What is Media Literacy?
Media Literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.
Why is Media Literacy Important?
Think about how communication has evolved just in the last 50 years. Growing up in the 70s, there were no cell phones, no home computers, no internet (so no streaming), and most homes had only one phone line that everyone shared (and the phone was on a cord!). Our daily news and entertainment were accessed through newspapers, magazines, radio, television (there were only about thirteen channels then…not much to choose from), and neighbors. If you wanted to watch a specific program, you had to be home when it was on since VCRs didn’t come out until the late 70s (and were way too expensive for most of us at that time). Oh yeah, and television stations actually signed off the air at night!
Unlike today, with our 24/7 access to information and entertainment. We can stream almost any program or movie we want to watch nearly instantly (it can sometimes take a few minutes to figure out which streaming platform has the program you’re looking for), create and publish our own media content (ahem, blog post), and we walk around with smart devices that give us access to news from all over the world as it’s happening.
This increased access to all of this media bombarding us all the time makes it necessary to learn how to pick through all the stories in search of truth, rather than misinformation and disinformation.
Media Literacy Basics
When it comes to media literacy, there are some key questions that should always be asked of any information you are taking in (especially if you believe what is being said).
- Who is the author of this piece of media?
- How does this benefit them?
- What is the purpose of this piece of media?
- How are they trying to influence me?
I hate to say this, but in today’s world of disinformation and misinformation we have to be critical of just about everything we read, see, or hear.
Media Ownership and Regulation
Most in the media literacy community do not want tech companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. regulating what content can be shared and who is allowed to share it, with some exceptions. These would mostly be in reference to hate speech, but this can be a slippery slope with who gets to decide where speech goes from being considered “rude” to “hateful” and what the original intent is/was. There is also Section 230 of the 1996 “Communications Decency Act” which established that online services (like FB, Twitter, Tik Tok)) cannot be held liable for what users say on their platforms… most of the time. There is debate about whether the evolution of media necessitates revisiting this law.
Media Privacy and Security
In our media-heavy society, with a streaming device in virtually everyone’s hand and cameras everywhere, what was once our private life can now end up being very much public. This has led to what is known as The Right to be Forgotten, which gives individuals the right to ask organizations to delete their personal data. There are requirements that must be met to be forgotten:
- The personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose an organization originally collected or processed it.
- An organization is relying on an individual’s consent as the lawful basis for processing the data and that individual withdraws their consent.
- An organization is relying on legitimate interests as its justification for processing an individual’s data, the individual objects to this processing, and there is no overriding legitimate interest for the organization to continue with the processing.
- An organization is processing personal data for direct marketing purposes and the individual objects to this processing.
- An organization processed an individual’s personal data unlawfully.
- An organization must erase personal data in order to comply with a legal ruling or obligation.
- An organization has processed a child’s personal data to offer their information society services.
Organizations can deny this request for the following reasons:
- The data is being used to exercise the right of freedom of expression and information.
- The data is being used to comply with a legal ruling or obligation.
- The data is being used to perform a task that is being carried out in the public interest or when exercising an organization’s official authority.
- The data being processed is necessary for public health purposes and serves in the public interest.
- The data being processed is necessary to perform preventative or occupational medicine. This only applies when the data is being processed by a health professional who is subject to a legal obligation of professional secrecy.
- The data represents important information that serves the public interest, scientific research, historical research, or statistical purposes and where erasure of the data would likely to impair or halt progress towards the achievement that was the goal of the processing.
- The data is being used for the establishment of a legal defense or in the exercise of other legal claims.
Misinformation, Disinformation, Hoaxes, and Conspiracies
Let’s Put some definitions in this section to help you learn the differences:
Misinformation – false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead.
Disinformation – used more generally to mean deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda.
Hoax – to trick into believing or accepting as genuine something false and often preposterous: something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication.
Conspiracy – a secret plan made by two or more people to do something that is harmful or illegal: the act of secretly planning to do something that is harmful or illegal
Advertising and Propaganda
Advertising and propaganda are two of the strategies used by individuals, groups and even organizations to influence the behavior of others in favor of the advertiser or propagandist. Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings, usage and objectives.
Advertising refers to the activity of developing advertisements for the purpose of attracting the attention of the public towards a particular product or service. On the other hand, propaganda is a kind of promotional tool that is biased in nature and has the objective of promoting a specific set of ideas based on the vested interest of the propagandist.
Public opinion is shaped by the media around us, and when it comes to propaganda, the government is excellent at it. What the government refers to as public relations is, after all, just a form of propaganda. Check out this video from Crash Course on public opinion:
Representation in Media
Diversity is still a bit of a struggle within most media. There continues to be the cliched stereotypes of country bumpkins, fat people are lazy, black men are thugs, Jewish men are penny-pinchers, I could keep going, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got the idea. And, holy cow, look at the increase in hate crimes aimed at Asian-Americans after Trump referred to continually referred to Covid-19 as the “China virus” and “kung flu!” Definitely an example of the negative power of the media.
There may be more diverse ethnic representation when it comes to news programs and talk shows, but even these are still predominately white. To be truly inclusive in our society, we need to represent everyone, not just who the media decides is “sellable.”
All this instant information is creating an overload that most people don’t want to try to wade through. There will always be a need for scrutiny, but by knowing how to be intelligent media consumers, maybe we can slow this insidious infiltration of misinformation and conspiracy theories…or maybe I’m just overly optimistic.
Cyndi's Media Class 
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