Journalism and Media Information Literacy

From Digital Culture & Society

D. (2022). How Disinformation Reshaped the Relationship between Journalism and Media and Information Literacy (MIL): Old and New Perspectives Revisited. Digital Journalism, 10(5), 912–922. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2081863

Context:

The Frau-Meigs article dissects how disinformation has reshaped the relationship between journalism and media information literacy. Going in depth both aspects and their interconnectedness, Frau-Meigs discusses the challenges that arise by reducing journalism to fact checking and narrowing media information literacy to news literacy. The importance of each sector is acknowledged and elaborated on how they need to work together to battle the pressing issue of disinformation. This article fits into the broader issue of disinformation as it addresses it as a growing problem in society and offers up suggestions on how to combat such. Frau-Meigs urges the necessity of education of the masses in all areas of media information literacy as well as including fact checking as a separate career to journalism but just as essential.

Overview:

The author evaluates the role of disinformation in three aspects, policy rules and professional canons, key events and projects, and interactions with audiences and communities(Frau-Meigs. 2022. p.912). These are important aspects to understand alongside disinformation and journalism because they help to regain lost political and economic background, provide sense making strategies and restore trust and reputation(Frau-Meigs. 2022. p.912). In an effort to understand how disinformation arises, the solution comes from combined efforts from the journalism industry and the media information literacy industry. Challenges include the risk of watering down both industries in the process which would diminish the emphasis on information in the disinformation discourse(Frau-Meigs. 2022. p.912). Long term solutions include education courses in schools on media information literacy as well as teachings from journalists on the topic. Frau-Meigs argues that the population falling victim to disinformation is the older generation who lack media literacy skills and suggests providing such information in newspapers for that generation.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

The strengths of this article are the provided solutions and how they reconfigure the future of journalism. The article suggests that the journalism industry is forever altered because of active disinformation practices. This results in the need for journalism and media information literacy to combine forces for the greater good of educating the public on disinformation practices. The coming norm will be researchers, fact checkers, educators and journalists working simultaneously(Frau-Meigs. 2022. p.919). Frau-Meigs also notes that disinformation tends to be spread by people who are older, less computer literate and less literate overall(Frau-Meigs. 2022. p.919). This revelation means that disinformation dissemination tactics will need to be targeted at this population. It is suggested that this is done through newspaper and audiovisual outlets to train adult viewers(Frau-Meigs. 2022. p.919). This will be beneficial as these are the typical sources that the older generations gather their information from and they are the most in need of fact checking and news literacy. The strengths of this article lie in the proactive stance and collaborative solutions that will build a more informed journalism landscape in the face of disinformation challenges.

The weaknesses of this article would be the overemphasis on positive outcomes without discussing potential drawbacks. Frau-Meigs discusses many solutions to disinformation which involve the blurring of industries and co-regulations in regard to the topic. This could be met with backlash as those in journalism may not be interested in education practices and educators may not feel the need to invite journalists into the teaching spaces. There is a large stress on the implications of an uneducated older generation and their effect on the spread of disinformation. This will also face heat as when people are told they are the problem they may feel resistant to change.

Assessment:

The Frau-Meigs article provides an extensive overview of the complex relationship between journalism and media information literacy in the context of disinformation. The article discusses how disinformation poses threats to many sectors of society and how the solution to such would be through a collaborative effort of education for the general public beginning in educational spaces such as classrooms. Although this is seemingly the only answer this does pose a risk to the dilution of journalism to be reduced to fact checkers and media information literacy to be reduced to news literacy. Despite both being comprehensive and necessary in their own sense, Frau-Meigs argues the only way to stop the spread of disinformation is for individuals to be educated on what is real and not real. This will come from the collaboration of all parties involved.

Ca19sp 13:36, 1 December 2023 (EST)