Where do you get your facts from? Is it form your local new station on Tv, is it from Instagram feed, or maybe you subscribe to an online newspaper that sends biweekly stories in your smart device. Regardless of the circumstance, you use these platforms to know what is going on outside your front door. In Media literacy, knowing who makes the news, understanding the many sides of an argument, blocking out the “Us vs Them” mentality, helps you to distinguish the facts from the opinions and from the lies.
The History of the Mainstream
Before the social networking boom in the late 2000’s. People got their news sources from "The Media". Also known as Mainstream media, these outlets hired professionals who had pursued a degree in journalism and ethical integrity, basically these journalists and news anchors had to tell the news without bias and be representative of his or her audience becoming a check on political power. Although we have the freedom of expression and protection of the press in the United States guaranteed by the first Amendment…
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” U.S. Const. Amend. I
Some critics of the Media see that Mainstream media is controlled not by small independent news corporations, rather, they are owned large media firms entangled with lager conglomerates who have deep ties the political system. The big TV news companies like CNN, NBC, ABC are owned by large corporations like AT&T (CNN), Comcast (NBC), Walt Disney Company (ABC) (Who knew Mickey had his hand in the news) . Some are owned by big named families, the Murdoch family have strong ties to both the New York Post and Fox News, while the famed Washington Post is owned by none other than Jeff Bezos, then CEO of Amazon. This is important because we as consumers have to understand that large number of these Media conglomerates see news as Noam Chomsky puts it “...an endgame to profit. Critical journalism takes second to the financial needs of these corporations”.
Here are some other famous digital news outlets and who owns them.
Credit to Carly Hallman from TitleMaxOne large example to this concepts of "needs" is an investigative story on Big tobacco in 60 minutes in the 90s, CBS News Productions owned by Westinghouse corporation at the time censored the story due to various suits and legal threats from big tobacco companies to not to publish their findings. It took six months later for CBS to give an apology to the public and published the full story in 60 minutes.
Moral of this story, know who you get your news from and see how each side takes on a particular story.
The impact of social media
With social media being in integral part of how we communicate in the digital age, new companies had to adapt. No longer would people have to stay and listen to a particular news slot in a day by the so called “Media Elite” or what is known as the Fourth Estate. They now had their news at the palm of their hands which allowed them to stay informed in their own time. Another benefit was that these platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter we able to personalize the news based on the content you like, this is known as personalization.
These innovative concepts however are a double-edged sword, with accessibility and personalization came with price towards the everyday consumer.
As the saying goes, “Never leave all your eggs in one basket” now think of Facebook as the basket and our information the eggs. Now off course, with such a giant basket, opportunists wanted to take it for their own gain. Although technology has made the world a better place, some individuals and organizations saw social media platforms like Facebook as the place where everybody puts their information out for free and wish to use this information for profit. Now advertisers take your information to create a social profile where you as a Facebook user become bombarded with products pertaining towards your interests. Or worse, you see posts of information that is too good to be true and click it to see what is considered to be "fake news”. This online platform gave way to the dark side of the internet.
As outlets of the media advanced in technology during the twenty-first century, so did the rise of fake news. The concept of fake news is not foreign to us, we saw its impact during the US 2016 and 2020 Presidential Election. No matter what side of the political aisle you stand, you saw that there was BS in both sides of the election when you were in social media. If one is not so careful, they may be then trapped in what are known as Echo chamber and a hivemind. Where a person is stuck listening to one idea or beliefs and seeks out only information reinforces their existing views without encountering an opposing viewpoint.
Word of the Day
Eco Chamber [ˈekō ˌCHāmbər]
NOUN: An environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. Echo chambers can create misinformation and distort a person’s perspective so they have difficulty considering opposing viewpoints and discussing complicated topics.
echo chamber (noun) · echo chambers (plural noun)
Powered by Goodwill Community FoundationBut the world however is not broken down into two ideas like black and white, red and blue, or coke and Pepsi (Actually Pepsi wins that one). Media literacy understands that our globalized world is encompassed by the experiences and preferences that later impact how we see society. Instead of the seeing a news story for what it is, a news story, the Media Literate knows that a little more research in a topic will help them understand the subject at hand. Also, by blocking out the “Us vs them” mentality created by echo chambers and taking the time to hear and distinguish the many sides of the topic; you will begin to evaluate...
Which had stronger argument? What had most entertaining story? And Who presented the real facts?
... In the future media you consume.