In today's complex and potentially harmful media environment, there is a growing recognition of the critical importance of news literacy education. Learning how to reliably navigate news and information, in our hyper connected world, has become an urgent and indispensable modern life skill. Considering the growing threat posed by misinformation online, traditional news literacy … [Read more...] about Beyond Fake News: The Crucial Role of Solutions Journalism in News Literacy Education
Misinformation
You Won’t Believe the Media’s Biggest Issue
Congratulations! You’ve just been clickbaited! If you spend any time on the internet, whether it’s browsing Google, YouTube, or even social media platforms, you’ve 100% come across articles or posts with titles that would be considered ‘clickbait.’ Clickbait is a form of media propaganda which includes a title that is often misleading and far off from the … [Read more...] about You Won’t Believe the Media’s Biggest Issue
Are Reporters Using Opinionated Views in the Media Too Often?
All forms of media, including print, broadcast, and social, have grown significantly in the last couple of decades. With new technology, it has made it easier to spread information to large groups of people around the world. As much of a positive as it is, it also brings along some negatives. Some people take advantage of it to spread opinionated views or false … [Read more...] about Are Reporters Using Opinionated Views in the Media Too Often?
The 2016 US Election and Yellow Journalism
While a variety of very significant problems have plagued America since its establishment as an independent nation in 1776, one issue that traces back to the country’s beginning, yet also remains relevant in current times, is the creation and spread of inaccurate information. Though today’s culture typically characterizes this issue as fake news, it is first important to … [Read more...] about The 2016 US Election and Yellow Journalism
Elon Musk Purchases Twitter
On October 28 of 2022, Elon Musk officially purchased Twitter. With all of the built up anticipation, soon after came confusion. Immediately, Twitter saw new problems. Misinformation flooded the site, and hate speech plagued Musk’s new reputation as Twitter’s new owner. According to Darrell Etherington of techcrunch.com, “he fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General … [Read more...] about Elon Musk Purchases Twitter
Are TikTok and YouTube affecting Broadcast?
TikTok and Youtube are slowly taking over the world generation by generation. When I say slowly, I mean just within the past four years– which is not slow at all. Media has been a big problem since the advent of these platforms. The term fake news spawns, and it can all start with a TikTok someone comes upon. There are very few rules and regulations you have to go through when … [Read more...] about Are TikTok and YouTube affecting Broadcast?
Social Media as a Primary Vehicle for News
In our growing age of technology and increasing dependence on our devices, individuals have turned to digital news rather than broadcast or print to be informed about current events. “In these days of pandemic, protests, economic recession and angst among the world’s population a recently issued report shows that consumers continue to shift away from traditional media sources … [Read more...] about Social Media as a Primary Vehicle for News
Internet Memes: an Element of Coping Mechanism or a Tool for Propaganda Disinformation?
In times of calamities such as pandemics or wars, humor, as acknowledged by many scientists, serves as a coping mechanism that helps to endure stress, despair, and depression. Paradoxically, jokes and satirical images proliferate during war times. Gallows humor consoled soldiers during World War I. Humor and comedy were broadcasted and published during World War II to keep … [Read more...] about Internet Memes: an Element of Coping Mechanism or a Tool for Propaganda Disinformation?
Just Look Up!: The Sixth IPCC Report, Polar Temperature Spikes, and the Slap Seen Around the World
Don’t Look Up, the Oscar-nominated Netflix film warning of the dangers of an impending planetary crisis, was repeatedly criticized because its satire of US politics and media was seen as a heavy handed and melodramatic caricature. But the spectacle of Will Smith’s live TV assault on Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards ceremony and how it obscured alarming climate news, … [Read more...] about Just Look Up!: The Sixth IPCC Report, Polar Temperature Spikes, and the Slap Seen Around the World
The Harm and Cost of What Misinformation/Fake News Is Doing to Us as a Nation
We live in a world with misinformation, and fake news exists and is at an all-time high. From social media to the internet as a whole, the number of people making fake accounts with false information to get views and money is rising rapidly. For example, on a website like Wikipedia, you can edit and put whatever information you want, and an unsuspecting visitor to that page … [Read more...] about The Harm and Cost of What Misinformation/Fake News Is Doing to Us as a Nation
How Fake News Leads to Conspiracy Theories
Besides being potentially avoidable tragedies, what do the Nashville Bomber, Russian Trolls, Black Lives Matter, Covington Catholic, Pizzagate, Sandy Hook, Anti-Vaxx, Capitol Riot, and COVID Conspiracies all have in common? They’re all instances where a lack of media literacy led to destruction of property, health, or life… and, they were all … [Read more...] about How Fake News Leads to Conspiracy Theories
Agents of Influence: Testing Our Educational Video Game
Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic changed our world forever, we at Alterea began to develop a spy-themed, educational, digital event called Agents of Influence. This event was designed as a week-long, interactive story meant to educate players about threats online. We launched our event in October of 2020 to help fight the “infodemic” that surrounded the presidential election … [Read more...] about Agents of Influence: Testing Our Educational Video Game
Heuristics (…why we’re susceptible to disinformation)
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation, or mistaken information, and disinformation, intentionally falsified information, became increasingly pervasive. Conspiracy theories saturated corners of the internet, wholly emerging into both political discourse and kitchen-table gossip. From outlandish claims that 5G cell phone towers spurred the pandemic to overtly … [Read more...] about Heuristics (…why we’re susceptible to disinformation)
My Introduction to Media Literacy
I first came across media literacy not as an advocate nor as a teacher but as a high school senior in 2017. My junior year of high school coincided with the 2016 Presidential election. Buzzwords like “fake news” and “disinformation” saturated the pixels on my computer screen, and questions about journalistic integrity and objectivity permeated the very ink of the articles I … [Read more...] about My Introduction to Media Literacy