Media Literacy: A Skill We All Need -- Here's How
As a college student majoring in journalism, I didn’t just learn how to write the news — you know, the who, what, when, where, why and how — I learned how to read the news. The headline, the byline, the structure, the funding source, the distribution method — all were to be considered when judging the reliability and credibility of the news.
Fast forward to today, and I’m struck by how challenging it is to be news literate — to analyze media, to differentiate news from opinion, to evaluate the often conflicting messages we receive in our hyperconnected world. “Fake News” has become part of our lexicon and conspiracy theories abound.
The good news, the more you know about the news you read, the less likely you are to believe in fallacious conspiracy theories.
“The greater one’s knowledge about the news media — from the kinds of news covered, to the commercial context in which news is produced, to the effects on public opinion news can have — the less likely one will fall prey to conspiracy theories,” said University of Illinois Journalism Professor Stephanie Craft, whose 2017 study published findings about the role of news literacy and conspiracy thinking.
Given the relentless daily news cycle and a proliferation of information accessible through smartphones, via the airwaves and available by voice command, how can we consume media more critically and make better decisions about what is true and when it isn’t?
Here are some tips:
Read past the headline. Reporters don’t generally write headlines and anchors are not responsible for the “Breaking News” chyron at the bottom of your TV screen. Force yourself to get past the attention-getting click bait or introductory lead-in sentence that can obscure the real news value of a story. Be patient, you might be surprised to learn that the real news is buried deep down on the page or 30 seconds into the video.
Notice the byline(s). Make sure the news story is attributed to someone, then do some research on the writer, reporter, blogger. Journalists’ profiles are easily accessible online and complete with bios, subject-matter expertise and recently published stories. By accessing reporters’ stories, you can get a feel for what they write about, who their audience is and any point of view that may surface.
Broaden your sources. We tend to retreat to our “echo chambers” when we form an opinion. Once there, it’s hard to climb out. News coverage can fall into this trap as well. Legacy news outlets once considered beyond reproach, have at times come under scrutiny for spreading propaganda, misinformation, even lies. It’s up to us to diversify our media so we can get a more complete picture of how a news story is covered and how it might be interpreted. As journalism students, we were taught to include two or more sources when reporting. As media consumers, the same rule should apply.
Distinguish news from opinion. It used to be easy to tell an op-ed from a news story, but today, it can be hard to recognize the opinion writer from the news reporter; the pundit from the journalist. All may be valid sources to include in your media diet, but it’s important to understand what’s an opinion, what’s an analysis and what’s a news piece.
Include nonprofit journalism. Simply put, nonprofit journalism is the practice of journalism through nonprofit organizations instead of for-profit businesses, thus serving the public good without concern for profits or shareholder return. According to Pew Research Center, most states have at least one nonprofit news outlet beyond NPR and PBS, and most work in specialized journalism niches. Nonprofit news outlets tend to be “mission-driven,” and most focus on quality, investigative journalism. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) provides a news network directory of independent, nonprofit, non-partisan outlets to explore.
Fact check. Fact-checking has become a cottage industry of late, giving rise to many websites that people can visit for their own DIY inquiry. Some sites, such as the Washington Post’s Fact Checker are connected to media outlets; others, such as Factcheck.org and Politifact, are nonprofits and yet others, such as Snopes and Countering Disinformation, specialize in dispelling hoaxes, disinformation and conspiracies. The News Literacy Project (NLP), an educational nonprofit dedicated to discerning fact from fiction in communication, provides a vast array of tools and resources for students, teachers and anyone interested in news literacy.
We live in a world where instantaneous information is easily accessible. Yet, we have tools and resources at our fingertips to help us dispel myths, correct misperceptions and combat disinformation. As media consumers, we have it within our power to think critically about what we hear, read and click-on.