Practising with fake news, insults and populism

hose assignment was it, to influence the debate using misinformation?And what did you think of that?' asks Mariska van Dam, a PhD candidate in the Strategic Communication group.She is working with a class of 16 and 17-year-olds at Dorenweerd College in Doorwerth.It is the first lesson on Friday morning and the timetable for the secondary school students shows a social studies class taught by Katherine Kells.Today, Kells' class consists of a workshop on polarization given by Van Dam and Wies Ruyters, another Strategic Communication PhD candidate.They start with some theory, explaining the various kinds of polarization (see inset) and how damaging they are.'Polarization is fine in a healthy democracy; having different opinions is not a problem,' says Ruyters. 'But it's a different story if polarization leads to a deeply embedded divide with an us-versus-them mentality.''Like in the US with the Republicans and the Democrats,' says one student.Exactly.The PhD candidates illustrate their story with examples and ask lots of questions to get some interaction with the class.However, it's not so easy this early on a Friday morning to get much response out of the pupils.'They'll be more lively when we start the debate,' Van Dam whispers to your Resource journalist while Ruyters explains polarization using the examples of the Flat Earth beliefs and polemics from the Covid anti-vax period.