Media Literacy After High-Control Religion & Cults
Who Do You Trust?
Feb. 8. 2027. | 7pm EST | Substack | Pay-What-You-Can
Who It’s For
This webinar is designed primarily for people who have left insular or high-control religious groups, but it may also be useful for family members, students and anyone interested in strengthening their media literacy.
The Idea
Leaving an insular religious group can mean reconsidering an entire system for understanding information. For years, someone may have been told which books were dangerous, which journalists were dishonest, which experts could be trusted, and which outside perspectives should be treated with suspicion.
Leaving that system does not automatically make navigating a new one easier.
This webinar is not about replacing one set of trusted authorities with another. It is about building practical skills for evaluating information, finding reliable sources, and deciding for yourself what deserves your trust.
What We’ll Cover
- Understanding the information ecosystem
Learn the differences between news reporting, opinion, analysis, advocacy and entertainment; how primary and secondary sources work; what reporters, editors and fact-checkers actually do; and why even reputable news organizations sometimes get things wrong.
2. Evaluating claims and evidence
Practice asking who is making a claim, what evidence supports it, whether the original source can be found and what information might change the conclusion. We’ll also look at the differences between correlation, inference and proof.
3. Navigating social media
Explore how algorithms reward outrage and certainty, why viral claims often lose important context, when screenshots are useful — and when they are not — and how influencers increasingly function as information sources. We’ll also discuss why misinformation can be especially difficult to recognize when it comes from people we already agree with.
4. Building your own media literacy
Develop practical habits for reading laterally, comparing coverage, finding original documents, recognizing confirmation bias and becoming more comfortable saying, “I don’t know yet.”
60-Minute Workshop + 30-Minute Q&A
The first hour is a practical, interactive workshop. Afterward, attendees are welcome to stay for an informal 30-minute Q&A and conversation about news, social media, research, misinformation and navigating information after leaving a high-control environment.