Abstract
As digital technologies transform the information landscape, news professionals and audiences face the challenge of disinformation - deliberately misleading content aimed at shaping public opinion and behavior. This paper contextualizes news literacy within the broader domain of media literacy and examines its rationale and prior interventions aimed at strengthening news literacy competencies. This paper advocates for a virtue ethics framework to evaluate news literacy interventions, linking this approach to individual character formation and the broader conditions for community flourishing. The article critically engages two arguments: (1) the efficacy of individual-level approaches and (2) the promise of technological solutions such as algorithmic interventions - ultimately finding both inadequate. Instead, the article proposes a collective, multi-stakeholder approach. Three key recommendations include establishing an independent global oversight body, developing cross-platform civic infrastructure, and promoting participatory media governance. These recommendations contribute to cultivating the shared moral and informational ecology necessary for democratic life.