Blog 7: Media Credibility

February 23, 2009 cindymendes
Tags: credibility, critical thinking, lies, media literacy

The current explosion of mainstream digital media has given access to a wide range of information, all made available with a simple click of a mouse. Students no longer have to go to the library for research material; rather, everything is at the tip of their fingers, literally. Information has now become so easily accessible and is presented in a portable and interactive manner to grasp the interests of younger audiences. As a result, numerous learning and social opportunities have been created which have enhanced the general education and development of younger generations. Paradoxically, as the rate of information accessibility increases, the quality and veracity of such has decreased. This creates a burden on the individuals who must now attempt to locate appropriate and accurate information. Individuals must now assess whether or not the information is accurate, relevant and credible.

The contemporary media environment provides students with an unlimited amount of resources that are often portraying a message that is quite believable to its audience. However, since the internet is a free medium that can be used by any individual, any and all information can be true or false, and very little emphasis is made on the information used to back up such claims. Younger groups of students often copy paste the information gathered, and spend little to no time evaluating where such information originates from.

There is presently a dearth of enquiries which explores how children perceive and recognize information they’ve gathered online. One can perhaps parallel the experiences of children’s lack of understanding of advertisements in the media with the way they process online information. This may provide some insight into how children have a distorted perception on media credibility which simply highlights the need for new media literacy.

The web environment is complex and difficult to navigate through. The vast amount of information and ease at which one can post often poses many tribulations, especially to those who are still contemporary internet users. The consequent difficulties one has simply demonstrates why media literacy education programs are crucial to the development of critical and analytical thinkers.

Hidden Identity

Media literacy concerns not only educational purposes, but life purposes as well. Newscasts and updates are often first posted on the internet before they appear in print. It is therefore imperative that today’s media audience is well erudite and judicious. The war in Iraq is a prime example which demonstrates the media’s power over its audience. The media is such a powerful and influential tool that can be put to good or bad use. In the case of the Iraqi war, many individuals abused their positions of power and used the media to create propaganda in an attempt to further their own agendas. Critical and investigative thinking must therefore be used in order to prevent such mass forms of misinformation. Through media literacy programs that begin at early ages, our future generations can regain control over political and social issues. This gain in hegemony will in turn improve the current media’s credibility.

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

Entry Filed under: Lies Through Media

← Blog 6: Civic Engagement

Pod Cast →

7 Comments Add your own

1. guest | February 23, 2009 at 4:28 pm

this is completely true. well said. the amount of false information on the internet is alarming. it is troublesome to think about the way younger generations perception of the truth is being slowly distorted biased on the amount of false information and advertising they are displayed in the media and on the internet. many people underestimate the internet the the complexity of it and the difficulty of finding valid information. this post raises a significant point which i think says a lot about the way our society works right now.
2. Els | February 23, 2009 at 4:44 pm

I agree with the large majority of what you say,especially when you comment on students copying and pasting information,from experience i have known many friends who are students using information from the internet without checking its credibility,only to find out it hasnt been very factual.
3. ShyAngela | February 24, 2009 at 12:23 am

The same can be said for television, telephones, and various other devices that have so much potential, and yet are often used at their most basic capabilities. Sadly, it falls upon the user to decide how the world influence them.
4. hanna | February 24, 2009 at 10:05 am

i completely agree
if you are not really internet savvy, it is hard to decide if sources are reliable or not.
also, todays youth is losing the skill of doing proper research as many schools allow them to just used internet sources
5. Marina | February 24, 2009 at 10:24 am

I really agreed with alot of what you said. It was well said. I liked it =D keep up the good work.
6. Danny | February 24, 2009 at 1:04 pm

yup … i totally agree ..
7. Melissa | March 1, 2009 at 7:22 pm

I agree completely. I think that America, as a whole, had become entirely too dependent on the internet. This is becoming a problem especially with the youth of our country. Instead of having to go to the library and find a book and read the information in it, youth now just have to copy and paste; most of the time just skimming over the information & not absorbing its’ content. Agreeably, the problem comes when the media is not reporting news in its truth. So now we have kids who are taking a short cut to get the work done, but the work isn’t even correct most times. Who do we place the blame on? Parents, children, media?