Are you Media Savvy?

If you have friends or family of opposing political views that you discuss the state of the world with, you may often think that we are living in two very different realities. We are. The death of Charlie Kirk, more than most other stories, brought that to the forefront.

Conservatives were deeply saddened by the loss and described Kirk as a devoted and outspoken man of God. Most progressives had never heard of Kirk until after his passing and almost universally were learning about racist, hateful, and controversial statements attributed to him.

This is a perfect example of how the United States is living in two (or more) entirely different realities shaped in powerful ways by what we see online. The algorithms are trained to deliver to us the information that is most likely to engage us – and we may miss completely what others are seeing, sometimes even the content they are exclusively seeing. Our minds are fed different stories through the media we choose (FOX, MSNBC, etc.), but most of all by the algorithm trained to keep showing us what will make us the angriest, the saddest, the most self-righteous, and the most afraid.

We have more information at our fingertips than ever before, yet it’s not all the same level of quality or truthfulness. More information means we have a greater need for media literacy, but most people don’t know how to become media literate.

Let’s start with the difference between misinformation and disinformation.

Misinformation = false or inaccurate information that is spread without the intent to deceive. For example, someone shares content on Facebook genuinely believing it is true when it is not.

Disinformation = false information that is deliberately created and spread with the intent to mislead, manipulate, or cause harm. One example is a fake news article intentionally written to sway an election.

In short, misinformation is a mistake. Disinformation is manipulation. Neither of these are good. So here are some resources that can help you fact check information before you share something online as well as help you detect disinformation.

Ground News is a helpful resource for those interested in learning what is being said on the left, right, and center – and what you may be missing if you only follow one particular side for news. You can get a subscription without being a paid sponsor.

News Literacy Project is non-partisan and nonprofit. It’s an especially helpful tool for educators in classrooms or parents teaching their children about media literacy.

Media Bias/Fact Check News helps you evaluate where your sources of information fall on the bias spectrum.

Are we all exhausted? Yes. Should we be able to watch a station, or click our social media and see both sides of the story? Absolutely. That’s the way it used to be. But that’s another story for another day. In this current political climate, the responsibility falls on us to do the research.