The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction): The state House Education Committee is scheduled today to debate HB1110, a measure that calls on the Department of Education to come up with proposed curriculum to teach media literacy in elementary and secondary schools.

The bill is sponsored by Lisa Cutter, a first-year Democratic lawmaker representing Jefferson County. Hopefully, today’s discussion will spur Republicans to join as co-sponsors because this is an issue that should transcend partisan lines. It’s about solidifying the informed citizenry so vital to self-rule.

Several other states are ahead of Colorado in putting greater emphasis on teaching students how to tell fact from fiction.

Obviously this is a problem for society at large, not just school-age children. Just look at the 2016 presidential election. Plenty of adults were misled by false content driven by political agendas promoted by sources both here and abroad.

Despite fluency in social media, young people aren’t equipped to navigate the information environment. A 2016 study conducted by Stanford University researchers from the college’s Graduate School of Education found that more than 80 percent of middle school students could not distinguish between news stories and advertisements.

Visit The Daily Sentinel for more.