{"id":30242,"date":"2019-11-16T01:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rentonnews.us\/opinion\/why-we-need-media-literacy-classes-now-more-than-ever\/"},"modified":"2019-11-19T16:32:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T00:32:12","slug":"why-we-need-media-literacy-classes-now-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/opinion\/why-we-need-media-literacy-classes-now-more-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we need media literacy classes now, more than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"
“So you won’t take down lies or you will take down lies?” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a congressional hearing at the end of October. “I’m not talking about spin. I’m talking about actual disinformation.”<\/p>\n
While the intense and heated questioning between Zuckerberg and Ocasio-Cortez made the headlines, and Twitter trends page, it highlighted an issue nearly every American has become brutally aware of since the 2016 election; disinformation and propaganda has infected media and online databases, spreading like a virus in a compact airplane.<\/p>\n
As a modern-day editor and reporter, it can feel like 90 percent of my day is spent battling disinformation, both professionally and on a personal basis. Trying to create credibility among my readers and spread accurate facts and information is akin to climbing a mountain as a novice. Most days I throw in the towel and wonder where our society is headed when people on the right and left use shakey or dishonest sources to argue against factual reality.<\/p>\n
“The worry is no longer about who controls content. It is about who controls the flow of that content,” Modern philosopher Michael P. Lynch wrote in a 2016 New York Times editorial. “It is no coincidence that we are now seeing Big Data companies like Facebook sponsor presidential debates. Nor is it a coincidence that people are increasingly following the election on social media, using it both as the source of their information and as the way to get their view out.”<\/p>\n
There can be a simple solution to saving society from falling into the hands of those who wish to manipulate facts for their own benefit, media literacy classes in public schools. Scholars and researchers have barely scratched the surface of how media literacy classes in K-12 settings affect a student’s ability to decipher facts from skewed-realities, but what has been done shows positive results in how students face the world of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the constant barrage of advertising, breaking news and online conspiracies.<\/p>\n
The LA School Report published a story in April of 2019 on how one Seattle teacher is shaping his students’ perspective through a mandatory media literacy class.<\/p>\n
“Seeing his students apply five core concepts about media to what they see on Netflix, at the movies and online is Danielson’s favorite part of his job. It’s how he knows he has altered the way they consume media,” the article states. “‘I’ve changed them for life.’”<\/p>\n
While there has been little quantitative studies on how digital media literacy education impacts a student’s participation in politics, community organizations or advocacy, some scholarly articles support the theory that teaching students how to curate and sift through media can create a less apathetic approach to the online world<\/p>\n
“Engagement with new media has the potential to strengthen young people’s participation in civic and political life,” Joseph Kahne, Nam-Jin Lee and Jessica Timpany Feezel, authors of the 2012 study ‘Digital Media Literacy Education and Online Civic and Political Participation’, wrote. “Educators, policymakers, foundations, and others are considering ways to develop desirable bridges between these two domains.”<\/p>\n