Media Literacy Part 2

​How We Process Media

By Elaina Rusk

Media Literacy

Media is a form of communication that reaches multiple people at once

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Literacy is knowledge about a specific subject, the ability to accurately understand that subject

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Put them together-Media Literacy is knowledge about media​, the ability to accurately understand media

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of media?

• television

• text message from a friend

Multiple Choice

Is radio an example of media?

• yes

• no

Multiple Choice

Is an email to your teacher an example of media?

• yes

• no

Media to Advertise

Many companies use media to advertise their products.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of a company using media to advertise their product.

• A letter from your mom telling you that you should really try an oreo cheesecake blizzard because they are really good.

• A commercial on TV telling you that you should really try an oreo cheesecake blizzard because they are really good.

​Bias is when you have a personal opinion for or against something that is often times not based on facts.

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For example, President Biden saying that the United States is the most beautiful country in the world.

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​Bias

Bias in Media

Media can be biased-because of personal opinions and what the person producing the media is trying to do or accomplish-e.g. are they trying to convince you to buy something?

Multiple Choice

Media is always 100% accurate with no bias

• True

• False

Bias in Advertising

Advertising is almost always biased because the advertiser's purpose is persuading you to buy their product. ​

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Multiple Choice

Which of the following would be an example of bias in advertising?

• Nike saying that Nike makes the best tennis shoes.

• Consumer Reports (a magazine that is known for fairly evaluating products) saying that Nike makes the best tennis shoes.

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.

Open Ended

Explain in 1 sentence why news literacy is important.

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.

Match

Match the three categories to their definition:

• Mis-information

• Dis-information

• Mal-information

false information shared unintentionally

false information shared intentionally

information shared intentionally to harm

• false information shared unintentionally

• false information shared intentionally

• information shared intentionally to harm

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.​

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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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

​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.

Multiple Choice

We can see totally different sides of the same story on TV because of people's biases.

• True

• False

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

1. Could this report have been fairer?

2. Reported more dispassionately? How?

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

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

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

Open Ended

Describe the similarities and/or difference between 2 of the 5 forms of bias.

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