Misinformation has long been present in our society.
Whether through incorrect or sensationalist reporting by journalists, hoaxes, or urban legends passed down, untrue stories have been presented as fact and believed by segments of the population.
Today, the popularity of social media platforms as a source of news and the decline of mainstream media has resulted in misinformation being more widespread than ever before.
We are witnessing something new through technology—a complex web of motivations for creating misinformation, with numerous techniques for disseminating messages at breakneck speeds.
Misinformation – which can be spread either with or without the knowledge that the story is untrue – has the potential to damage democracies, sow mistrust in social institutions and sharpen existing divisions.
Many experts have suggested programs to increase media literacy to combat misinformation as a remedy to the problem.
Professor Renee Hobbs, who heads American media and literacy education body Media Education Hub, defines media literacy as the “active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create.”
Proponents are calling for media literacy programs to be taught in schools to develop the competencies or skills to help people analyse media.
Media literacy programs ask students to critically engage with media, separate fact from falsehoods and decide which digital technologies and platforms to use and avoid.
The need for increased education around analysing news sources has been supported by a recent study conducted by Western Sydney University.
The report into Australian adults’ media literacy found most respondents have a low level of confidence in their media abilities, including checking if information online is accurate and if a website can be trusted.
The study also found four out of five adults believed the teaching of media literacy was necessary in schools, supporting the idea that formal education should play a more central role in combatting misinformation.
However, the focus on media literacy oversimplifies the issue, which leads to the view that ignorant and uneducated citizens are responsible for the current misinformation.
It’s human nature
Misinformation is so dangerous because of how it preys on human emotion.
Research into misinformation that appeared on Twitter showed content that aroused strong emotions spread further and faster, leaving misinformation 70 per cent more likely to be retweeted than real news.
Communication theorist James Carey contends that “news is not about information but about drama” and acts as “a portrayal of the contending forces in the world” under a ritualistic view of communication.
The tribal and hyperpartisan nature of social media explains why many users distribute misinformation when they don’t necessarily trust the information they share: they desire to conform and belong to a community, so they ‘perform’ accordingly.
Education focusing on media literacy cannot contend with the strong urge to react to content created to manipulate users emotionally.
Likewise, there is no easy fix to make people develop more significant self-perceptions and understand their own biases.
danah boyd writes that news literacy can further distort into distrust of the media and selective research that reaffirms beliefs.
Simply teaching students to check and analyse sources without sufficiently understanding the ritualistic elements of communication means the initiatives are deemed to fail.
It is also important to remember that media literacy programs’ success requires high-level literacy in other areas.
Septiaji Eko Nugroho, Chair of Indonesian fact-checking group MAFINDO, said the low levels of general literacy across the nation mean it is challenging to increase media literacy to detect fake news.
Other solutions needed
Education programs cannot succeed in minimising the effects of misinformation without efforts on other fronts.
Educational media literacy programs should form part of a multipronged response to combat misinformation and not be viewed as the sole solution.
An effective response to combat misinformation needs to include multinational tech companies investing in technology to identify misinformation for users and break down the algorithms and echo chambers that allow misinformation to flourish unexamined.
The government should also act to support independent news organisations and public interest journalism to help rebuild the mainstream media’s trust and credibility.
For their part, media organisations should not just debunk misinformation but strive to report engaging, powerful and emotionally provoking stories to re-engage readers.
More research also needs to be undertaken to examine the cultural factors that led to the performative element which causes users to spread misinformation.
Improved media literacy is a good start to combat misinformation, but it cannot be viewed as the sole solution to the problem.
Credit for the featured image belongs to Unsplash
Strong agree – we need more than just education about media literacy. There needs to be a range of initiatives to solve the problem of misinformation. Sadly I don’t think there is any quick or simple answer while people remain so addicted to social media and other entertainment. How can we make people want to engage with news?
I know public libraries were running some programs a few years ago on identifying fake news, as it kind of went hand in hand with trying to help people identify scams. I think one of the problems with these programs though, either for kids or adults, is that words like “media literacy”, “fake news”, and “scams” can alienate people as they assume they are smarter than that.
At one of the libraries I worked at there was a push to end each IT class with a short presentation on scams, as people might not come to a class on scams but you could make people learn about it by adding it into other programs.
I wonder if there’s some way to make media literacy more appealing though?
Media literacy should be funded by both the government and big tech companies. The problem is public institutions and private corporations have turned their backs on us. Consumers seem to be more interested in entertainment and misinformation than facts. Facts bore them for some reason and the onus is on us as journalists.
Constructive journalism is a wonderful approach, which, like misinformation, is emotive, but, unlike misinformation, is factual, rigorously researched news. It’s a form of journalism that does what breaking and investigative news don’t: looks at potential solutions to problems and provides a positive outlook whilst still being engaging.
I’m with Alex in that I also agree that combatting misinformation has to extend beyond media literacy. I think one of the drawbacks of the focus on media literacy education is the assumption that if one is educated enough, one won’t be duped. But I would argue that even a university doesn’t guarantee anything. I think about the point about the use of emotion and – my new favourite phrase – “ritualistic elements of communication” is incredibly important. I think many of us assume that journalism is meant to act simply as a conduit of information but “ritualistic elements” such as the focus on conflict and drama ensure that’s not the case (and has it ever been otherwise?).
Media literacy appears more or less self-taught and formal media literacy education would be a good start aid in this process. Personally, I feel like I had to just figure it out myself.
With the advances of digital media, ‘information silos’ and narrow casting have become more evident in the sense that it is somewhat merging with the entertainment world, which is potentially quite dangerous. Media literacy education would definitely go some way to improving this situation by helping to identify, check and analyse sources. But as you mention, more is needed by way of general literacy and understanding the art of communication.
Great article Ellen! It’s clear that people don’t have the skills to critically analyse for accuracy, credibility or bias in the content they are viewing in the media. I think educational media literacy programs is always the first step and it goes a long way. But I like how you suggested more ways are needed to tackle this problem, rather than us focusing on education alone.