Fake News: Is Media Literacy a Solution?
The world today feels mired in crisis. Democracies are under increasing pressure from fringe and populist political parties, who leverage the connective technologies of the web to further expand their voice and impact. In places like France, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, populist groups have surfaced with strong support for nationalist agendas, supported by online […]
Why is Media Education Critical in Today’s Attention Economy?
Today, in 2018, being media literate is fast becoming an essential skill to have. Although propaganda and the shaping of opinion is not something new, the current media environment makes the process of influencing people’s mind and behaviour much more effective and works on a larger scale using sophisticated tools such as surveillance machinery […]
Preparing African Youth for a Post-Truth World
The Internet has changed the process of information gathering and dissemination around the world. Young people in Africa, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, have been impacted by this new phase in the evolution of communication. The Internet revolution has created opportunities and problems – “fake news,” hate speech, online radicalization, […]
Media Literacy: A Key to Digital Citizenship
Mass media play an increasingly significant role in today’s society. Even when one is not searching for information, mass media permeate everyone’s environment, influencing their world view and decision-making. Therefore, young people need to consciously and critically analyze and evaluate mass media messages and only then decide how to respond. Otherwise, they will not […]
What is Media Literacy and How Should We Teach it?
Although we in the media literacy field are delighted that we are receiving long-overdue recognition and movement towards more implementation of media literacy initiatives, the true mission and character of the global media literacy movement is in danger of being drowned out with uninformed noise. Let me be clear: media literacy is NOT just: […]
What Happens in a ‘One Subject for the Entire Day’ Classroom?
My schooling experience in an education system that taught through rote learning convinced me that Mark Twain was right about not mixing his schooling with his education. Like me, most students from different parts of the world who went through such a system would agree that learning in schools can be boring, mostly irrelevant, stressful […]