Ned Cabot, a business lecturer at George Mason University in Virginia, has set an objective for his students: “They should at least make an effort to create a habit of consuming quality news.”

Like many of his peers around the world, Cabot faces a growing challenge in getting young people to read, interpret and analyse information — whether for leisure, classroom learning or general knowledge. That raises concerns about how best to prepare the next generation of managers and citizens alike. 

“In some cases, they know very little and possess very few facts,” says Cabot, who teaches at the university’s Costello College of Business. “In other cases, they possess some facts but don’t know how they know them or where they got the information. The result is that it’s very difficult to evaluate and put them into context.”