the media and media literacy

What is "The Media" and exploring media literacy & biases

Welcome back!

What is "the media?"

​A medium is a method of communicating information, entertainment, or other messages.​

TV is one popular medium.

The internet and cell phones are all examples of commonly used media.​

​The word media means different
things depending on how it is used.

Media isthe plural form of
the word medium.

Poll

What form of media do you most frequently engage in?

• Broadcast

• Print

• New (smart phones, ebooks, social media, email, etc)

Comparisons

"The Media"

The term mass media refers to methods of communicating with large numbers of people.

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A lot of media exists purely for entertainment, such as movies and television sitcoms.

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When you hear the phrase “the media,” usually it is referring to the sources of our news and information about current events.​

What role does "the media"/journalists play?

​THE WATCH DOG:

​Keeps watch on the government and others in power.

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It speaks out to alert the public if something happens that shouldn’t.

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Without the media playing the role of watch dog, the public would not know what happens behin​d closed doors.

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What role does "the media"/journalists play?

​THe gatekeeper:

​As a gatekeeper, the media functions to relay, limit, expand and reinterpret information.

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Decides which stories and issues are important enough to receive public attention, and which aren’t.

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The gatekeeper continued

​Each outlet will have their own criteria for making those decisions.

Everything will not be given the same amount of air-time or space. To understand why, you need to know the two B's: Business and bias.

BUSINESS: (we will talk about biases in a bit)​

​They make money by selling time or space to advertisers, but advertisers won’t pay for ads nobody will see, so for-profit media must make the news as exciting as possible to attract lots of viewers.

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But let’s face it: News programs are not always as exciting as action movies.

In order to survive in today’s culture, television news must keep things short, fast paced, and exciting. On-the-hour radio news is even shorter. Stories most likely to get through the gate are those that are the most gripping (ever wonder why the “news” is full of car crashes and house fires?) or that affect the most number of people.

If a story can’t be told in a quick, 15-second sound bite, it’s likely to be left outside the gate.​

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The agenda-setter

​This role is controversial.​

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Media plays a central role in setting and shaping the public agenda —the individuals, issues, events and topics that are seen as vital to society and public interest.

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We CANNOT publish every single thing. It is impossible. We utilize this role to decide which things need to be published. ​

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The agenda-setter

​​Why it is controversial:

Some people don’t think for-profit corporations should set our public agenda. They worry that many important issues will never get public attention.

Some issues just aren’t exciting enough to compete with entertainment. Others are too complex to fit into a short sound bite.

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Although the public decides which issues to care about, the media only tells the public about a few of the issues that exist. Therefore, people worry that the public does not really have much of a choice about what issues are important.

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People also worry that because the media is biased, it influences the public agenda toward one way of thinking over another.

Multiple Choice

True or false:

Most news sources are not for profit.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

Bias can affect what stories a media outlet decides are important.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

An issue can’t get on the public agenda if nobody has heard about it.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

In its role as watchdog, the media decides which issues need public action.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

Everyone agrees the media should play the role of agenda-setter.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

If you pay attention to one type of media, you will hear about all the issues that exist.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

In its role as gatekeeper, the media decides which stories to run.

• True

• False

News Literacy

“To be news literate is to build knowledge, think critically, act civilly and participate in the democratic process.” —Robert R. McCormick Foundation

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​Essentially, news literacy is the process of making oneself an informed, participatory, engaged, conscious news producer and consumer.

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It means we don’t sit in the passenger seat anymore when it comes to understanding how the news media affects our world and what we can do about it.

News Literacy: The main concepts (12)

1.     Informed citizens are essential to good government and free society.

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2.     There is a public value to sharing accurate, newsworthy information.

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3.     The Internet has changed how people receive news information and now people have to take a more active role in becoming well informed and sharing accurate information.

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4.     Accurate information is available online, but so is poor quality, misleading information.

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5.     The Internet makes it possible to independently fact check and verify information by looking at multiple information providers.

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6.     In assessing accuracy of information, it is important to consider who is providing it and their sources and whether the information includes verifiable facts and key perspectives as opposed to opinions and unsubstantiated conclusions.

News Literacy: The main concepts (12)

7.     To be well informed, one should get news from multiple outlets representing different perspectives.

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8.     It’s important to follow a story over time to be able to trust the information.

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9.     Some news and information has a strong bias, and there are ways to recognize this.

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10. One should be skeptical of information based purely on anonymous or biased sources.

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11. It’s important to be aware of one’s own biases and assumptions and seek reliable information that challenges one’s own views.

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12. It is important to be open-minded rather than having fixed opinions that can’t be changed even with new facts.

Propaganda, fake news and misinformation

​The terms ‘propaganda,’ ‘misinformation’ and ‘fake news’ often overlap in meaning.

They are used to refer to a range of ways in which sharing information causes harm, intentionally or unintentionally – usually in relation to the promotion of a particular moral or political cause or point of view.

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It is possible to separate out three clearly different uses of information which fall into this category:

Mis-information - false information shared with no intention of causing harm.

Dis-information - false information shared intentionally to cause harm.

Mal-information - true information shared intentionally to cause harm.

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Although none of these phenomena are new, they have taken on new significance recently with the widespread availability of sophisticated forms of information and communication technology. The sharing of text, images, videos or links online, for example, allows information to go viral within hours.

Propaganda, fake news and misinformation

Since information and communication technology is so central to their lives nowadays, young people are particularly vulnerable to propaganda, misinformation and fake news.

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When thinking about analyzing propaganda, fake news and biases, it is important to be able to differentiate between news, opinions/editorials, commentary, non-journalists and other interferences or "tricks."

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This is why media/news literacy is so, so, so important to understand and practice.​

Poll

I believe everyone has innate (natural) biases.

• Yes

• Sometimes

• No

Biases in media and news

​Bias is one of the most controversial and important subjects in news literacy.

Information provided by Newslit.org

​Everyone has biases based on their life experiences, or what they are told by their family, their friends and their teachers, or other factors.

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​Because biases are baked into how we see and understand the world, people often fail to consider them when seeking or evaluating information. Discussing biases and finding biases in the information we consume can be difficult due to this.

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People also tend to only perceive bias in reporting that they consider to be against their beliefs or opinions. News coverage that is biased toward someone’s beliefs or opinions would likely just feel “right” to that person, which may help explain the popularity of openly partisan news sources.

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Biases in media and news

​Bias is one of the most controversial and important subjects in news literacy.

Information provided by Newslit.org

​People frequently perceive bias in news coverage, and accusations of bias are common in a wide variety of discussions and contexts.

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However, people generally perceive bias through the lens of their own perspectives, values and beliefs, especially if they have a strong opinion about the topic being reported on.

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This can cause people to engage in confirmation bias — the tendency to quickly embrace information that affirms their perspectives and beliefs and to unfairly dismiss or criticize information that complicates or contradicts them.

Biases in media and news

Information provided by Newslit.org

Many conversations about bias lack specificity and nuance — in part because such discussions can become emotional, and in part because many people lack the conceptual tool set to evaluate bias and underestimate its complexity.

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For example, not only do people frequently forget that their own biases influence their perceptions of news coverage, they also often believe that most bias in news is overt (rather than perceived and debatable) and intentional (rather than incidental).

Further, it is easy to treat the perception of bias as the end, rather than the beginning, of the process of evaluating news coverage.

questions to ask yourself when checking bias

Information provided by Newslit.org

Could this report have been fairer?

Reported more dispassionately? How?

What other images or sources were available when it was published or broadcast?

Was it one report in a series about a particular subject, or does it stand alone?

​How does it compare with other reporting from the same outlet? From other outlets?

Multiple Choice

True or false:

Most journalists and news outlets are intentionally biased and seek to get their audience to believe specific things.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

Most journalists and news outlets try to make their straight news reporting as impartial, or unbiased, as possible, but they may have blind spots that cause them to fall short sometimes.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

Most journalists and news outlets try to make their straight news reporting as impartial, or unbiased, as possible, but they may have blind spots that cause them to fall short sometimes.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or false:

You (the audience) have a duty and responsibility to be news literate and examine the media you consume.

• True

• False

Open Ended

What is something you need clarification on?

Or, any questions from today?