News Media Literacy is the ability to judge the reliability and relevance of information as an important component of fostering a healthy civil society. After exploring this guide and completing a self assessment, users of this guide will have strategies to differentiate authentic news from fake news as disseminated in newspaper, radio, television, and in news feeds, posts and retweets on social media.
Why is News Media Literacy important?
One of the important roles of news media is to inform citizens about important local, national and world events and issues. In a society where freedom of expression is valued, news media provides a channel for citizens to express opinions in a public forum. Traditionally, the public forum has resided on the opinion and editorial pages of a newspaper and in radio and television news stories which give people the opportunity to voice their opinion on issues of concern to them. In an era of social media, public forums are available for anyone to post and respond to issues through Facebook, Twitter, or other social media.
Online courses in News Media Literacy
The Digital Resource Center of the Center for News Literacy provides two online courses in Media Literacy. GetNewsSmart consists of 10 lessons. Successful completers of the course will achieve seventy-five percent scores on tests, locate and submit objects that illustrate the concept of each lesson. Making Sense of the News (through Coursera) consists of 4-5 minute videos of key topics. Both of these courses are free of charge.