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newsdecoder.bsky.social
News Decoder
@newsdecoder.bsky.social
Our mission is to build a better future with more informed, connected and empowered citizens through #StudentJournalism and youth-oriented journalism.

You'll find explainers, #SolutionsJournalism and #MediaLiteracy here.

🔗 https://news-decoder.com
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🗞️ Natasha Hu, MPH, explores the rationale and policy behind offering healthier, more sustainable food options across New York City's public institutions.

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Dishing out healthy food options kids will eat
Can schools entice young people to choose foods that are better for their health and the health of the planet?
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December 1, 2025 at 12:21 PM
🕙 If you want to succeed in journalism, and most other careers, you need to be able to meet deadlines. How hard can that be?

🗞️ Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner gives advice on how to set and meet your deadlines.

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When the clock ticks
To succeed in journalism, and most other careers, you need to be able to meet deadlines. How hard can that be?
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November 28, 2025 at 10:32 AM
🗞️ As we continue our Annual Giving Campaign, day four spotlights the partnerships that allow us to widen our global footprint, strengthen our work and help young people make sense of complex issues.

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A partnership across the Atlantic to inform the world
At the University of Toronto, people with specialized information become journalists and work with News Decoder to inform teens hungry for good inforamation.
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November 27, 2025 at 11:45 AM
🌎 Thanks to your support, News Decoder’s transformative learning experiences reach educators, classrooms and student worldwide.

🗞️ Learn more about our programs and how you can support the next generation of global citizens in today's article.

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With News Decoder, students explore their role in the world
Through storytelling, we challenge students to discover their connections to the world around them and to each other, whether across town or countries.
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November 26, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Our pool of professional #correspondents contribute their expertise, breaking down complex issues with clarity and depth for a #global audience.

Marcy Burstiner explores how they help bridge the “knowledge gap” and #connect with students worldwide.

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Can we close the "knowledge gap"?
Young people struggle to make sense of world events. That's where our correspondents come in. Experienced journalists and teens learning from each other
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November 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
🗞️ Marcy Burstiner speaks to News Decoder alumni to find out how the ND experience and the skills they developed with us impact their lives and careers beyond school.

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When young people ask big questions and seek answers
With News Decoder, young people not only question what is going on around them, they discover they've got peers across the globe asking similar questions.
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November 24, 2025 at 1:09 PM
We live in an age of misinformation. Here are ways you can make sure you aren’t part of the problem.

🗞️ Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner gives her advice on how to spot misinformation and make sure you’re not spreading falsehoods.

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Can you believe it? | News Decoder
We live in an age of misinformation. Here are ways you can make sure you aren't part of the problem.
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November 21, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Deepfakes and AI fuel disinformation that puts democracy at risk. How can we combat it?

🗞️ Correspondent Stuart Grudgings explores how deep fakes and artificial intelligence are being used to spread dangerous falsehoods in this week's Decoder Replay.

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Decoder Replay: Disinformation and the decline of democracy
Deepfakes and AI fuel disinformation that puts democracy at risk. How can we combat it?
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November 19, 2025 at 12:25 PM
🗞️ Climate Education Program Manager Amina McCauley unveils our new Empowering Youth through Environmental Storytelling (EYES) curriculum.

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Empowering youth through environmental storytelling
It will take the whole world to solve our climate crisis. Now educators have a roadmap for teaching young people about climate change and how to stop it.
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November 12, 2025 at 11:54 AM
🔥 When fire swept through Southern California, it left a trail of toxic waste in Los Angeles.

🗞️ Student reporter Paolo McCarrey explores the underreported issue of dealing toxic battery waste in the wake of environmental disasters.

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Are you storing toxic waste in your home or car?
When fires swept through Southern California, they left a trail of toxic waste in Los Angeles from such mundane possessions as vacuums, power tools and e-cars.
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November 11, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Correspondent Martin Langfield unpacks Bukele's dictatorship in El Salvador and the country's relationship with the United States.

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A warm rapport with the "world's coolest dictator"
The people of El Salvador, and Donald Trump, love Nayib Bukele's iron boot approach to fighting crime. But how long can a state of emergency last?
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November 10, 2025 at 11:46 AM
🥘 Writing a good story is like cooking a good meal. There’s a satisfaction to creating something from scratch.

🗞️ Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner shares her recipe for a great story.

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Cook up a news story
Many think writing a story isn't worth the effort when you have AI to do it. But there is satisfaction that only comes by doing it from scratch.
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November 7, 2025 at 1:35 PM
🔎 To conduct new research, scholars need access to past studies. But often that costs money that many can’t afford. India is trying to fix that problem.

🗞️ Charissa Egger explores the world of access to information, paywalls and subscriptions to academic research.

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Should research be free for all?
To conduct new research, scholars need access to past studies. But often that costs money that many can't afford. India is trying to fix that problem.
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November 6, 2025 at 12:15 PM
🍃 As COP30 Brazil approaches, we republish a piece by Correspondent Enock Wanderema on the gap between how #climate change is understood and discussed at a global level and how it is understood, or misunderstood, at local levels.

🔗 Read this week's Decoder Replay:
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Decoder Replay: Why so much confusion over climate change?
For 30 years world leaders have gathered to find ways to cool our planet. So why is this existential problem still so misunderstood?
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November 5, 2025 at 1:13 PM
📝 News Decoder's 18th Storytelling Contest is underway. But why do we run them? Where did it all start? And what do students learn from the experience?

🗞️ Marcy Burstiner looks back at 10 years of ND Storytelling Contests and why they're so important.

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A competition begs this question: Why be judged?
Over 10 years, News Decoder has told students that their voices are worthy of being heard. Our contests tell them this: Don't fear the judgement of others.
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November 4, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Religious hostility is on the rise in #India. Anti-muslim rhetoric is being politicised and there is growing animosity towards other religious minorities.

🗞️ Tarushi Aswani decodes the #politics of #religion in Modi’s India.

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Decoder: Can the world's largest democracy accept all faiths?
Nothing is more divisive in India than religion, even though its constitution gives all citizens the right to choose and practice their faith.
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November 3, 2025 at 12:18 PM
🍃 Greenwashing is when corporations use eco-sustainability as a marketing tool. But can you tell if they’re for real?

🗞️ Our Climate Education Program Manager Amina McCauley takes you through ways in which you can check companies’ eco claims.

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When a company's enviro claims sound convincing ...
Greenwashing is when corporations use eco-sustainability as a marketing tool. But can you tell if they're for real? Here are some ways you can check them out.
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October 31, 2025 at 2:03 PM
📰 Can journalism survive AI? Well ... Let's ask it!

🗞️ We round off Global Media and Information Literacy week with an article by Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner on the impact of AI on journalism.

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Decoder Replay: Can journalists coexist with AI?
Can AI help journalists and not kill their jobs? Put that question to an AI app and you get some reassurance. But can we trust that?
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October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
🔌 A recent outage at AWS affected over 1,000 companies. Snapchat, Reddit, Slack, Fortnight and Canva went down, airlines disrupted and NYT & Disney impacted.

🗞️ Correspondent Betty Wong decodes what happens when a handful of companies control a large share of the market.

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Decoder: Does 'less is more' apply to tech companies?g bad when it comes to tech companies?
How vulnerable are we as a society when our internet-delivery eggs are largely placed in one virtual global basket?
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October 29, 2025 at 11:12 AM
🏥 When it takes too long to get an appointment or a doctor dismisses patient symptoms, people go online for help.

🗞️ Hanan Hammad of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health explores the world of online health.

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Can you get better medical advice online than from a doctor?
When it takes too long to get an appointment or a doctor dismisses patient symptoms, people go online for help. Is that a bad thing?
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October 28, 2025 at 12:30 PM
"If anyone can change minds in Putin’s Russia, it is Alla [Pugacheva]."

🗞️ Correspondent Helen Womack reports on courage, influence and speaking out in Putin’s Russia.

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The power of one voice
When a Russian pop star told the world, and Putin, that the Ukraine war must end, she had to go into exile. But her message was already out.
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October 27, 2025 at 1:36 PM
🌐 It's Global Media and Information Literacy Week!

To kick off the event, we bring you a selection of News Decoder articles on these topics.

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A week of media literacy across the globe
Do some social media posts make you cry? Can you tell a reliable source from one you shouldn't trust? Can AI help bring us together across divides?
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October 24, 2025 at 10:07 AM
🎬 Movies like Fast and Furious and Top Gun were sparked by news articles. So why not visualize your story as a movie?

🗞️ Marcy Burstiner gives you guidance on how to do just that.

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Can you picture your story on a big screen?
Don't know who to interview? Can't figure out what your story is about? Try thinking about it as a movie. And grab some popcorn.
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October 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
🌍 As fears over inflation across the globe rise, we republish an article by Alan Wheatley on how inflation works.

🗞️ Read the full article:
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Decoder Replay: Why do people worry about inflation?
Think of inflation the way you think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears: too much or too little is a problem. Just a bit can be just right.
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October 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
🎇 As people across the world celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, we look back at a student piece on the environmental impacts of the festival and how it is fast becoming a festival of smog.

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#AirQuality #India #Diwali
How a festival of light can create a blanket of gray
With temperature inversion and climate change, the joyful meaning of a festival dissipates in the air we can't breathe.
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October 21, 2025 at 10:11 AM