EDITORIAL: Society cannot afford to be media illiterate

In an age in which society is driven by media of all shapes and sizes, to be literate is not enough anymore for those participating daily in society. As all media around us continues to evolve and impact one’s life, it is becoming more imperative that society is a media literate one. Moreover, media literacy is one of the most important skills to be versed in today, and should especially be a required course in higher education.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education defines media literacy as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication.” It goes on to say that “media literacy builds upon the foundation of traditional literacy and offers new forms of reading and writing; and empowers people to be critical thinkers and makers, effective communicators and active citizens.”

Someone who is media literate should, therefore, be able to decode media messages, evaluate the influence of said messages on thoughts, feelings and behaviors and thus be able to create media thoughtfully and responsibly.

Many have often held the misconception that media is simply news when the term “media” is meant to refer to all and any means of mass communication, whether it be social media, any content on the Internet, broadcasting, publishing, etc. To be media literate is essential if one is to be able to properly absorb and understand not just the news and journalism that influences the information society is driven by, but also film and television, commercials and print media such as printed advertising, magazines and newspapers.

The world has gotten to an era where there is as much misinformation for every amount of legitimate information, media literacy has long been seen as the ultimate tool to sift through the mass informational world society is in and best decide what is the truth and what is not. The truth itself can be powerful, and its articulation can sometimes be just as misleading. One of the main goals of media literacy is also being able to understand the intent and purpose behind a mass communicated message.

Media literacy stresses the importance of understanding context so that one understands the methods a filmmaker, for example, uses when making a documentary and understand one cannot always take the information presented at face value.

Aside from media literacy helping a person know how to properly be on the receiving end of mass communication, media literacy teaches society how to properly create media themselves. Whenever one seeks to communicate to the masses, he or she risks sending out a message that could be misinformation or a message that simply is not articulated properly.

As society continues to often be influenced by the tweets and posts of everyday individuals, it is even more vital to ensure that citizens are conscious of the power of their voice, and media literacy is the best controller of that voice.

Beyond helping people be more critical observers of media, studies have been found that education in media literacy is a highly effective tool in addressing a variety of public health problems faced by young people. The studies published by Media Literacy Now show how being media literate can help young people understand how unhealthy food and drugs are marketed and therefore resist appealing messages to do drugs and eat less unhealthy food.

The report also shows that being media literate allows youth to better differentiate between real life and media portrayals of sex and violence and develop healthy, practical communication skills around refusing sexual activity. With such information being considered, one can see how not being media literate takes a heavy toll not just on critical thinking skills, but also physical and mental health as a whole.

Despite having a free press, the United States is behind compared to many other countries (with a history of free press) in emphasizing and advocating media literacy. The United Kingdom is widely regarded as the leading nation in advocating media literacy, with most European countries as a whole putting greater effort into teaching media literacy. Canada has also required schools to teach media literacy for a number of years now.

Media literacy is certainly not a new topic and has been growing as an advocated subject in recent years. However, with the ever expansive media driven world that people live in, it is imperative that such a topic be a required course for students. The fact that the subject is not a required course in lower education or K-12 schools (and is usually just an elective) is all the more reason media literacy should be a required course in higher education.

Its integration into UHCL’s core curriculum would certainly not be out of place and would make sense. UHCL’s core curriculum sheet states that the Texas Core Curriculum, which is required for all students to take or obtain credit for, is meant to give students “a foundation of knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world; develop principles of personal and social responsibility for living in a diverse world; and advance intellectual and practical skills essential for all learning.”

Based on this description, there is practically no reason why media literacy would not be part of this core curriculum in some way, shape or form. Beyond the usual basics courses in math, literature, history and science, the curriculum requires students to take two classes listed under what is called “Component Area Options.” These two classes are Public Speaking, in which students learn how to be well versed in public forum, and the Learning Frameworks course, which is designed to teach students to think critically and also teach students how to successfully utilize UHCL’s resources. A media literacy course could be added as one of these component area options.

Both current component area options are designed to help students have vital skills that every productive citizen in the United States should have. Media literacy is just as vital a skill if one wants to be a well rounded and critical thinking citizen of the world. If media literacy was not made into a course, it could be further implemented into Learning Frameworks, and possibly even public speaking.

Outside of higher education, the overwhelming amount of information access allows those who are not in education to also become media literate, with many organizations providing good tips on how to begin one’s journey towards becoming more media literate.

Some of the main recommendations include being able to distinguish and see bias in a work, understanding the author’s purpose and intent, being able to find or know the sources of certain information, as well as being conscious of one’s own role and ability in creating media themselves.

Social media has made almost everyone become both the receiver and the messenger because of the various online platforms and the greater extent that technology is being utilized to make videos, music, podcasts and other forums that were once harder to create. By being conscious of the power one’s message has and the techniques used to create such media, those in and out of education take greater steps towards being media literate.

As a country that was and is built on freedom of speech and freedom of the press, it is only right that a country with one of the freest media systems have media literacy and competency as its greatest method to ensure that freedom of the press and media prospers.

Rather than have efforts to limit the freedom of media this country was founded on, media literacy should be what keeps media in check. As everyday citizens take part in the creation of media, being media literate will ensure that the free media citizens have inherited is always properly utilized, and never abused.