Media Literacy in the Time of Covid

Abstract

In the early stages of the pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was not only fighting coronavirus "but our enemy is also the growing surge of misinformation". (Associated Press, 28.3.20).Media literacy in the time of Covid is situated at an intersection between its value as an educational innoculation against misinformation in general and the urgency of a rapid response to misinformation about the virus. Media literacy in this context takes on a role in public health. This article reviews the evidence for the effectiveness of media literacy in both contexts, collating findings from reviews conducted for the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), European Commisssion, US Embassy and UK Office of Communications (OFCOM), together with a rapid evidence analysis of media literacy with an applied, specific focus on 'Covid fake news'.

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“…It is therefore important to conduct a systematic literature review of experimental research that examines the characteristics of different types of media literacy interventions, and their effectiveness on the full spectrum of dependent variables that these experimental studies investigate. In this way, we can investigate whether media literacy skills can actually be directly impacted by media literacy interventions or that higher levels of media literacy are the by-product of people's critical thinking capabilities that are associated with higher levels of education (McDougall et al, 2021). As such, this type of review will allow for a more…”

It matters what you see: Graphic media images of war and terror may amplify distress

“…The public must be able to distinguish fact from fiction, as AI-generated disinformation poses a unique danger to public health and well-being when combined with social media algorithms and the speed with which people respond on these platforms. Such programs have been successfully implemented around the world ( 66 , 67 ). To facilitate this process, mass media could use their vast resources to help educate the public on identifying disinformation by doing educational public service announcements that take people through the steps of fact-checking stories so that they have the knowledge to assess what is and is not real.…”

Az adatműveltség és a COVID-19 válság

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