FEATURE: How to be media literate, the legit way.
The 21st century mass media can be chaotic, confusing, and biased. The advent of social media and the internet had made mass media into an unpredictable and powerful force. Even worse, many people claim that they are already experts in the realm of mass media. With how easy it is to scroll through information and with the sheer amount of information we are bombarded with, not everyone takes the time to fact check and verify a news story. This begs the question: “How can you protect yourself from misinformation?” Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, comprehend and create media. Nowadays, it is critical for everyone to learn how to verify what they read in the internet. It is a skill to differentiate fact from fuzz, news from satire, and truth from opinion.
Here are five simple steps to be media literate, the legit way:
- Don’t stick to a single source.
Only in love can we say “one is enough.”. That is, however, not the case for media sources. To make certain that a particular news story is not fabricated, you should check other news outlets if they’ve reported the same story. Checking multiple sources would also give you a better understanding of a particular story. Imagine yourself only having one professor in your entire education, you’d only have a single point of view to learn from. The same goes for media. Sticking to a single source would give you a narrow view on a topic. It’s always better to have a 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th opinion on a particular story so as to keep yourself well-informed.
2. Big media companies aren’t always truthful.
Sometimes, and I do mean sometimes, big media companies fail to report particular small details about a story so as to protect their own interests. The big media companies also aren’t immune to crooked journalists willing to distort a small part of their story to increase publicity or collect a bribe.
We must not let big media companies lure us into complacency. The truth must always be known, but not all “known” deliver the truth.
3. Don’t depend on social media.
Social media may be the easiest way of accessing what is happening in our world, but that doesn’t always make it a legitimate source for news. Have you liked and shared the news about “Snowing in the Philippines,” or the issue about the Philippines being banned from beauty pageants for the next two years? Or have you just retweeted “#RIPMrBean?” These are all internet hoaxes that many Filipinos cannot distinguish from facts.
We have to keep in mind that social media is also a platform for opinions, and that everyone has access to it. You have to be aware of this as you consider and verify the authenticity of certain posts before hitting that share button.
4. Understand the concept of evolving truth
The best part about today’s media is that it’s there in an instant, but at the same time it is the worst part. Information is literally seconds away, and sometimes that can be a bad thing especially when a story is still unfolding.
News is not an over-the-phone thing, it must be timely but it shouldn’t be at the expense of quality. One should understand that nowadays information is often disseminated to the public in a speed that doesn’t give the story enough time to develop. Death tolls change, suspects get identified, storms get stronger, and the truth changes. We should understand that stories develop and endeavor to keep ourselves updated.
5. Understand that there will always be bias.
Everything is bias. Those “accurate, truth, unbiased” will never be real. So why not just embrace it? This can give us a better understanding of media if we are aware and absorb it in the right way. Like how Thomas Jefferson shared to us: “If a people are sufficiently educated and informed, they can rule themselves.”
It might likewise make you completely upset by several media outlets, which work apparently under two totally distinctive arrangements of certainties. Be that as it may, the best way to understand the pieces of truth inside every one of them is to watch and choose for yourself.
Everyone’s responsibility
Mass media is a necessity in the 21st century. Hence, it is everyone’s responsibility to be media literate. We have got numerous websites and blogs at our fingertips. As such, we must be vigilant and smart when it comes to what information we should share as some can be advantageous to society, while others can cause a nationwide panic.
We have to realize that we now live in a time where opinions are capable of shaping cultures across the globe, thanks to websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This fact makes it all the more important for people to have an informed opinion. There is no excuse for ignorant assimilation anymore. Let us all be media literate, the legit way.
