Media Literacy: A Foundational Skill for Democracy in the 21st Century

Author

TESSA JOLLS & MICHELE JOHNSEN

Year

2018

Publisher

HASTINGS LAW JOURNAL

DOI/Link

View Source

Abstract

The current focus on the validity, credibility, and trustworthiness of media and
information is urgent and global. In the past ten to twenty years, the information
landscape has fundamentally changed due to an exponential increase in access to
information consumption and production. Meanwhile, the role of traditional filters and
gatekeepers that monitor accuracy and balance has been substantially reduced. This
transformation has given rise to an unprecedented power shift in the way information
is produced, consumed, distributed, trusted, and valued. On one hand, empowered
citizens can now learn, participate, share, and express themselves as never before. On
the other, abuses such as unintended spread of misinformation, disinformation
campaigns by malicious actors, and misuse of personal information have become
rampant, and citizens must navigate a complex new media landscape without
traditionally trusted resources. The challenge for democracies is to find ways to
preserve the freedoms that come with more access to information while minimizing the
threats that go along with them.

Modern education’s role in this is to enable students to live, learn, discern, and thrive in
a diverse, global media culture, both online and offline. With content readily at hand,
education must emphasize information process skills as central to teaching and
learning. Media literacy offers empowerment through education and an opportunity to
equip all citizens with the skills they need to become lifelong learners who are maximally
prepared to navigate and leverage the power of media for their own benefit and that of
others. Through media literacy education, students internalize process
skillsheuristicsthat become automatic filtering systems to apply to any media
content, anywhere, anytime. This approach is compatible with the mobility that most
people enjoy through their mobile devices and enables citizens to be better informed
participants in today’s media culture. Media literacy practices and pedagogy can be
consistent, replicable, measurable and scalable globally, providing an evidence-based
methodology for critical thinking, in both the consumption and production of media.

Media literacy provides a pathway to appropriate education for the 21st century. The
time is now to prepare all citizens to be effective risk managers, efficient organizers of
information, wise consumers, responsible content producers and active participants.

Keywords

Media Literacy

Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

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