Civic Empowerment Series: An Introduction to News Media Literacy (Hybrid)

Our media ecosystem today is increasingly messy, with a mix of professionally produced and user-generated content that often blurs together on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. The rapid rise of artificial intelligence has added yet another layer of complexity, making it even easier for misleading or fabricated material to appear credible. In this session, Dr. Michael A. Spikes, of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, explores how this blending of sources—and now AI-generated material—creates a “blurring of the lines” between types of content, making it harder to know what to trust. Leave the workshop with practical skills for assessing the credibility of information from different outlets and strategies for building a set of reliable sources you can return to regularly.

The Civic Empowerment Series 2026 is brought to you in partnership with Skokie Public Library, Vernon Area Public Library, Blue Island Public Library, Highland Park Public Library, Aurora Public Library District, La Grange Public Library, Fox River Valley Public Library, Algonquin Area Public Library District, and Oak Park Public Library. 

You can choose to attend this program in-person or watch online on Zoom. Please indicate your preference when registering. After registering, you receive a link to the Zoom webinar at least three hours before the program. If the event is full, or if you prefer, you can watch the live stream on YouTube.com/@SchaumLib. A recording of this program is available at YouTube.com/@SchaumLib approximately 24 hours after the program is completed