Did Media Literacy Backfire?

Media Literacy has been constructed around fake news and widespread propaganda for some time. News (such as the Daily Mail and Buzzfeed) do not accurately check sources, thus, spreading lies and ‘clickbait’ news to gain some advertising dollars. Thus, when it comes to studying academic journals for research – some may contain bias (such a certain political stance when writing) or claim illegitimate facts, that then go on to appear in academic writings.

An example of this is in America with the use of guns. The Pizzagate conspiracy theory claimed that it claimed the United States electorates were harvesting and controlling a human-trafficking ring from a pizza shop in Washington, D.C. News spread around throughout social media and through ‘fake news sites’ which then lead people to believe it was legitimate – a man came in with guns and decided to shoot throughout the pizza shop to ‘save the children’ – however, it was a story fed through illegitimate claims and fake news which cost people serious injuries.

Another claim of fake news and ‘clickbait’ is the marginalization of groups that are under threat (such as groups of color). These people are often ignored by the media and only go for trusted news stories that are guaranteed to generate revenue – such as click bait articles. These ideas of fake news are often of condescending nature (such as celebrity articles) and often generate no need for cultural change.

Hence, the need to reveal the truth about clickbait through labeling, raising questions regarding sources, addressing issues such as propaganda and educating individuals against misinformation, like we are doing in Media One.