essay questions about media and information literacy

Chapter 9: Media and Information Literacy

Oreva had nearly two dozen tabs up, showing various websites, videos, and journal articles on her research topic. At first, she was excited by all the information she was findings on the Mali Empire, a Western African Kingdom that flourished from about 1200 to 1600 ADE, that she wanted to present her informative speech on for class. However, as the night deepened, and it dawned on her that she might be pulling an all-nighter at the library, she became more and more despondent. Now, she just listlessly clicked from tab to tab, unable to concentrate on any source for long because there was just so much to read on the topic. A hand on her should startled her out of her reverie: “Hey, are you okay,” said a woman with glasses and brown hair, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder. “Wow, it looks like you have quite a lot of work ahead!” “ Tsh -yeah,” Oreva grumped. “I’m going to be here all night at this rate.” “Do you know how you’re going to organize all of those sources? Do you have some system?” “If you mean, ‘Do I have enough coffee to stay awake all night reading’ then yes,” Orevea joked. “Nah, I mean an actual system , ” the woman laughed. “Do you mind if I gave you some tips? ” “ Sure , but why are you being so helpful? To I look that clueless? ” Oreva asked. “ Oh goodness, no , ” the person reassured . “ I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name’s Rebecca and I’m a research librarian. I’m here to help!”

Have you faced the same trouble as Oreva when looking for credible information? On the surface, it seems like it has never been easier to find material on any topic, whether on politics, fashion, science, relationships, or culture. To get this information, most people turn to search engines. Google search is the most used search engine on the internet, constituting nearly 92% of search engine market and processing nearly 9 billion requests per day (Mohsin, 2023). Although Google is an amazingly efficient search engine, as we talked about in Chapter Eight, it is a webcrawler program —meaning it picks up anything on the web that it detects is similar to your search keywords as well as other considerations such as advertisements and traffic. As such, search engines such as Google , Bing , Yahoo , or DuckDuckGo do not, and cannot, evaluate whether the information your search gets is necessarily factual, reliable, or credible, only what is related or paid for.

Another way that many people get their information from is their preferred social media platform. As Walker and Matsa (2021) found, Facebook still has the largest share of U.S. Americans who get their news from that platform (31%). However, for adults between 18-29, the preferred platforms are Snapchat (63%), TikTok (52%), Reddit (44%), and Instagram (44%) (Walker & Matsa, 2021). Collectively, approximately 79% of U.S. Americans reported getting news through social media websites. Much like the Google search engine, these searches may lead you to what is viral, popular, or trending, but not necessarily what is factual. Social media platforms also inhabit a grey area in media laws—on one hand they are not content producers of the news and have little legal obligation to ensure what is shown on their platform is credible information. On the other hand, they have enormous influence on how people interact with the news because it is the primary way people do engage with media content. Some social media companies have tried to—with varying degrees of success and effort—to combat misinformation , but since their revenue is advertisement generated, they have a monetary incentive to push information that promotes engagement (no matter the reason) not facts.

Unfortunately, there are many bad actors who take advantage of this weakness in search engines or social media platforms. For example, China’s “ Great Fire Wall ” serves to keep out content produced outside of their country while its 50 Cent Army (or wǔmáodǎng) amplifies pro-China propaganda abroad. Russia’s Internet Research Agency is a well-known troll-farm, spreading disinformation and propaganda in an effort to increase tensions, unrest, and dysfunction within enemy countries (including the United States) (Craig Silverman, 2023) while cracking down on Western internet traffic as it pursues its unjust war against Ukraine (Bandurski, 2022). Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter , has cut down on Twitter’s infrastructure to identify, track, and remove untrue, malicious, and unsubstantiated content (Drapkin, 2023) while Facebook has banned university professors studying the spread of disinformation on its platform (Bond, 2021). Entire platforms, such as The Parlor , Truth Social , 4Chan , and 8Kun pride themselves on having little or no content moderation, allowing users to spread everything from targeted hate campaigns to weird or malicious conspiracy theories such as QAnon .

Social media influencers use their vast networks to sell their products, generate advertisement revenue, and run morally and legally dubious operations, such as Stephen Crowder, Gwyneth Paltrow, or Andrew Tate. All of these problems, and more, are even more frightening in the context of research that has found that the top false news traveled through social networks faster and reach approximately 100 times more people than true news (Vosoughi et al., 2018). Your responsibility, as a content consumer and producer, is to make sure that you can identify, avoid, and create information that is rigorously made and vetted. In a democratic society, people make decisions, and their decisions can only be as good as the information they have to inform them. Spreading or consuming bad information (whether intentionally or not) makes it impossible to come to the best decisions for laws or policies for our communities.

Vetting Sources

The challenge of today is not finding information—it’s finding good information. Unfortunately, most people do not develop their information literacy skills and, instead, rely on mental shortcuts to make their decisions. For example, McGeough and Rudick (2018) found that students in public speaking classes made appeals to authority (e.g., “I found it in the library so it must be credible”), appeals to form/style (e.g., “The article was professionally formatted and in a print newspaper so I thought it was reliable”), appeals to popularity (e.g., “A lot of people use this source so it must be good”), and appeals to their own beliefs (e.g., “I am pro-guns and 2 nd Amendment, so I searched for information on ‘problems with gun control’”) when making their presentations. There are many reasons people rely on these shortcuts—lack of formal education, time constraints, stress, or unwillingness to develop ideas that are contrary to their important social groups (e.g., their religion or family). These shortcuts can influence how you vet, read, and use information for your presentations. Many times, students make decisions to choose their information sources because they have limited time (e.g., waiting until the night before an assignment is due) and cognitive bandwidth (e.g., they are stressed due to other class’s demands on time and attention). However, now is the time to develop these skills. If you do not know how to identify or create factual content, then you are more likely to make information choices based on convenience instead of rigor.

In this section, we offer one way that you can start to develop a stronger set of information literacy skills. We wish to be clear—this is not the only way to vet information, nor should this be the end of your journey on being a better information consumer or producer. You will need to routinely practice, revise, and update your skills. Doing so is especially important because internet trolls, online scammers, predatory corporations, and malicious governments are constantly updating their strategies for spreading misinformation and disinformation. Here, we’ll use the information literacy program SIFT to offer some guidance on vetting your sources (Caufield, 2017), informed by the best practices of the Association of College and Research Libraries .

The SIFT method has been found to an excellent way for students to begin learning information literacy skills because it encourages lateral reading (Brodsky et al., 2021). SIFT includes four moves: stop, investigate the source, find trusted coverage, and trace back to the original.

Before you even begin searching the Internet for information, STOP. What is your research purpose (e.g., to persuade, inform, or motivate)? What are you trying to do with the information you are looking at? Are you being open to competing or opposing viewpoints or have you searched using keywords that will automatically limit what kind of information you are going to get? Often, novice searchers have a vague idea of what they are looking for and then land on the first source that seems to connect to their topic. If you search this way, you are likely to land on information that has a particular viewpoint and then find yourself over focusing on it and excluding other information. Worst case scenario, you may find yourself in an echo chamber regardless of the credibility of information. Next, once you have found a source or a series of sources, STOP. Do you already think this source is credible, and if so, why? Relying on it because it is the first result of a search or because it agrees with your beliefs are poor reasons for relying on it. If you don’t know if it is credible or not, what criteria will you use to ascertain whether the source is worthwhile? Here, you should look at the reputation of the outlet (e.g., the news media corporation, academic journal, social media content producer, or individual expert or witness). Do they have a history of truth telling? Or, maybe they only have a history of reporting information that already affirms your beliefs or discounts/ignores competing views. If you don’t know if the source has a history of disseminating credible information, then you need to execute the next moves to ascertain its reliability.

Investigate the Source

If you have encountered a source that you never have before and/or if you don’t know if it is reputable or not, then you need to do some research on the outlet and/or author. What is their expertise and agenda? For example, many non-profit policy organizations such as the Heartland Institute , Heritage Institute , Cato Institute , Americans for Tax Reform , and the Family Research Council receive millions of dollars in donations from tobacco, oil, and gas industries or conservative religious groups. As result, a great deal of their policy downplays the harms of smoking cigarettes, hydraulic fracturing (i.e., fracking), climate change, and/or attacks LGBTQ rights and families. Many people might believe these are reputable sources because they are .org sites instead of .com sites, but .org simply means that it is an organization—there is no obligation on the part of that organization to give better information due to its .org status. This is not to say you should never visit these sources. There might be a need to know what a problem is or why it hasn’t been solved yet, and going to sources that promulgate bad information is a way to trace how untrue, harmful, or hateful content can negatively affect decision-making about a variety of issues. However, sources that are biased because of politics, faith, money, advertisement, or personal relationships must be approached with caution. By figuring out not just what a source says, but why it says it and who benefits from its advocacy, you can be a better content producer and consumer for your community.

Find Trusted Coverage

Next, is their advocacy in line with other outlets and, if not, why? That is, you should go to websites that offer information on the same topic to see if there is broad consensus or disagreement about the topic. For example, maybe the source you are using is older than a more recent source, indicating that knowledge in this field has changed. Or, the author has a fringe or minority view within a field that has broad consensus about an issue. To be clear, we are not saying that information that is generally agreed upon is always correct. However, when there is broad agreement on a topic then it requires a greater burden of proof for those who advocate against the established position. For example, NASA reports that approximately 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is occurring, is affected by human pollution, and will negatively affect people around the world. But, don’t just take NASA’s word for it— The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , the United Nations , World Health Organization , and hundreds of other governmental, corporate, non-profit, and academic sources agree on these propositions. To disagree with this, a person would need to demonstrate climate change is not occurring, that if it is occurring humans aren’t the cause for it, and/or that climate change will not harm people— an extremely high burden of proof given the number of sources that agree these things will occur or are occurring. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and refuting generally agreed on propositions is considered an extraordinary claim. All-too-often, people promote misinformation or disinformation by claiming to have insider knowledge that “they” (i.e., Big Government , Big Pharma , the Illuminati , the Lizard People , etc.) don’t want you to have. This type of discourse is especially useful on U.S. Americans because, culturally, most of our media and history is shaped by the idea that brave truth-tellers, patriots, or morally clear-eyed individuals are often a lone voice against a throng of the evil and ignorant. However, it is important to remember that real-life decisions should be based on facts and facts are something that can and should be agreed to and recognized by the majority of experts on a given topic (no, your uncle posting bad memes information from FreedomEagle.net/ patriotsforcoal is not an expert!). Those who cannot meet this burden of evidence only use this cultural idea to hide the fact that they simply cannot meet the evidential burden of their position and do not want you to draw on other sources that might disagree with their analysis.

Trace the Original

Finding the original source of information is more and more important as it becomes easier to share content and information across the Internet and social media. For example, in response to a medical study, news outlets reported: “Silent, not deadly; how farts cure diseases” (Burnett, 2018), “Sniffing your partners’ farts could help ward off disease” (Sun, 2017), and “Scientists say sniffing farts could prevent cancer” (UPI, 2014). However, tracing their claims to the original study reveals a much different picture. The study (Le Trionnaire, 2014) showed how hydrogen sulfide, compound associated with (among other things) the disgusting smell of rotten eggs or human flatulence, may be delivered to the mitochondria of cells to as a way to fight disease and cancer. The study did not say farts cured disease or cancer or even that the compound hydrogen sulfide did; rather, the report made the more limited claim that the compound may be used as a tool in fighting disease and cancer and its efficacy is promising. Pictures, video clips, tweets, reactions, and even (as we see in this example) full medical studies can be condensed into clickbait titles that are meant to provoke anger, frustration, laughter, or sadness—because in the world of social media algorithms all of those emotions translate into engagement which means more advertisement dollars. You must be able to trace information to its original source and then evaluate whether the information that you have read is accurately reported and credible. Otherwise, you may find yourself sniffing farts for no reason!

It is important to remember that no one, single study, article, podcast, or YouTube video proves or disproves anything. Rather, it is only in reading laterally multiple sources or studies published over years that a clearer picture of credible information emerges. Using SIFT, you can begin to develop the skills that allow you to see information claims as part of a wider network of efforts moving from ignorance to knowledge. For example, the non-profit group Center for Scientific Integrity that tracks retracted academic articles (i.e., articles that have been published but later removed because of research misconduct or fabrication) shows how some scholars have abused their responsibilities as researchers. In one case, Yoshitaka Fuji, a Japanese researcher in anesthesiology and ophthalmology, was forced to retract 183 published papers (Stromberg, 2015)!

On one hand, it is chilling to know how long Fuji was able to elude detection. On the other hand, catching errors (whether intentionally made or not) is exactly why scholars engage in lateral reading. Researchers may review the findings of a study against other studies to see if their findings agree with past work or conduct the same tests to see if they get approximately the same result. If they don’t, then it raises questions about the surety of the previous study’s claims, inviting scrutiny and changing knowledge claims as more evidence supports or doesn’t the original study—which is ultimately how Fuji’s research was found to be fraudulent.

All of this is to say, there is no magic bullet, no one good type of source that will ensure that you have good information. It is a constant practice and one that encourages you to not take mental shortcuts. Working to make sure you are informed, demanding that your sources provide factual information, and informing others with high quality information are the only ways that all of us live in a healthy information ecosystem. As the old saying warns, “Garbage in, garbage out,” or, when you consume bad information, you’ll likely produce bad decisions or conclusions. So, don’t settle for garbage!

Reading Journal Articles

You’ve found a variety of sources, used SIFT to test them, and feel confident that they offer a clear picture of the side or sides of an issue. Great! But, as you begin trying to read the journal articles, you find them to be incredibly dense and difficult to get through. Don’t worry—this is a common problem experienced by novice researchers. We find that one of the challenges of reading research articles is that novice researchers try to read the entire article from start to finish to ascertain if it is worth using or vetting. We wish to be clear—not all journal articles follow the format guidelines we explain here. Some articles are opinion pieces, reviews of books, arguments with fellow researchers, or creative pieces that aren’t easily captured in the type of organization we outline here. Therefore, we implore you to go beyond the advice we give here and develop a wide set of tools for reading a variety of research articles.

However, we do believe this approach to reading articles a great place to start and can provide the foundation for being a good researcher. Therefore, we encourage you to follow this order of reading your articles as you begin researching so you can reduce your time searching for articles, increase your comprehension, and utilize the most valuable knowledge in the manuscript. As you develop as a researcher in your area of study, you will most likely need to develop new skills until you reach mastery in your subject.

Title/Abstract

The title of a research article will contain the major concepts, ideas, theories, method of analysis, or insights from the study. For example, the study “ Highlighting the intersectional experiences of students of color: A mixed methods examination of instructor (mis)behavior ” by Vallade et al. (2023) describes the research participants (i.e., students of color), major concepts (i.e., intersectional experiences and instructor (mis)behaviors), and research methodology (i.e., mix-methods or a combination of quantitative and qualitative research). You should also read the study’s abstract, which appears on the first page of the article. The abstract is usually a 100–300-word outline of the study’s purpose, relevant literature, research method/design, major findings, and implications. By reading the title/abstract, you can get a good idea on whether the article connects to the topic you are studying or not. If not, go onto the next article and read its title and abstract. If so, then you need to proceed to the next step.

Introduction

The introduction of the article is usually not notated or labeled as such. Rather, it is simply the first part of the article, which proceeds from the very start to the first major section heading of the article. The introduction of the article should detail the research purpose, which usually contains two elements. The first is the ‘practical’ issue or the actual challenge, issue, or topic the article responds to. This information lets the reader know what problems they will be able to solve or mitigate by finding out what the researchers found. The second, is the ‘theoretical’ issue, which details the academic questions or gaps that the study tries to address. This content shows the reader how the researchers are building on past scholarship in this area and justifying the need for the present study.

Literature Review

The final section you should read is the literature review. Sometimes the literature review is named ‘Literature Review,’ but often it is not explicitly named. Instead, it is understood that the first major section heading after the introduction is the beginning of the literature review. The purpose of the literature review is to provide a summarization of all the past research that has been conducted in the past about the topic. The literature review should also show how the current research is meaningfully building on that information and should end with the hypotheses or research questions that the study will address. Remember, you should rarely, if ever, cite work from the literature review. Rather, when you find any important information you find in this section, you should find the literature being cited in the reference section and go read that particular study or source.

The method section will describe who (e.g., the participants and their demographic information) or what (e.g., the documents, speeches, or content) they got data from. It will also detail what procedures were used to gather data (e.g., surveys or interviews) or texts (e.g., documents, speeches, or content). For example, in a statistical report, it will show what survey instruments were used and how reliable they have been in past studies as a way to justifying their use in the present study. Finally, the section will detail how the researchers analyzed the data in order to come up with new insights. This could be the author or author team’s explication of their statistical procedures used to test a hypothesis. The method section is important to examine because even if the results and discussion are important, if the method section shows a poorly designed research project, then those insights showed be read with extreme caution.

Results/ Discussion

Now you are going to skip everything between the introduction and the section labeled ‘Results’ or ‘Findings’ and ‘Discussion’ or ‘Implications’ in the article. Novice researchers often think that the whole research article is something that can be cited from. However, information in the introduction, literature review, or method sections is often a summary of past research or information on the topic. In other words, it a secondary source, since you are relying on the author of the present article to understand and convey the information from past studies to you. The information in the results section should be the statistical tests, interview excerpts, or other information that is produced through the application of the research method. The discussion section should summarize what the findings or results of the research article were as well as detail (or, discuss) the implications of the study for the production of knowledge on the topic. Much like the introduction, the discussion will most likely explain the ‘practical’ and ‘theoretical’ implications of the study. In other words, it will describe how the knowledge produced through the research should inform peoples’ actions as they try to address the problems the research responds to (practical) as well as make a case for how it extends or challenges the existing research in that area for future researchers to build on in their own work (theoretical). The information in the article that is new, or is a primary source, is the information in the results and discussion. Therefore, if you find something in the literature review that is helpful, important, or worth noting, you should go to the reference list, find the source, and read the original source so you can cite it in your own work. If you don’t, and you cite information from the literature review in your own work, this is a form of academic dishonesty because you never actually read the original source.

We admit, sometimes research writing is needlessly difficult to read. We remember the first time we read an article that stated, “Due to the established lacunae in the field…” and were intimidated by the word “lacunae.” What does it mean? How important is it? It sounds so daunting! Lacunae, however, just means “gaps” or “holes.” The author, in establishing that there are missing answers to questions that were important to their field of study, used a word that immediately caused consternation and confusion from their audience. This word choice is an example bad writing because it needlessly confuses their audience, which should always be avoided! However, sometimes, technical jargon is necessary. The difference between a vein or artery, mitochondrion or ribosomes, verb or adjective, or discourse and rhetoric are important distinctions within their respective fields of study.

Often, we find that novice researchers, when encountering a new or unfamiliar word, just pass over the word in their reading and don’t use dictionaries to look it up because they: A) aren’t motivated to; or B) they feel like doing so is an admission of ignorance. However, if you wish to be able to consume and vet knowledge from a source, you will need to be able to understand what is written and that burden, ultimately, falls on you (the reader) to do the work to figure it out. Passing over a word, whether due to laziness or anxiety, robs you of a chance to grow your knowledge on a subject and eliminates the possibility that you can use or refute the information in a meaningful way.

Verbal and In-Text Ways to Cite Sources

After you have found a wide range of sources on the topic, winnowed them down to the ones that are the most reliable and credible, and mined them for information regarding your topic, it is time to put them in your speech or writing. We find that citing information can be some of the most anxiety producing work that students do. Often, they report getting incomplete, conflicting, or erroneous information about citing sources. As a result, many students put little effort into their citation practices because they think, “I’m going to get it wrong anyway, so why try?”

Conversely, some students rely solely on computer apps, such as EasyBib , BibTex , or Bib I t Now to do their citations for them. Relying on apps doesn’t build your information literacy skills. Doing so means you never bothered to learn how to do it correctly since there was an app that you thought would do it for you and, therefore, you won’t be able to tell if the program is producing a correct citation or not. As we’ll see later, these programs often incorrectly cite work. In short, you need to learn how to properly cite materials and practice those skills.

We cannot stress enough that properly citing your sources is an incredibly important practice in your work. Not only does it ensure that you are sharing information with others in a responsible way by letting them know where you got your information from, it also increases your credibility with your audience because they recognize your effort to keep them fully informed. Citation guides provide standardized system for reporting your sources so that your listeners or readers know exactly how and where to find your sources. There are a variety of ways to cite your information for your audience, but in this chapter, we’ll focus on the two most common styles: the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide and the Modern Language Society (MLA) handbook.

Verbal Citation

When giving a presentation, you need to verbally cite your sources so your audience can ascertain the quality of your sources. Failing to do so can make your audience to doubt or disagree with the content of your speech even if your information is correct. To avoid this, you need to verbally cite your sources in a way that supports your work while not being overly cumbersome to your speech and interrupting your flow. We suggest you use three pieces of information every time you cite something verbally: Name of Source , Credibility Statement of Source , Year of Publication . Here are a few examples of what you might say:

Dr. McGeough, who is a leading researcher in ancient Greek rhetorical philosophy, argued in a 2023 research article that…

In 2022, the World Health Organization, an internationally renowned inter-governmental body that studies health and medicine, reported…

In a research study spanning from 2015 to 2020, the internationally recognized data scientists at the Pew Research Center tracked voting habits of various groups and found…

Do you see the Name of Source , Credibility Statement of Source , Year of Publication in each of the examples? Although you can report the information in a variety of ways, each contains the information. Typically, you don’t have to give more information than this because doing so makes your speech awkward and filled with a lot of extraneous information. If your audience wants more specific information about your sources, they can ask for your written citations. You should have a “References” (APA) or “Works Cited” (MLA) paper or (if using a slideshow app such as PowerPoint or Google Slides) on the final slide. In those case, make sure to write out the reference information based on our advice below.

In- T ext Citation

There are two primary ways that you can cite information in text, or in the body of your writing. The first is called summary or synopsis . Luckily, we cite and report information the same whether it is a summary or synopsis. Let’s take the following passage that we might find in an academic journal article (sometimes called a periodical ): “After surveying 200 participants, the study found that people like dogs more than cats, hamburgers more than hotdogs, and cake more than pie.” Now, we’ll create a summary in both APA and MLA:

McGeough and Golsan (2023) discovered that people like dogs more than cats.

Researchers have discovered that people like dogs more than cats (McGeough & Golsan, 2023).

McGeough and Golsan discovered that people like dogs more than cats (1).

Researchers have discovered that people like dogs more than cats (McGeough and Golsan 1).

The sentences can be written either way, but both contain information that is specific to their citation style. Notice how in APA, the in-text citation shows the authors’ last names, the year of publication, and uses the ampersand symbol (“&”) whereas the authors last names, the page number the information was found on, and the word “and” was needed in MLA (we made up the year of publication and page number for the sake of the example). Also, notice how the summary focuses on one finding, even though the research found peoples’ preferences on three different things. If we had reported on all three findings, in our own words, then it would have been a synopsis. We can also write a direct quote if we cite it properly. For example:

Past research has found that “people like dogs more than cats, hamburgers more than hotdogs, and cake more than pie” (McGeough & Golsan, 2023, p. 1).

Past research has found that “people like dogs more than cats, hamburgers more than hotdogs, and cake more than pie” (McGeough and Golsan 1).

Note, that in APA, we have now added the page number to help a reader find the information that we are quoting whereas citation in MLA doesn’t change. In both cases, though, we use quotation marks to indicate that we are directly quoting material from a source. You must copy information from the source word-for-word if you are using a direct quotation.

Written References

Your references (APA) or works cited (MLA) pages are where you collect all of the information for your sources into one place. Doing this makes it easier for your reader to find the information you use in your writing. Let’s use the article, “Academic advising as teaching: Undergraduate student perceptions of advisor confirmation” and see how to cite it properly in your papers. First, let’s compare out how the citation appears on the article’s first page , Bib It Now , and proper APA :

Scott Titsworth, Joseph P. Mazer, Alan K. Goodboy, San Bolkan & Scott A. Myers (2015) Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning, Communication Education, 64:4, 385-418, DOI: 10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998

(Article’s first page)

Titsworth, S., Mazer, J. P., Goodboy, A. K., Bolkan, S., & Myers, S. A. (2015). Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning. Communication Education. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/doi/full/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998

(Bib It Now)

Titsworth, S., Mazer, J. P., Goodboy, A. K., Bolkan, S., & Myers, S. A. (2015). Two meta-analyses exploring the relationship between teacher clarity and student learning. Communication Education , 64 (4), 385-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998

Can you see the differences? The third citation is the correct way to cite it in APA. The differences you see are why it is so important to know how to cite information properly. If you just relied on the journal article or app, then your citation would be incorrect and you wouldn’t be informing your audience of your information in the standardized way. Let’s try it with MLA now:

Titsworth, Scott, et al. “Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning.” Communication Education, 9 June 2015, www-tandfonline-com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/doi/full/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998.

Titsworth, Scott, et al. “Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning.” Communication Education , vol. 9, no. 4, 2015, pp. 385-418, https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998 .

Again, can you spot the differences? The final example is the correct way to cite an article in MLA.

The examples we just gave are for journal articles, but there is a unique way to cite almost anything: tweets, textbooks, websites with authors, websites without authors, YouTube videos, and a whole lot more. There are thousands of books, blogs, online writing centers, and YouTube/TikTok videos on citation. We suggest you visit a reputable website that offers sample papers so you can compare your work to what is the correct, standard way of citing and formatting your paper. We recommend (and often use ourselves!) the Online Writing Lab (or OWL) website from Purdue University, which offers sample papers in APA and MLA .

As you look at the sample paper and your own, sing the children’s song from Sesame Stree t : “One of these things is not like the others/One of these things just doesn’t belong/Can you tell which thing is not like the others/By the time I finish my song?” That is, if your paper looks different than the sample paper’s formatting, in-text citation, or reference/works cited page, yours is most likely the one that is incorrect—fix it! When students turn in papers that do not adhere to proper formatting, then there are two primary explanations: either the student didn’t take the time/energy to do the work properly or the student cannot follow Sesame Street rules and make corrections to their paper based on comparing their work to a sample paper. Frankly, neither is a good look, which is why your professors (and audience) will get frustrated if you don’t take the time to properly reference your sources.

When you are trying to inform, persuade, or motivate your audience, you need to be able to communicate why you have come to the conclusions you have based on the evidence you have gathered. If you cannot explain why you believe something or if you believe something for poor reasons (e.g., “my family believes this,” “my friends all say this,” or “everyone knows this”), then you have not lived up to your responsibility to be a good, careful researcher. Being able to vet your evidence is the first step to not only demanding that you are an informed person, but that others around you live up to their responsibility to communicate in ways that are factually supported about important topics or problems you and your community may face.

Communication for College, Career, and Civic Life Copyright © by Ryan McGeough; C. Kyle Rudick; Danielle Dick McGeough; and Kathryn B. Golsan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Teenagers and Misinformation: Some Starting Points for Teaching Media Literacy

Five ideas to help students understand the problem, learn basic skills, share their experiences and have a say in how media literacy is taught.

By Katherine Schulten

In a sense, every week is Media Literacy Week on a site like ours, which helps people teach and learn with the news. But Oct. 24-28 is the official week dedicated to “amplifying the importance of media literacy education across the United States.” We are delighted to help.

Here are some ways teachers and librarians can teach with the extensive reporting The New York Times has done recently on misinformation and disinformation, whether your students are just beginning to understand the problem, or whether they are ready for deeper inquiry.

1. Get the big picture: What is media literacy education? Why do we need it?

If you have time for just one activity, this one, based on the Times article “ When Teens Find Misinformation, These Teachers Are Ready ,” can provide a broad overview and help frame future work.

To start, share the statements in italics, all adapted from the article. You can do this as a “ Four Corners ” exercise in which you read each line aloud and ask students to position themselves in the room according to whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. Or, you can hand out the PDF version and have students mark each statement “true” or “false” based on their own experiences, then discuss their reactions — and the experiences that informed those reactions — in partners or small groups.

Here are the statements:

It’s easy to look at stuff on social media and take it as it is and not question it.

Older adults are more likely to struggle to recognize fake news than young people and are also the most likely to share it.

I have come across misleading and false narratives about the upcoming midterm elections online.

I have come across misleading and false narratives about the Covid-19 pandemic online.

If it’s gone viral, it’s probably true.

A .org domain makes a website trustworthy.

Media literacy is a necessity for everyone because of the way we live online today.

Some young adults share misinformation because they think it is true.

Some young adults share misinformation impulsively, because they are too busy to verify the information.

Most young adults talk to their parents and guardians about what makes media sources trustworthy.

TikTok is a primary information source for people my age.

Social media often reduces complex issues to one-sentence explanations.

A lot of young people are politically polarized at a very young age, and are angry at anyone who believes differently than they do.

Media literacy education should start in middle or even elementary school, when children are just beginning to venture online.

The way media literacy is taught needs improvement.

After your students have finished the exercise, discuss as a class what you discovered. On which statements was there broad agreement? On which was there disagreement? Why do they think that was? What personal experiences would they like to share that helped inform how they feel about the subject of “media literacy”? What, if anything, do they think schools, teachers and librarians should do to improve how they teach about these topics?

Finally, have them read “ When Teens Find Misinformation, These Teachers Are Ready ,” perhaps annotating to note their reactions as they go. You might then ask:

1. What jumped out at you as you read? Why?

2. This article describes many ideas, including curriculums, games and even legislative initiatives, that have been tried in recent years to support media literacy in public schools. Which of these, if any, were familiar to you? Which, if any, do you wish our school could adopt?

3. What problems with teaching media literacy did this article identify? Do you think our school has experienced any of these struggles? If so, what should we do about them? Why?

Then, to take the discussion further, you might continue to some of the exercises below.

2. Have students share their experiences and opinions — and offer adults advice .

What don’t adults understand about teenage life on the internet?

How, if at all, can schools help?

Via our Student Opinion column , we ask teenagers a new question every school day based on something in the news, and thousands of young people from around the world post comments in reaction every month.

For Media Literacy Week, we have published a forum that invites teenagers to answer questions like the two above , and encourages them to share experiences and opinions about what it’s like to navigate their digital lives in 2022. We ask them about their media literacy education so far, and invite them to offer adults advice for how to make it more relevant, interesting and useful.

If your students have thoughts about any of these topics, we hope they’ll join the conversation, either by posting a comment, or by replying to comments from others.

3. Learn from teen fact-checkers.

The video above is from the MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network , which publishes fact-checks for teenagers, by teenagers. According to the site, the network’s “fact-checks are unique in that they debunk misinformation and teach the audience media literacy skills so they can fact-check on their own.” Here is a collection of some recent fact-checks they have done, but you can see more on Instagram , YouTube , Twitter and Facebook . You can also find a related “toolkit” of lesson plans to help.

What skills do these students use? Among others, they have mastered lateral reading, a quick and effective method mentioned in the article students read above.

Mike Caulfield, a digital literacy expert, explained the rationale for that method in a 2021 interview with Charlie Warzel, a former Times opinion writer. In “ Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole ,” Mr. Caulfield argues that the way we’re taught from a young age to evaluate and think critically about information is fundamentally flawed and out of step with the chaos of the current internet:

“We’re taught that, in order to protect ourselves from bad information, we need to deeply engage with the stuff that washes up in front of us,” Mr. Caulfield told me recently. He suggested that the dominant mode of media literacy (if kids get taught any at all) is that “you’ll get imperfect information and then use reasoning to fix that somehow. But in reality, that strategy can completely backfire.” In other words: Resist the lure of rabbit holes, in part, by reimagining media literacy for the internet hellscape we occupy. It’s often counterproductive to engage directly with content from an unknown source, and people can be led astray by false information. Influenced by the research of Sam Wineburg, a professor at Stanford, and Sarah McGrew, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Mr. Caulfield argued that the best way to learn about a source of information is to leave it and look elsewhere , a concept called lateral reading .

Invite your students to read the full piece. In it, they will learn how Mr. Caulfield has refined the process fact-checkers use into four simple principles:

1. S top. 2. I nvestigate the source. 3. F ind better coverage. 4. T race claims, quotes and media to the original context. Otherwise known as SIFT.

To go deeper, students might first watch a Crash Course video about lateral reading, then learn how to put it into practice via Stanford’s Civic Online Reasoning site . You might then invite them to practice it with information they come across in their social media feeds. What are the benefits of this approach? What are the limits? How well does it arm them to navigate information on their own, outside of school?

Finally, they might either revisit the Teen Fact-Checking Network to identify where they see those skills in action or, if they are ready, produce their own videos that fact-check the information they find in their feeds.

4. Invite students to investigate your school’s media literacy offerings and make recommendations.

Does your school have a media literacy program? How effective is it? Invite your students to investigate and make recommendations, perhaps by starting with questions like these, and involving your school librarian or media specialist:

What is our school doing to teach media literacy?

Is it working? How can we measure that?

Does it teach students skills they will actually use to evaluate information they come across in their private lives as well as at school? Does it work for all the places and ways students access information, or does it need broadening or updating somehow?

Identifying the problem is, of course, a lot easier than solving it, but your students’ next step might be to learn about what has been effective elsewhere. Articles like the one we recommend in Step 1 include ideas for how schools and regions in the United States are tackling the problem, and this Opinion piece further details ideas from Finland and Estonia.

What additional ideas can your students find by researching? Which might work for their school? Why? If they were to write up a set of recommendations to share with school leaders, what would those recommendations include?

5. Help students “access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act” with these additional resources.

One of the winning videos from The Learning Network’s 2018 “ News Diet Challenge ” for teenagers.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media literacy as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.”

Here are ways to do that — via The Learning Network, The New York Times and some trusted outside sources.

Apply Key Media Literacy Questions to Information of All Kinds

How credible is this and how do I know?

Is this fact, opinion, or something else?

Can I trust this source to tell me the truth about this topic?

Who might benefit from this message? Who might be harmed by it?

How does this make me feel and how do my emotions influence my interpretation of this?

How might different people understand this message differently?

Is this message good for me or people like me?

Those are the questions that NAMLE suggests students ask when evaluating media , and you can find similarly useful information and questions in their short guides to how to access , analyze , create and act on media. Invite them to practice answering them as they apply the information that crosses their screens, whether articles in The New York Times, advertising, memes on social media, or anything else. To help, we have posted all the questions on this PDF.

Use The Learning Network’s Journalism and Media Literacy Collection

All of our daily and weekly features — including multimedia activities like What’s Going On in This Picture? , our lesson plans and our many annual student contests — are focused on media literacy and help young people “access, analyze, evaluate, create and act.” But our Journalism and Media Literacy page collects resources that are especially focused on helping students understand how the news is created, and how it can be safely consumed.

For example, here are some things you can find:

An idea from a teacher-reader: News Groups: A Simple but Powerful Media Literacy Idea to Build Community

A lesson plan tied to a student contest: Improving Your ‘News Diet’: A Three-Step Lesson Plan for Teenagers and Teachers

Tips for students from Times journalists: Want to Write a Review? Here’s Advice From New York Times Critics.

A writing prompt: Do You Think Online Conspiracy Theories Can Be Dangerous?

Keep Up With Times Reporting on Misinformation and Disinformation

The New York Times has an entire team of reporters covering misinformation and disinformation.

For instance, do your students know that the qualities that allow TikTok to fuel viral dance fads are also making it a “ primary incubator of baseless and misleading information ”? The articles below explore how:

For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine

On TikTok, Election Misinformation Thrives Ahead of Midterms

TikTok Is Flooded With Health Myths. These Creators Are Pushing Back.

Toxic and Ineffective: Experts Warn Against ‘Herbal Abortion’ Remedies on TikTok

TikTok Is Gripped by the Violence and Misinformation of Ukraine War

Snorting Crushed Porcelain, Face Reveals and a TikTok Lawsuit

Wasn’t TikTok Supposed to Be Fun?

Find Additional Resources Through These Media Literacy Organizations

The description below each link was taken from the sites themselves.

The Stanford History Education Group’s Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum

Students are confused about how to evaluate online information. We all are. The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities and the world.

National Association for Media Literacy Education

The association aims to make media literacy highly valued and widely practiced as an essential life skill. It envisions a day when everyone, in our nation and around the world, possesses the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication. Media literacy education refers to the practices necessary to foster these skills.

The News Literacy Project

This nonpartisan education nonprofit is building a national movement to advance the practice of news literacy throughout American society, creating better-informed, more engaged and more empowered individuals — and ultimately a stronger democracy.

KQED’s Above the Noise

A YouTube series for teens, Above the Noise cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting their daily lives. The series investigates controversial subject matter to help young viewers draw their own informed conclusions, while inspiring media literacy and civic engagement. Teachers can also find related lesson plans.

Media Literacy Now

This group leverages the passion and resources of the media literacy community to inform and drive policy change at local, state and national levels in the United States to ensure all K-12 students are taught media literacy so that they become confident and competent media consumers and creators.

The Media Education Foundation

The foundation produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical thinking about the social, political and cultural impact of American mass media.

Common Sense Education

This organization provides a variety of media literacy resources including courses and curriculum, research on media literacy, a news and media literacy resource center as well as a list of other media literacy organizations worth exploring.

News Decoder

This site partners with schools around the world to teach media literacy and journalistic skills that enable students to create and consume media responsibly.

Find more lesson plans and teaching ideas here.

Katherine Schulten has been a Learning Network editor since 2006. Before that, she spent 19 years in New York City public schools as an English teacher, school-newspaper adviser and literacy coach. More about Katherine Schulten

Information Literacy and Media Literacy for Students and Teachers

A Teacher’s Guide to Media and Information Literacy

What is literacy.

Up until fairly recently, when we used the term ‘literacy’ in a discussion, it would most likely be in reference to the reading and writing of texts.

These days, however, the definition of literacy extends well beyond its once conventional use in reference to words on pages. Today, we commonly talk of various types of literacies, such as financial literacy , digital literacy , or even emotional literacy .

Rather than speak of literacy as exclusively referring to the ability to read and write, it is now more accurate to think of literacy as an ability in a specific area of knowledge.

It’s in this context that we will use the term here. In this article, we will explore media and information literacy , what they are, how they intersect, and how you can approach teaching them in your classroom – either as discrete subjects, or interwoven with other areas of the curriculum.

A Complete Teaching Unit on Fake News

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Teach them to FIGHT FAKE NEWS with this COMPLETE 42 PAGE UNIT. No preparation is required,

The Importance of Media and Information Literacy

The importance of literacy has been well recognized by governments around the world for a for a considerable length of time. Literacy rates have long been used as an indicator of a nation’s development – such is the importance of being able to read and write for a citizen to fully engage as a functioning member of society.

Undoubtedly, we now live in an information age. Daily, we take in huge amounts of information through a vast array of largely digital media. It is essential that our students are empowered to access, organize, analyze, evaluate, and create in this context. To do this successfully, we must help them to become information and media literate.

Media and Information Literacy

If media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in all its forms, then information literacy refers to the ability to recognize when information is required, how to locate and evaluate it, as well as the ability to effectively communicate that information in all its forms, both traditional and modern.

We can see here that there is already a significant crossover between the two terms. Not surprisingly, for the sake of convenience, they are often used almost interchangeably.

To help disentangle the concepts, it can be useful to think of information as being the content, with media being the tools by which that content is delivered.

We can also combine these various aspects under the umbrella term Media and Information Literacy , or MIL , though they may also appear as separate disciplines in many syllabuses and curriculum.

Developing the essential abilities listed above, enables our students to engage fully as active citizens by developing their critical thinking and communication abilities. This process begins by grasping the basic concepts of the subject. Let’s take a look at some of the most important of these.

Media and Information Literacy: Basic Concepts

It’s true to say we live in an increasingly connected world and spend more time than ever before exposed to media in all its myriad shapes and forms.

From traditional media formats such as newspapers, printed books, TV, and radio to more recent developments such as email, ebooks, online games, and apps, we have never been more inundated by the media and its messages in our day-to-day lives.

Understanding the basic concepts of media and information literacy will help students to navigate the complexities of this ever-encroaching world.

1. Types of Media

For students to begin thinking seriously about media, they first need to be able to classify media into its various types. Broadly speaking, there are 3 types of media:

i. Print Media

ii. Broadcast Media

iii. New Media

i. Print Media refers, unsurprisingly, to the printed word, that is, media reproduced mechanically via the printing process which is then physically distributed.

ii. Broadcast Media refers to media that is distributed or transmitted to its audience via the airwaves, such as TV and radio.

iii. New Media refers to media that is organized and distributed via the various digital platforms.

A good explainer video on Information literacy for students and teachers

Types of Media: Reinforcement Activity

This is an effective exercise to help students learn to distinguish between these different forms of media. First, brainstorm with the class the different specific examples of media they can think of, for example, newspapers , radio , podcasts, etc. List these on the whiteboard. Then, have students sort the items listed on the whiteboard into one of 3 columns printed on a worksheet as follows:

Media Convergence

As well as understanding these 3 main types of media as defined above, it may arise during discussion that some examples don’t easily fit into one single category. The term media convergence refers to media that coexists in traditional and new media forms.

We can see this clearly in the existence of print and online versions of newspapers, for example, where content can exist in both paper and digital forms. The underlying concept of media convergence is that the various media platforms become more similar over time.

2. The Purpose of Information

Before students begin to do the deeper level work of evaluating information, they should learn to give some thought to the purpose of various forms of information. Drawing out the purpose of the information in the first place will help enormously when it comes to assessing its credibility at a later stage.

There are a number of legitimate reasons for information to be held by media and other information providers such as museums, archives, the internet, and libraries.

These reasons include to:

●     Inform

●     Educate

●     Entertain

●     Gather together

●     Provide access

●     Facilitate teaching and learning

●     Promote values and rights

●     Preserve cultural heritage

Purpose of Information: Reinforcement Activity

This exercise is best undertaken as a group project over a period of time such as a week or two.

Instruct students to gather together a broad range of information and media and perform a survey of each sample to assess the reason behind its creation and/or existence. The reasons listed above as bullet points will provide a good starting point, though also allow for the possibility the students may uncover reasons other than those listed above.

Opening each item to a whole class discussion can be a rewarding way to encourage the sharing of different perspectives on the purpose of each sample.

For higher-level students, on completion of this activity you may wish to engage in a discussion on what restrictions, if any, could justifiably be placed on media and information and in what contexts those would be.

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⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

3. Mass Media and Critical Thinking

With video streaming sites, social platforms, digital billboards, and podcasts, electronic media infiltrates many of our waking hours. And, though we have benefited from this mass and instant communication in our personal and business lives, it poses many challenges for us as individuals.

With 4.2 billion people inhabiting the online world, all sending and receiving innumerable messages, our students need to develop specific strategies to navigate and filter this potentially overwhelming sea of information.

The 5 Filter Questions

Students need to exercise their critical faculties when engaging with media to avoid passively accepting the views and opinions embedded there.

They can begin this process by routinely examining new media in the light of 5 key filtering questions:

1. WHO created this message?

2. WHAT techniques were used to capture the attention?

3. HOW could this message be interpreted by different people?

4. WHY is this message being communicated?

5. WHAT values, views, lifestyles are being expressed or omitted in this message?

These 5 filter questions will help students develop a firm foundation for critically engaging with the various media they are exposed to. They will help students to distinguish between factual reporting and fake news and clickbait from measured critique.

If you are searching for an excellent article on critical thinking be sure to check out this great guide from edgalaxy.com

Mass Media and Critical Thinking: Reinforcement Activity

Be sure to offer students ample opportunities to use the 5 filter questions in the classroom. You can easily achieve this by asking one or more of these questions when discussing a text or viewing a film, for example.

You could also organize the students into small groups and assign them a media item to analyze in reference to the above 5 questions. With lots of practice, students will begin to consider all new information and media in light of these important questions, becoming in the process active rather than passive consumers of information.

4. Representation in the Media

In media and information literacy, the ways in which various groups, communities, thoughts, and ideas are portrayed form an important area of study within the subject.

Investigations into this area will quickly rid students of the idea that media merely reflects the reality of the world around them. Any examination of representation in media quickly reveals that the media re -presents the reality around us as much as reflects it. This examination reveals much about the media and ourselves in the process.

By examining what is presented, what is omitted, and how things are framed, students delve deeper into the attitudes, values, politics, and psychology of the media-makers. They will also shine a spotlight on some of their own perceptions, perspectives, and biases too.

Representation in the Media: Reinforcement Activity

Though examining representation in media can spark classroom discussions on some quite sensitive and even contentious topics, it can be extremely engaging and valuable for students.

While you can explore representation in any number of media, music works very well for many of our young people.

Music is central to much of youth culture. It can inform everything from young people’s attitudes to politics and sex, to the clothes they wear and the way they speak. It can also serve as fertile ground for the examination of how various groups, communities, values etc are represented.

In this activity, allow students to choose a music video to explore. This will usually be best done in small groups to keep the ideas flowing and to allow for some passionate discussion. Students should watch the video, listen to the song, read the lyrics and analyze representations of gender, race, and sexuality etc.

The 5 filter questions mentioned in the previous section can work well here to get the process started. Just be sure students maintain their focus on the central idea of representation as they ask each question.

5. Analyzing Advertising

Advertisements are pretty ubiquitous. Whether we consume old or new media, advertising will likely play a large part in what we engage with.

Indeed, advertisements often serve as the main revenue stream to fund the production of many forms of media. In this regard, they can even be considered to perform a valuable function in assisting in the dissemination of information.

No doubt about it, advertising has come a long way since the early 20th century with the obviousness of its radio jingles and roadside billboards.

Today, advertising comes in ever more subtle and sophisticated guises. At times these can be so understated or indirect that we may not even realise we are being sold to.

From sponsored content masquerading as impartial articles to cleverly placed products attempting to sneak in through the backdoor of our subconscious, the omnipresence and complexity of advertising make this is an important area of study within the subject.

Analyzing Advertising: Reinforcement Activity

With advertising intruding on so much of our lives, finding samples to use for this activity will be like shooting those proverbial barrel-dwelling fish.

For this activity, organise students into small work groups, distribute an advertisement to each group, and then encourage them to analyze how the advertisement works.

Regardless of the media used, encourage the students to look at the advertisement in terms of its emotional appeal, the technical and design components, and who the advertisement is targeted at.

When the groups have had a chance to dissect their advertisements, have them make a brief presentation to the class on what they have learned about how it works.

Video Lesson: How to analyze print media?

In this article, we have provided an introduction to some of the main concepts and ideas that form the core concerns of the subject of Media and Information Literacy. It is, however, by no means an exhaustive list.

Further reflection on some of the topics raised will open up a rich seam of interesting and important issues to explore in the classroom, whether in the form of discrete MIL lessons, or woven into other areas of the curriculum.

The fodder for lessons and learning opportunities within this area, much like media and information themselves, is practically inexhaustible.

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ARTICLES RELATED TO INFORMATION LITERACY

6 Ways To Identify Fake News: A Complete Guide for Educators

How to Write an Advertisement: A Complete Guide for Students and Teachers

Top Research strategies for Students

5 Ways to Teach Critical Thinking in Media Literacy to Fight Fake News

a complete guide to teaching critical thinking and fake news to students

Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Students are often asked to write an essay on Media And Information Literacy in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Understanding media and information literacy.

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is knowing how to smartly handle and use information from different sources like TV, internet, and books. It’s like learning to swim in a sea of endless news, pictures, and videos.

The Importance of MIL

It’s crucial because it helps you tell what’s true from what’s not. With MIL, you can make better choices about what to read, watch, and share. It’s like having a map in the world of media.

Learning to Check Facts

A big part of MIL is learning to check if something is correct. Before believing a story, see if trusted places also report it. It’s like double-checking your answers in a test.

Using Media Wisely

MIL teaches you to use media in a good way. It means not spending too much time on screens and knowing that not everything online is good for you. It’s about making smart media choices.

Sharing Responsibly

With MIL, you learn to think before you share something online. Ask yourself if it’s helpful, true, and kind. It’s about being a good friend in the digital world.

250 Words Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Media and Information Literacy, or MIL, is knowing how to smartly use the internet, newspapers, books, and other ways we get information. It’s like learning how to fish in a huge sea of news and facts. With MIL, you can tell which fish are good to eat and which might make you sick.

Why MIL is Important

Today, we get bombarded with tons of messages and pictures through our phones, TVs, and computers. Some of these are true, but others are not. MIL helps you sort out the truth from the lies. It’s like having a special tool that helps you know which friend is telling the truth and which is just making up stories.

One part of MIL is checking if something is true or not. Before you believe a story, ask yourself: Who wrote this? Why did they write it? Is there proof? It’s like being a detective, looking for clues to solve a mystery.

MIL also teaches you to use media in a good way. It means spending the right amount of time watching TV or playing games and also using the internet to learn new things. Think of it as a diet for your brain—you need a mix of fun, learning, and rest.

Sharing the Right Information

Lastly, MIL helps you share information the right way. Before you send a message or a picture to others, think: Is it kind? Is it necessary? Is it true? By doing this, you can be a hero who helps stop lies and spread kindness.

500 Words Essay on Media And Information Literacy

Media and information literacy is like learning how to read a map in a world full of signs and messages. It teaches us how to understand and use the information we get from television, the internet, books, and other sources. Just like knowing how to read and write helps us in school, media literacy helps us make sense of the news, advertisements, and even social media posts we see every day.

The Need for Media Literacy

We live in a time when we are surrounded by a sea of information. From the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed, we are bombarded with messages from our phones, TVs, and computers. With so much information coming at us, it’s important to know what is true and what isn’t. This is where media literacy comes in. It helps us tell the difference between facts and opinions, and it teaches us to ask questions about what we see and hear.

Spotting Fake News

One of the biggest challenges today is fake news. This is information that is made to look real but is actually made up to fool people. Media literacy gives us the tools to spot fake news by checking where the information comes from, who is sharing it, and whether other reliable sources are reporting the same thing. By being careful and checking the facts, we can avoid being tricked by false information.

Using Information Wisely

Information isn’t just about news. It’s also about understanding how to use the internet safely and responsibly. Media literacy teaches us to protect our private information online, to be respectful to others, and to understand how our clicks and shares can spread information quickly, for better or for worse. It’s like learning the rules of the road before driving a car.

Advertising and Persuasion

Advertisements are everywhere, trying to persuade us to buy things or think a certain way. Media literacy helps us see the tricks advertisers use to grab our attention and make us want something. By understanding these tricks, we can make better choices about what we buy and believe.

Creating Media

Media literacy is not just about what we take in; it’s also about what we put out into the world. With smartphones and the internet, anyone can be a creator. Media literacy teaches us how to share our own stories and ideas in a clear and honest way, and how to respect other people’s rights and feelings when we do.

In conclusion, media and information literacy is an important skill for everyone, especially students. It helps us navigate through the vast amount of information we encounter every day and use it in a smart and ethical way. By being media literate, we can be better students, smarter consumers, and more responsible citizens in our digital world.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Media And Information Effect On Communication
• Essay on Media And Globalization
• Essay on Media And Crime

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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What is media literacy, and why is it important?

The word "literacy" usually describes the ability to read and write. Reading literacy and media literacy have a lot in common. Reading starts with recognizing letters. Pretty soon, readers can identify words -- and, most importantly, understand what those words mean. Readers then become writers. With more experience, readers and writers develop strong literacy skills. ( Learn specifically about news literacy .)

Media literacy is the ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages they're sending. Kids take in a huge amount of information from a wide array of sources, far beyond the traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines) of most parents' youth. There are text messages, memes, viral videos, social media, video games, advertising, and more. But all media shares one thing: Someone created it. And it was created for a reason. Understanding that reason is the basis of media literacy. ( Learn how to use movies and TV to teach media literacy. )

The digital age has made it easy for anyone to create media . We don't always know who created something, why they made it, and whether it's credible. This makes media literacy tricky to learn and teach. Nonetheless, media literacy is an essential skill in the digital age.

Specifically, it helps kids:

Learn to think critically. As kids evaluate media, they decide whether the messages make sense, why certain information was included, what wasn't included, and what the key ideas are. They learn to use examples to support their opinions. Then they can make up their own minds about the information based on knowledge they already have.

Become a smart consumer of products and information. Media literacy helps kids learn how to determine whether something is credible. It also helps them determine the "persuasive intent" of advertising and resist the techniques marketers use to sell products.

Recognize point of view. Every creator has a perspective. Identifying an author's point of view helps kids appreciate different perspectives. It also helps put information in the context of what they already know -- or think they know.

Create media responsibly. Recognizing your own point of view, saying what you want to say how you want to say it, and understanding that your messages have an impact is key to effective communication.

Identify the role of media in our culture. From celebrity gossip to magazine covers to memes, media is telling us something, shaping our understanding of the world, and even compelling us to act or think in certain ways.

Understand the author's goal. What does the author want you to take away from a piece of media? Is it purely informative, is it trying to change your mind, or is it introducing you to new ideas you've never heard of? When kids understand what type of influence something has, they can make informed choices.

When teaching your kids media literacy , it's not so important for parents to tell kids whether something is "right." In fact, the process is more of an exchange of ideas. You'll probably end up learning as much from your kids as they learn from you.

Media literacy includes asking specific questions and backing up your opinions with examples. Following media-literacy steps allows you to learn for yourself what a given piece of media is, why it was made, and what you want to think about it.

Teaching kids media literacy as a sit-down lesson is not very effective; it's better incorporated into everyday activities . For example:

• With little kids, you can discuss things they're familiar with but may not pay much attention to. Examples include cereal commercials, food wrappers, and toy packages.
• With older kids, you can talk through media they enjoy and interact with. These include such things as YouTube videos , viral memes from the internet, and ads for video games.

Here are the key questions to ask when teaching kids media literacy :

• Who created this? Was it a company? Was it an individual? (If so, who?) Was it a comedian? Was it an artist? Was it an anonymous source? Why do you think that?
• Why did they make it? Was it to inform you of something that happened in the world (for example, a news story)? Was it to change your mind or behavior (an opinion essay or a how-to)? Was it to make you laugh (a funny meme)? Was it to get you to buy something (an ad)? Why do you think that?
• Who is the message for? Is it for kids? Grown-ups? Girls? Boys? People who share a particular interest? Why do you think that?
• What techniques are being used to make this message credible or believable? Does it have statistics from a reputable source? Does it contain quotes from a subject expert? Does it have an authoritative-sounding voice-over? Is there direct evidence of the assertions its making? Why do you think that?
• What details were left out, and why? Is the information balanced with different views -- or does it present only one side? Do you need more information to fully understand the message? Why do you think that?
• How did the message make you feel? Do you think others might feel the same way? Would everyone feel the same, or would certain people disagree with you? Why do you think that?
• As kids become more aware of and exposed to news and current events , you can apply media-literacy steps to radio, TV, and online information.

Common Sense Media offers the largest, most trusted library of independent age-based ratings and reviews. Our timely parenting advice supports families as they navigate the challenges and possibilities of raising kids in the digital age.

Home — Essay Samples — Information Science and Technology — Digital Literacy — The Importance of Media and Information Literacy to Students

The Importance of Media and Information Literacy to Students

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Media and information literacy is the key for smart and well-informed citizens

The Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week 2018 started today with its Feature Conference, the Eighth International MIL and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Conference, taking place in Kaunas, Lithuania. The Feature Conference is hosted by the Vytautas Magnus University, and is co-organized by UNESCO and the University of Latvia.

Representatives from the host country, the host university, European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO were present at the Opening Session. They stressed the role of MIL in countering disinformation, cyberbullying and online hate speech, empowering youth and stimulating civic participation. They also addressed the need for MIL as a way to help citizens engage with the current complex field of media and information.

The Feature Conference was opened by Juozas Augutis, Rector of the Vytautas Magnus University, who said “ only a well-educated, open to the world and critically thinking person can resist manipulations, look deep into the issues, evaluate the contexts and make their own judgements. ” The University has a UNESCO Chair in Media and Information Literacy for Inclusive Knowledge Societies, occupied by Dr Kristina Juraite.

Irena Vaisvilaite, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Lithuania to UNESCO, spoke of her country’s history and emphasized the importance of MIL development in the country.

“ Media and information literacy is literacy for life in the digital age, ” said Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information. “ Smart cities supported by artifical intelligence … require smart inhabitants, and MIL is the key to having smart citizens in sustainable and inclusive cities. ”

A message from H.E. Valdas Adamkus, former president of Lithuania and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Construction of Knowledge Societies, stated: “ Democracy needs strong citizens‘ support and involvement. News media and information literacy (i.e. ability to use the media and engage in the public space in an intelligent, responsible and creative way) should be considered as an answer to the increasing demand for active and informed citizenship, appreciation of journalism and democracy. ”

The need to navigate through a fog of digital disinformation and information was a common theme in the opening remarks, with several speakers voicing concerns about elections.

Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department, Council of Europe said, “ Unlike the industrial revolution, the digital revolution transforms our lives surreptitiously, silently and almost imperceptibly. It is not loud and boisterous but impacts our societies and rights profoundly and irreversibly. ” He continued: “ The expertise is in this room. We have to build on your skills and competences to make media and information Literacy a reality. ”

“ We hope our democracy will not be at stake because of people who are posting disinformation online ”, stated Anni Hellman, representative of the Deputy Director-General of European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect).

“ We were taught to read (books) and we learned them by heart… I think it’s rather tragic that the children of today, first we teach them to read, and then we teach them, well, what you read, (that) may not be true ”, expressed Hellman.

Speakers also urged greater resources for teachers, parents and schools in MIL education. Keynote speaker Divina Frau-Meigs, professor from Sorbonne Nouvelle University, highlighted the internet landscape and the importance of educators in the “MIL for change” process.

During the Opening Session, three individuals and two organizations were recognized and received the GAPMIL Global MIL Awards prizes during the awards ceremony. The winners are as below:

First Place: Jane Tallim and Cathy Wing of MediaSmarts in Canada.

Second Place: The Jordan Media Institute, Jordan, and Mr Hemmo Bruinenberg (Netherlands)

Third Place: Autonomous University of the State of Morelos, Mexico

The UNESCO website and MIL CLICKS provides more information on the awardees and their MIL initiatives.

The official start of the Global MIL Youth Hackathon and elections for the International Steering Committee of the UNESCO-led Global Alliance for Partnerships on MIL were also announced.

Global MIL Week 2018 will be celebrated until 31 October. Its Feature Conference will continue until 25 October, and its Youth Agenda Forum will be held on 26 October in Riga (Latvia). See more about the Week of Celebrations here.

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5 Essential Media Literacy Questions

• December 13, 2017

Children today are inundated with technology more than previous generations, but how much is too much? And is all technology created equal? From TV and movies to tablets and smartphones, children have a rich media diet that can have both a positive and negative effect on healthy development.

Not only does media play a huge role in a child’s life at home, but technology has reshaped early education making it necessary for teachers to consider the balance and benefits of applying media into coursework.

The need for media literacy education

As a nonprofit that produces computer-based curriculum, we obviously believe technology and interactive media can have many positive effects on furthering a child’s education. But we also strongly believe that digital devices need to be used appropriately and intentionally to support learning.

It is important, then, for parents and mentors to know how they should apply media literacy into a child’s life. This is particularly true of early learners making it necessary for guidelines to be set for young children to receive the most benefit from technology.

What is media literacy? The National Association for Media Literacy Education defines media literacy as a way to improve critical thinking, reading and writing and effective communication when used appropriately and intentionally for learning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Association of Young Children (NAEYC)  have published guidelines to more clearly offer recommendations for media literacy and how technology should be used among young children.

Why is media literacy important to early childhood?

Educating young children about media literacy requires the responsibility of parents and mentors. It is recommended that parents interact and talk to children as they use technology tools to teach young learners. Parents should join their children as they watch high-quality programming so that they can help their child understand what they are viewing.

NAEYC suggests the following guidelines for media use among young learners:

• Allow children to explore digital materials with a mentor who will converse and help the child learn new vocabulary and recognize how to use the tool.
• Avoid passive screen time. When toddlers are upset, they rely on the comfort of a parent, not the use of technology.
• Technology should be used for active learning.
• Utilize assistive technology when appropriate for children with special needs.

Developing media literacy education

To help meet the need for media literacy education, earlier this year the Erikson Institute conducted a symposium, Media Literacy in Early Childhood: A Critical Conversation . Policymakers, educators, and media developers attended the meeting to discuss how media literacy can be integrated into learning for children of all ages.

The symposium addressed how technology should be used as a platform for families and communities to learn together. Several downloadable resources became available for parents and educators to discuss within their families and local communities.

Chip Donohue, Director of Erikson Institute’s Technology in Early Childhood Center stated, “When we talk about media literacy, we also need to talk about the adults in children’s lives. Each one is a potential ‘media mentor.’”

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15 Media Literacy Interview Questions and Answers

Prepare for the types of questions you are likely to be asked when interviewing for a position where Media Literacy skills will be used.

In a world where we are constantly bombarded with media messages, it’s more important than ever to be media literate. Media literacy is the ability to critically analyze and evaluate media messages. It’s a skill that can be applied to all forms of media, including advertising, television, film, music, and social media.

If you’re applying for a job in the media industry, or any job that requires strong communication skills, you can expect to be asked interview questions about media literacy. To help you prepare, we’ve compiled a list of sample questions and answers.

• What is media literacy?
• Why is it important to be media literate in the modern world?
• Can you explain what a meme is?
• What are some examples of memes that have gone viral in recent times?
• How does media literacy affect how we view movies?
• What do you understand about agenda setting theory?
• What role can social media play in spreading misinformation?
• Are there any limitations on freedom of speech with respect to the spread of false news or propaganda?
• Is it possible for a single person to influence public opinion through social media? If yes, then how?
• What’s your opinion on fake news and the effect it has had on society recently?
• What kinds of media messages do you think should be regulated by law and why?
• Do you think a government agency should regulate content on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook?
• Can you give me an example of a real-world situation where media literacy helped prevent a potential disaster?
• Should children be taught media literacy skills in school at a young age? If yes, then why?
• As a parent, what steps would you take to make sure your child doesn’t fall prey to online predators?

1. What is media literacy?

This question is a great way to show your interviewer that you understand the importance of media literacy and how it can help people. You should answer this question by defining media literacy, explaining why it’s important and giving an example of how you used media literacy in your previous role.

Example: “Media literacy is the ability to critically analyze media content for bias, misinformation or propaganda. It’s important because it helps people make informed decisions about what they consume online. In my last position as a digital marketing specialist, I worked with a client who wanted to increase their brand awareness on social media. We created a campaign that focused on creating quality content rather than just posting ads.”

2. Why is it important to be media literate in the modern world?

This question is a great way to show your interviewer that you understand the importance of media literacy and how it can help people in their everyday lives. When answering this question, make sure to explain why media literacy is important and what its benefits are.

Example: “It’s important to be media literate because it helps us navigate our world more effectively. For example, if I’m reading an article online about a new restaurant opening up in my neighborhood, I can use media literacy skills to determine whether or not the information provided by the author is credible. This allows me to make better decisions for myself and my family.”

3. Can you explain what a meme is?

This question is a great way to test your knowledge of media literacy. It’s also an opportunity for you to show the interviewer that you can explain complicated concepts in simple terms.

Example: “A meme is a piece of media that spreads from person to person online. Memes are usually images with text overlays, but they can be videos or GIFs as well. They’re often humorous and relatable, which makes them easy to share. Some memes have even become so popular that they’ve been turned into merchandise.”

4. What are some examples of memes that have gone viral in recent times?

This question is a great way to test your knowledge of memes and how they have affected society. It also shows the interviewer that you are up-to-date with current events. When answering this question, try to provide examples of memes that were positive or negative in nature.

Example: “Memes can be used for both good and bad purposes. For example, there was a meme that went viral on social media where people would take pictures of their pets and add captions like ‘my owner’s an idiot.’ This meme became so popular that it led to many people being fired from their jobs because of it. On the other hand, there was another meme that went viral where people would post pictures of themselves holding signs that said ‘I am not a thief’ when they saw someone else stealing something.”

5. How does media literacy affect how we view movies?

This question can help an interviewer understand your media literacy skills by asking you to apply them in a real-world context. You can use this opportunity to show how you analyze the content of movies and other forms of entertainment, as well as how you might be able to improve the viewing experience for others.

Example: “I think it’s important to view movies through a critical lens because they often portray unrealistic situations or characters that may influence our perceptions of what is normal. For example, I recently watched a movie where the main character was constantly being verbally abused by her boyfriend but never left him. This type of portrayal could lead viewers to believe that staying in an abusive relationship is okay, which is not true at all. By analyzing movies like this one, we can learn more about how to avoid similar situations in our own lives.”

6. What do you understand about agenda setting theory?

This question is a great way to test your knowledge of media literacy and how it applies to the real world. When answering this question, you can explain what agenda setting theory is and how it works in practice.

Example: “Agenda setting theory is a concept that explains how news outlets influence public opinion by creating an agenda for the public. The theory states that people are more likely to pay attention to information if they think it’s important. In my experience, I’ve seen this theory play out many times when I was working as a journalist. For example, when covering a local election, we would report on all the candidates running for office and their platforms. This helped our audience understand who they could vote for and why.”

7. What role can social media play in spreading misinformation?

Social media is a powerful tool that can be used to spread misinformation. Employers want to know if you understand the risks of social media and how to mitigate them. In your answer, explain what steps you would take to ensure accurate information on social media platforms.

Example: “Social media has made it easier for people to share news stories without checking their sources. This can lead to false information being shared widely online. I believe we need to teach students about the importance of verifying information before sharing it. If they learn this skill early, they will hopefully continue to do so as adults.”

8. Are there any limitations on freedom of speech with respect to the spread of false news or propaganda?

This question is a great way to assess your understanding of the First Amendment and how it applies in today’s media landscape. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand the importance of free speech while also recognizing its limitations.

Example: “Freedom of speech is one of our most important rights as Americans, but there are some instances where it can be limited. For example, if someone were to make a statement that incited violence or was libelous, they could face legal consequences for their actions. However, I believe that freedom of speech is an essential part of democracy and we must protect it at all costs.”

9. Is it possible for a single person to influence public opinion through social media? If yes, then how?

This question is a test of your critical thinking skills and ability to analyze situations. It also shows the interviewer that you understand how social media works.

Example: “Yes, it’s possible for one person to influence public opinion through social media. However, this usually happens when someone with a large following shares their opinions on a topic or event. For example, if an influential celebrity tweets about a political candidate, many people will see that tweet and may decide to support that candidate as well. This is because we tend to trust others who are similar to us.”

10. What’s your opinion on fake news and the effect it has had on society recently?

This question is a great way to gauge your media literacy skills and how you apply them in real-world situations. It’s important to show that you understand the impact fake news can have on society, but it’s also crucial to demonstrate that you know how to identify it and avoid sharing it yourself.

Example: “I think fake news has had a huge effect on our society recently because people are more likely to believe something they see online than something they hear from someone else. I try my best to be aware of what I’m reading and where I’m getting my information from so I don’t fall victim to believing everything I read without doing some research first.”

11. What kinds of media messages do you think should be regulated by law and why?

This question is a way for interviewers to assess your understanding of the First Amendment and how you would apply it in practice. Your answer should show that you understand the importance of free speech, but also that you are willing to support some forms of regulation when necessary.

Example: “I think there are two kinds of media messages that should be regulated by law. The first kind is those that incite violence or harm others. I believe these types of messages should be regulated because they pose a threat to public safety. The second type of message that should be regulated is those that violate privacy. These messages can cause emotional distress and financial loss, so I think they should be restricted.”

12. Do you think a government agency should regulate content on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook?

This question is a great way to assess your understanding of the First Amendment and how it applies to social media. Your answer should demonstrate that you understand the importance of free speech in America, as well as the role government agencies play in regulating content on social media platforms.

Example: “I believe that while the government can regulate content on social media platforms, they must do so with extreme caution. The First Amendment protects our right to freedom of speech, which includes the ability to express ourselves freely online. While I think there are instances where government regulation may be necessary, I would prefer if companies like Twitter and Facebook were able to regulate themselves.”

13. Can you give me an example of a real-world situation where media literacy helped prevent a potential disaster?

This question is a great way to show your interviewer that you understand the importance of media literacy and how it can be used in real-life situations. When answering this question, try to provide an example that shows how media literacy helped prevent something bad from happening.

Example: “In my previous role as a social media manager for a large company, I noticed some negative comments on our Instagram page about one of our products. After looking into the situation further, I realized that there was a lot of misinformation being spread about our product online. I created a campaign to educate people about the truth behind the rumors and provided links to reputable sources so they could learn more. This resulted in a huge increase in sales.”

14. Should children be taught media literacy skills in school at a young age? If yes, then why?

This question is a great way to show your passion for media literacy and how it can help students succeed in the future. If you are applying for a teaching position, this is an excellent opportunity to showcase your skills as a teacher.

Example: “Yes, I believe children should be taught media literacy skills at a young age because they will have more time to practice these skills before entering adulthood. This means that by the time they reach high school or college, they will already have developed good habits when it comes to consuming media. They will also understand what types of information to look for online and how to evaluate sources.”

15. As a parent, what steps would you take to make sure your child doesn’t fall prey to online predators?

This question is a great way to assess your media literacy skills as a parent. It’s important for parents to be aware of the dangers their children may face online, and it’s equally important that they know how to protect them from these threats. Your answer should include steps you would take to educate yourself on online predators and what you would do to keep your child safe.

Example: “I think it’s incredibly important for parents to understand the risks their children may face online. I would start by educating myself about common online predators and warning signs to look out for. Then, I would make sure my child knows not to give out personal information online or meet up with anyone they’ve met online without me present.”

15 Influencing Interview Questions and Answers

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

Author Interviews

Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.