Media literacy programs should encourage people to question themselves as much as the content.
Article Author:
Scott DeJon • Montreal Gazette Special Edition
All our approaches to combating fake news are wrong.
People used to say when I was a teacher. If I could help my students think critically about what they read online.” And now that I am a media scholar, I still hear similar comments.
I applaud the optimism of those who believe these programs will succeed. The problem is that this approach overlooks how personal our interpretation of the world is.
Media literacy has been incorporated into state education curricula for more than 20 years, but fake news and disinformation are rife. A recent report showed that44% of Canadians believe in conspiracy theories,that's nearly half the population.
However, The problem isn't just conspiracy theories. More broadly, public concern about fake news has always led to calls for her to stop funding the CBC, and certain Conservative Party members like Pierre Polivre have been outspoken about this. speaking. The harassment of journalists who tried to cover the Freedom Convoy protests this past February also appeared to be evidence of a lack of trust in the Canadian media. It's not voluntary. It can also be the result of behavior designed just for that. For example, the Canadian government has expressed concern over disinformation in Russia, where false information can have global implications.
This can be scary. When asked what they can do, a common answer is media literacy. It's all about the ability to understand the accuracy of news articles. how to find bias How do you know which information is correct or incorrect? who to trust
Our current approach to media literacy seems logical. We teach people how to fact-check content, provide resources, and encourage citizens to think critically about the media. But this approach is based on the false premise of . In other words, tell people what steps to take, how the process works, how to think, and everyone comes to the same conclusion. But we know that's not the case. Back in 1938 news of an alien invasion of the United States on Orson Welles' radio programsparked a public frenzy that it was happening. However, I knew that different people would interpret the information differently. You see this in discussions with family and friends. Regardless of the information you provide, opinions are set, beliefs are cemented, and it is not enough to piss off your cousin to change your point of view.
We can provide tools to validate it. But this doesn't change the core issue: people interpret information based on their worldview.
Currently, critical thinking and media literacy focus on content, but when people Focused programs and research are needed. As with content, you need to encourage people to question themselves. Our media diet should be diverse, and our own beliefs should be open to expansion.
We shouldn't stop teaching fact-checking skills, but we should also teach people to have open, reflective conversations about the information they come across. Ask why you believe certain things and why others seem to trust things differently than you — these habits reveal your own biases and interpretations of content. I'm not telling you to ignore our beliefs, I'm telling you to stay flexible.
I hope that media literacy programs will begin to focus primarily on understanding our own beliefs rather than fact-checking skills. And I encourage Canadians to do the same.
Scott DeJong is a PhD student in Communication Studies at Concordia University and a Concordia Public Scholar.
-
Nawaz: A convoy of truckers is in urgent need of media literacy
-
INFODEMIC: Inside Quebec's reality-distorting disinformation movement
To receive daily headline news from The Montreal Gazette, a division of Postmedia Network Inc., sign Please update.
Thank you for registering.
Sending welcome email. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder.
The next issue of the Montreal Gazette Headline News will arrive in your inbox shortly.
