MediaLiteracyEd

u/ilovelampistaken ABSOLUTELY!! Also, understanding the difference between commercial and noncommercial media is essential, along with knowing where the money goes. (Elis here from PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs). SRL just developed a lesson around this. Check it out: https://www.story-maker.org/library/broadcast-news/#overview

u/rossmosh85 -

It's important to think about the quantity and quality of civic education. I raise this because we view media literacy as a set of skills that can be taught as a part of civic education. The research is pretty clear that who gets civic education and media literacy education within that shows that it's disparate and distributed inequitably.

As a result, a core solution is to make sure that young people have the opportunity early on in life to build the habits and skills necessary for democratic participation, across communities. This is one solution and we need a range of stakeholders in communities to take on others.

This is a great question, u/aedanflynn42
Media literacy is the competence of being able to access, analyze, create, reflect and act socially responsibly media messages. Sometimes it means to stop consuming and sometimes it is about self regulated consumption. But at the end of the day, media literacy makes you more aware and take steps to decide for yourself how, when and what to consume.

Hey u/davidg_tech! A simple definition of "media literacy" is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in all types of forms.

I don't think I can answer your second question directly or specifically, but I think there is a lot of research and thinking one can do about the future of local news and its role in democracy. Journalists, scholars and experts, including myself, would argue that local news is absolutely critical in a democracy. The more fact-based information we share with the public, the better informed they will be. Here's a recent article from NiemanLab about ideas for the future of local news: https://www.niemanlab.org/2021/03/build-for-a-crisis-ideas-for-the-future-of-local-news/

What advice would you give when trying to have a discussion with someone who has bought into the online misinformation?

Mike S. - First, the way NOT to do it is to confront the person by telling them all the things they’ve got wrong, and then proceeding to tell them how to correct it with a bunch of facts. This usually enacts what is sometimes called a “backfire effect” where the person will automatically discount new information and double down on the falsehood. My advice is to engage the person in a conversation that details how they arrived at the belief that you want to dispute with them, what information informed it, and why they believed that information was credible. By engaging in a process of inquiry, the person can see that you’re not simply trying to say that they’re wrong, but instead am trying to help them engage in more mindful practices around the use and adoption of new information.