Media Literacy

What is “What is True?” and how does it fit into media literacy?

The “What is True?” service consists of a toll-free and local hotline for you to get help in determining the accuracy of the information coming across your social media feed, other platforms (such as Reddit), and from Cousin Fred at the family gathering.

However, it also is much more. In addition to being part of the national media literacy movement, the “What is True?” team offers hands-on programs and education in southeast Mississippi. You can find out how to be certified through our “Ask Me What is True?” program here.

The focus on developing tools and strategies for combating misinformation and its harmful effects on our mental health, community decision-making, and democratic ideals began in earnest shortly after social media exploded in the 1990s, with the first media literacy national conference held in 1997. Stony Brook University, supported by the Knight Foundation, founded the News Literacy Center in 2006 with a mission of teaching “critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports and news sources.”

Media literacy’s roots, however, stretch much further back, with the American Library Association and other organizations advocating for information literacy when the World Wide Web became commercialized in the late 1980s. Media literacy itself refers to how you receive and interpret the news and information coming into your information world. Can you trust what you see? Should you take action? Should you share it? In other words, how can you determine “What is True?”

This is where we come in. What follows are simple tips and tricks for evaluating the information you see. After that are some links and summaries for resources where you can learn more.

Tips and tricks for determining “What is True?”

— Was the information worded in such a way as to make you feel something, anger, sadness, jealousy, or loneliness? Reliable sources do not seek to inflame but to inform.

— Was the information presented in stark terms of good and bad, where someone was a villain and someone a hero? News, like people, is rarely all good or all bad. Reliable sources want to put issues, events, and the actions of individuals into a broader context.

— Was there an accompanying image or video that supposedly supported the information being presented, and does the image or video actually fit the information being presented? Reliable sources will use images to enhance or illustrate reporting that informs. Images that do not reflect what is being reported often are meant to mislead.

— Do the big words (the headline) reflect the small words (what is reported after the headline). Like images, headlines can be distorted to mislead and misinform.

— Does the information make common sense?

— Have you thought about your own biases and worldview? This is what we call confirmation bias. As humans, we all gravitate to information that confirms what we already believe. To be truly informed, however, we have to understand and overcome our own biases.

— Have you noticed the source of the information? Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X are platforms, not sources or news outlets. Who actually posted the information? Is this an organization or person you should trust?

Here are some straightforward action steps you can take when you encounter what you think might be misinformation:

— Check your own emotions and biases. Am I being manipulated into this reaction?

— Look beyond the platform to the person or organization providing the information. Who is it, and can you trust the poster to be accurate?

— Pause before you share. Don’t share or pass along the information, even in conversation, unless you are confident the information comes from a reliable source with a track record of accuracy and completeness.

— Do a bit more looking. Are other posters or outlets reporting substantially the same thing? If not, pause again and do more looking.

— Intentionally build out your news sources by following a number of trusted outlets—locally, statewide, and nationally—from a variety of viewpoints. Social media platforms are run by computer algorithms that are designed to feed you more of what you already have seen. Keep in mind that, in order to keep these outlets in your feeds, you will have to occasionally interact with them.

The sources and where to find more

The above was crafted from a number of primary sources. You can find much more about media literacy and the movement to strengthen the nation’s information health by going to these sources:

— The Center for News Literacy: The center was founded at Stony Brook University in 2006 and provides a number of resources, including a free news literacy course.
— American Library Association: The largest organization of professional information people in the world has been a pioneer in information literacy and has since worked to incorporate media literacy for more than 15 years.
— National Association for Media Literacy Education: The organization was founded in 1997 as a vehicle for organizing a national media literacy conference. The impetus behind the gathering was the explosion of streaming and digital sources that were overwhelming the traditional media.
— NewseumEd: The Newseum began as a physical building with exhibits, events, and a working television studio in Washington, D.C. The goal is to highlight and educate how reliable news is gathered and produced. Its education arm has a rich catalog of media literacy lesson plans, quizzes, and many other sources of information.