it's an infamous fake. one that gets reshared every time there's a hurricane. these students are sharing tips so they don't get fooled. >> there is a little picture of a camera and you can add the image in there. >> so ultimately news literacy is about something bigger, it's about critical thinking skills? >> correct. correct. >> how do you try to connect those dots? >> to me this is a real world problem, so it's very easy to bring that in when they start realizing i can utilize these skills in anything i do. >> after the class, students told me the lessons hit close to home. >> do any of you feel like you try to correct friends or family now based on what you've learned? >> yeah. >> really? >> like when covid first started, like my family thought that it was a hoax, but then i was like, this is real, people are dying and getting sick from it. i wanted to believe it was fake because i didn't want that to happen to me, but it was real and changed everyone's lives, honestly. >> you want to believe something, but you have to face reality head on. >> all these fake articles, maybe you want to believe it, but it's not true, and you have to research to see if it's really true or not. >> they also said their peers would benefit from this class. >> do you feel like every student needs to be learning news literacy? >> yes. >> check out the news literacy project at newslit.org. they do great work. my podcast is about illiteracy. after the break, what was sean hannity doing behind donald trump's back? we have answers. rts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ did you know that your fabrics trap more than just odors? 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sore throat pain? ♪honey lemon♪ try vicks vapocool drops in honey lemon chill for fast acting sore throat relief ♪ahhh!♪ wooo! vaporize sore throat pain with the house committee is telling damning stories. one of the stories is about sean hannity and donald trump. look at the stories we've heard so far. look at the one from december 20, 2021. he said, i'm worried about the next 48 hours before january 6. but he never voiced his concerns. he was staying one thing on the air, trying to predict trump's impulses, but off the air he was talking him up no matter what. look, 2020 was real! he has to keep talking about the fake election. it's as if he has no respect for trump and trump has no respect for hannity. trump has had to talk about the false election so much for the past year. they're not really friends at all. they seem to be stabbing each other in the back. we should notice how this relationship really works. we should explore this fake friendship and recognize it for what it really is. we're out of time here on tv. we'll see you back for more "reliable sources" this time next week. war or peace? president biden talks tough. >> russia will pay a heavy price. >> as a russian invasion of ukraine seems all the more likely, but is there a diplomatic solution to the crisis? i'll speak to secretary of state antony blinken and republican senator joni ernst next. and now what? after the president's priorities fall apart in the senate, democrats try to regroup. >> we get big chunks of the