Media Consumption and News Literacy Habits During the covid-19 Pandemic

The covid-19 pandemic disrupted political, economic, and social life in the United States beginning in March 2020, disproportionately affecting historically underrepresented groups. Media assumed unique roles during the pandemic, serving simultaneously as the gateway to work, education, social life, news, and public health information. Yet the covid-19 pandemic has been so challenged by misinformation that the World Health Organization declared it an infodemic. Because misinformation can prolong pandemics and increase deaths, news and media literacy can benefit society at large, especially vulnerable populations. The purpose of this descriptive study is to capture how undergraduates used media, how they obtained their news, and how they engaged news literacy skills during the covid-19 pandemic. A survey of over 900 undergraduate students showed that over two-thirds of respondents increased media use. Over half of respondents reported entertainment as their top reason for media use during the pandemic and reported news as their last reason. Respondents reporting previous exposure to news literacy education were significantly more likely to use most of the measured news literacy strategies. The findings of this study can support developing pandemic-responsive news and media literacy education which will be useful during future pandemics.

Is the Earth Crying Wolf? Exploring Knowledge Source and Certainty in High School Students’ Analysis of Global Warming News

The marked contrast between the scientific consensus on global warming and public beliefs indicates a need to research how high schoolers, as future citizens, engage with and make meaning from news articles on such topics. In the case of socioscientific issues (SSIs) such as global warming, students’ acquisition of knowledge from the news is mediated by their epistemic understandings of the nature of science (NOS) and use of informal reasoning in evaluating claims, evidence, and sources. This exploratory qualitative study examined twelve U.S. high school students’ understandings, opinions, and epistemic beliefs concerning global warming knowledge. Researchers examined microgenetic changes as students discussed global warming during semi-structured interviews and a close reading of global warming news texts. Although results showed that most students could articulate a working concept of global warming, in follow-up questions, a subset offered personal opinions that differed from or contradicted their previously stated understandings. Meanwhile, students who offered opinions consistent with the scientific consensus often argued that the dangers of global warming were exaggerated by politicians and scientists who wished to profit from the issue. This study suggests a need for more explicit focus on NOS and scientific news literacy in curricula, as well as further research into the interplay between epistemic beliefs and the informal reasoning students use to negotiate diverse sources of SSI knowledge—from the classroom to the news media and public life.

Infodemia: ways to recognize and counter information influences during a pandemic

Since the beginning of the pandemic, humanity has faced an additional threat, namely the spread of unnecessary, unreliable and harmful information, which is called infodemia. It has become one of the greatest challenges of our time therefore the heads of state, world organizations and owners of social media have stepped up to fight it. In our opinion, pedagogical workers, in particular employees of the psychological service of the education system, should join the educational and preventive work. Every user of social networks becomes a newsmaker with only an account and access to the Internet. And because students are active users of social media, the share of their participation in the dissemination and creation of false information is significant. This publication proposes a system of starting practical psychologists and social educators of educational institutions in the relevant refresher courses, which will allow them to conduct quality practical work with students and their parents. The content of training should take into account the components of the nutrient medium for information viruses, the fight against pandemic fakes, the system of forming sensational news, the features of hate speech, the formation of news literacy and others. It is also necessary to train specialists, and later each student, to recognize false, partially reliable and manipulative information. Since the main spreader of information viruses is humans, training should apply to everyone. Keywords. Infodemia, pandemic, information viruses, fake news, fake account, stress, fear, panic, manipulation, isolation, social media, marking information, factcheking, media education, course for practice psychologists and social pedagogues, practice lessons with students, information immunity, clickbait, discrimination, newsmaker, critical thinking, protection from hidden influences, media responsibility, media culture

Teachers' Perceptions of Students' News Literacy

People need to consciously and critically analyze and evaluate mass media messages, especially in the light of increasing fake news; they need to be news literate. The logical time to start teaching such literacy is in K-12 educational settings so that all individuals have the opportunity to learn and practice news literacy. To concretely ascertain California middle and high school students’ level of news literacy, their teacher librarians were surveyed. Not only did the respondents indicate a need for news literacy instruction, but they also indicated that little curriculum attention was given to that need. Moreover, teacher librarians and classroom teachers need training on news literacy. Fake news is a wake-up call to educators and the community at large to gain competency in critically analyzing fake news in particular, and information in general.

Awareness about Media and Information Literacy among Research Scholars of Pondicherry University

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) emphasises a critical approach to literacy to enables people to question critically what they have read, heard and learned. It is requireed in all levels of education and more so to reserach scholars. The aim of the study is to find the awareness and use of MIL tools by research scholars of Pondicherry University. The objectives are: a) to identify the level of awareness in MIL among research scholars; b) to assess the usefulness and relevance of MIL among research scholars; c) to identify the training needs of research scholars in MIL; d) to determine the problems faced by the researches scholars of Pondicherry University while using MIL tools; and e) to suggest the best methods of delivering MIL training to the research scholars of Pondicherry University. The survey method and quesionanire tool are used in conducting this study. Of the total 13 schools, due to time limiation research scholars working in 10 schools were taken as sample. A majority of the respondents are aware of the term MIL and that enables them to save time. Most of the respondents use journals/papers followed by internet for conducting research. The majority (75.49 %) of them preferred 1-2 weeks of workshop-based training on MIL. MIL syllabus may cover media literacy (75.49 %), information literacy (86.27 %), computer literacy (77.45 %), digital literacy (54.9 %), literary literacy (71.57 %), and news literacy (73.53 %). A majority (62.74 %) of the scholars do not know on MIL initiatives in India. Therefore, UGC may have to take necessary steps in implementing the same.

Why News Literacy Matters

News literacy efforts address news content, production, consumption, and contexts to holistically explore the role of news in society, with a particular focus on the importance of news for informing self-governing citizens. Although news literacy is not a cure-all, it should be part of a broader solution to developing a media system that provides audiences with news and information that is relevant to their lives. With this in mind, we, as researchers, educators, practitioners, and professionals, need to think about how to teach news literacy and encourage its application. Research and practice should strive to improve news literacy, increase confidence in individuals’ abilities, and convince audiences that news literacy is applicable to their lives.