Media Literacy

Any individual in the public eye is subject to scrutiny; take Sophie Lui for example, who has been a highly respected News Anchor at Global BC but received a comb in the mail from a hateful viewer because she had “spikey hair” that they didn’t like it (Miller, 2022). Public audiences will always be critical, whether it is about the subject matter, the way it’s presented, or who is presenting it. There are obvious risks for someone like Lui, who has witnessed and experienced many instances of judgement and harassment in her field, whether that be in person or online. However, her public platform has allowed for positive reinforcement in many ways; for example, she mentions how she has often stood up for others in her field who receive hateful messages or criticism that is just hateful judgement—particularly women, who’s voices are continually being amplified in the journalism industry (Miller, 2021).

Social media helps individuals like Sophie Lui in their careers; it provides yet another platform to share ideas, networks, and gain knowledge about the world around us (especially helpful when you’re a journalist). However, it also provides another avenue for harassment, which Lui mentions can be difficult, especially when you share some of your personal life online. Personal can be anything from what you’re eating for dinner, to what article you read and how you think about it, or maybe something about your political views. When an individual broadcasts their life online and has a large amount of people following them, they will always receive scrutiny, and when they are a working professional, how they deal with that is important for their success.

Lui mentions how she never blocks anyone because she “doesn’t want to give them the satisfaction,” but I also wonder if this is a strategic career move on her part. Alienating online users because they have said something hateful, while it ideally wouldn’t be tolerated, might not be beneficial to working professionals. Allowing for all points of view to be shared on your profile is important for success—why would you follow someone who in the public eye who does not receive any hate? You wouldn’t—because they don’t exist and their entire online presence would seem one-sided and unrealistic. It is much like an educator like Julie Smith reading both a conservative and liberal magazine to avoid bias. As an media literacy educator, Smith recognizes her responsibility to understand both opinions to better inform her own and relay her unbiased teachings to her students. As a public figure, Lui must allow for the opposing opinion (even though it is sometimes hateful) to be shared because she cannot appear to be one sided to her audience. Or perhaps it’s a stretch and Lui really doesn’t want to block users for their own satisfaction (or maybe a bit of both). Either way, dealing with online criticism can be a difficult thing to navigate, however, I believe Lui’s tactics are logical (and have worked for her so far).

Open dialogues about media literacy can be difficult because as constant media receivers, our society can accept almost anything as “true” and seek out the sources that tell us we are right. Smith talks about not wanting to appear “bamboozled” which I thought was an interesting and oddly articulate way to describe how media can often make us feel and appear (Miller, 2021). Without looking at both sides of an argument, like Smith does with her two magazine descriptions, we are only receiving one viewpoint, and often it is the one we want to hear. So having an open dialogue about media literacy is difficult because most people are illiterate when it comes to the media they don’t want to see or the one that opposes their own opinion. Factual information can be manipulated into information that is true to us because of how we receive it, but it does not mean it is inherently true. Being media literate and identifying where your information is coming from, who is making money off it, why it is appearing in your social media feed, is all important when it comes to finding “factual information” (Miller, 2021). I will be the first to admit that I am not very media literate when it comes to gaining factual information—I think I am media literate when it comes to Instagram and TikTok trends, but not about political events or news. Granted, I do not pay as much attention to politics as I should, and therefore my social media is not geared toward those kinds of posts. This is also a great example of an individual seeing what they want to see, which doesn’t necessarily have to mean two different opinions, it could just be not seeing the topic altogether—another interesting point. I am not media literate with politics because I do not seek it out.

Having a PLN that values media literacy is extremely important, especially on social media platforms like Twitter. Without it, fake news and one-sided conversations would flood your feed. I think this also ties back to my previous post about diversity and inclusion; having a diverse set of voices in your PLN can bring different media literate individuals together to create valuable conversations on these platforms. Filtering out untrustworthy sources and posts, or just identifying them, can be much easier if you’re PLN is media literate and can help you do so.

Miller, J. [MILLER]. (2021, June 6). EDCI 338 – MEDIA LITERACY with JULIE SMITH [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r3-aEnci0

Miller, J. [MILLER].(2022, June 6).Sophie Lui – EDCI 338 [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r3-aEnci0