What is it about?

The new media landscape that caters to opinion, emotion and political affiliation over fact, has created an environment where truth has become subjective. New media technologies while providing greater accessibility to information and democratization of media creation, they have allowed echo chambers of opinion to be emerge, increasing political and social divides. Chief amongst these dangers has been the proliferation of fake news and its use as political tool of fact dismissing narratives inconvenient to power. Because of this environment, it is imperative that a new critical media literacy be introduced into education to allow consumers of new media the ability to deconstruct, analyse and investigate news media.

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Why is it important?

This article attempts not only to explain the dangers fake news poses in further polarizing society and making truth subjective but highlights the inherent risks of allowing power to dismiss fact as fake news, providing itself an excuse to marginalize narratives that do not suit its own. Moreover, this article attempts to highlight the paradoxes and risks of the censorship of fake news and how such actions could curtail wider freedoms. Instead the article suggests the importance of a critical media literacy in education which could provide a more comprehensive approach for media consumers and allow them to accurately analyse media for themselves.

Perspectives

This is my first academic publication and it was published just as I finished my Masters Degree. I really enjoyed the research involved with this article and the literature it put me in contact with.

Colin Barton

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Critical Literacy in the Post-Truth Media Landscape, Policy Futures in Education, March 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1478210319831569.
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