MEDIA LITERACY
Week 9 - Top 10 Take-Aways
#1 will blow your mind!
10.
Where is the Truth?
There is an old saying that there is your truth, my truth, and the middle. The truth lying somewhere in the middle is something that was brought up several times during our discussion. Dr. Valenza’s blog on truthiness was brought up as was the idea that sources on each end of the spectrum have some validity, one just needs to look at them all critically and be willing to absorb information that isn’t already in line with your point of view.
9.
Analyze EVERYTHING
There were a lot of great ideas put out there in the discussion about how to analyze everything from colors in branding, company logos, advertisements, television shows and news articles. “Fake News” was brought up a lot, but it was pointed out that this isn’t the only thing we need to look at critically when thinking about Media Literacy. Great Ideas regarding the ways and shows to analyze such as South Park and Steven Universe were also shared.
8.
Good Source/Bad Source
What is a good source of news and what is a bad source? Can we really ever discount or credit a source with validity based souly on their history? The answer is no. The buzz word seemed to be BUZZFEED and how that even though there are silly quizzes that tell a person what Hannah Montana character you are, there are also potentially very valid news stories in BuzzFeed. On the other side of the coin, just because a news source is well known, such as The New York Times, doesn’t mean that everything found there is quality. Again, everything needs to be looked at with a critical eye.
7.
Penetrate Your Bubble
Michelle gave the example of kids who come to a research project with a thesis in mind without ever doing research. We often approach news the same way. We have our opinion formed and so when we search we don’t always search or read to learn, but to support the views we already have. We need to open our Twitter and Facebook feeds to views that are different than our own so we can grow.
6.
Different Views
It is important to step out of our bubbles or let others step in. We need to read news or visit websites that make us cringe, and we need to do it with a willingness to learn from views which are different than our own. We don’t always have to agree with the differing views, but in order to get the full picture of a story it is often important to view the story on two different news channels or read articles on the same event from different sources.
5.
Find the Source for your Source
One part of the First Amendment is that a journalist doesn’t have to reveal their source, so there is always the potential of a dead end, but that doesn’t mean there will always be a dead end. It is imperative that we source check our sources when consuming news. One example of this was brought up when talking about how Wikepedia isn’t the best place to end your research, but it is a good place to start. Wikipedia articles often are full of footnotes and annotations explaining where the information came from.
4.
Reverse Image Search
Several people pointed out the importance of teaching students how to do a reverse image search. This is a great tool for many reasons, one of which is to debunk fake news and propaganda. Stock photos or photos from one event can be used to talk about a totally different situation, and reverse image searching can help bring clarity to these situations.
3.
Nothing is Free
A great point was made by several classmates that nothing is free. What we see as free is often being paid for with information. This can happen when paying for conveniences such as Disney Bands and EZpasses which then have the potential for others to track our where abouts to a degree. And, it happens regularly with our internet usage and the data collected in the form of cookies, that then feed us advertisements and even news articles that we are interested in. So, when we aren’t paying for something in cash what are we using to pay?
2.
Paying for News?
Should we have to pay for news or do we have the right to it as citizens. I would say there is a little bit of truth to both statements. We already know that nothing is truly free, so we are paying for news in some way shape or form. At the very least we are paying with the advertisements that litter the page when reading news online. The First Amendment does garuntee the freedom of the Press and so we do have a right to the news, but in order to get quality, (mostly) objective reporting should we support the outlets monetarily? I don’t know that this question was ever fully answered but it an interesting thing to think about. I, for one, say that like all things we have to pay for quality, and should pay for our news.
1.
Question Authority
Gone are the days were children just do as they’re told. We learned this week that we need to not only allow students to question authority, but how to do it. This goes beyond the normal kid stuff in which a child pushes limits to see what they can get away with, but delves into not accepting anything at face value, and become critical consumers of their worlds, including their learning. We should all strive to be residents of Missouri in slogan at least and help kids learn to say, “Show Me.”
Gone are the days were children just do as they’re told. We learned this week that we need to not only allow students to question authority, but how to do it. This goes beyond the normal kid stuff in which a child pushes limits to see what they can get away with, but delves into not accepting anything at face value, and become critical consumers of their worlds, including their learning. We should all strive to be residents of Missouri in slogan at least and help kids learn to say, “Show Me.”
Compiled by Mary-Catherine Jenkins
Idea credit to Erin Collier-Plummer
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