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AHEAD OF THE European and Local elections in May, there is a renewed focus on media literacy – something that is critical to citizens making informed decisions.
This week is European Media Literacy Week, an initiative by the European Commission aiming to highlight the importance of media literacy and promote media initiatives and projects across the EU.
With heightened concerns regarding the quality of information available to citizens and declining levels of public trust in the fourth estate, media literacy initiatives seek to empower and inform citizens.
The 2018 Reuters Digital News Report survey, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, examined levels of news literacy among Irish online news consumers as part of a wider survey of general news attitudes and preferences.
Respondents were asked four questions to measure their knowledge of journalism production and distribution.
The multiple choice questions asked respondents to identify the state-funded media outlet, the financial status of the newspaper industry, the person who writes a press release, and how algorithms shape social media newsfeeds.
It found that only about 3% of news consumers were wholly informed about news production, getting all four questions about journalism correct.
About 33% were fairly news literate regarding some aspects of journalism, getting two of the four questions correct.
About one-third of people got half, or more of the questions correct showing higher levels of news literacy.
The results indicate that men have slightly higher levels of literacy than women and younger people tend to be only slightly more literate than older age groups.
Higher income, higher education and higher engagement with news on a daily basis are also factors shaping higher levels of news and media literacy.
Platforms
However, the research shows that where people get their media also affects media literacy.
The overall highest news literacy was among users of news websites and apps (40%) and radio (30%), while the lowest literacy levels were among consumers of printed magazines and newspapers (both 23%).
News websites and apps have an enhanced capacity to be transparent about the news production process with features like tracking changes to articles and linking to public sources used.
However, there are still questions around how explicit news websites are when it comes to sourcing, such as citing that the article was provoked by a press release or through political communications.
Social media is often viewed as problematic in terms of news literacy.
However, the survey found that social media users are slightly more literate (29%) than newspaper and magazine readers, as well as rolling TV viewers (28%) and TV bulletin viewers (26%).
Online Sources
Online readers of established news brands show higher levels of news literacy, particularly readers of the Guardian (53%) and The Irish Times (47%) as well as digital born brands like TheJournal.ie (42%).
Additionally, dedicated regional newspaper readers are among the most media literate news consumers (43%).
But just 28% of Sky news online users had high levels of news literacy. Online tabloid readers, in particular, showed lower levels of news literacy compared to digital broadsheet readers.
The high percentage of media literate consumers of The Guardian might in part be explained by the outlet’s dedicated media analysis section that critically evaluates and investigates the industry.
Similarly, in the effort to build subscribers during financially challenging times, The Guardian increased transparency regarding their news production processes and enhanced engagement between the audience and news producers.
It was the first British title to have a readers’ editor.
Amid all the initiatives to support news consumers, it is worth remembering that providing readers with a window into newsrooms can lead to a better understanding of how journalism is produced.
Political Leaning
Much of the hype around fake news, conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns have focused on fringe right-wing conservatives.
Distrust of mainstream media is a common theme among alt-right commentators for example. This research indicates that people who said they had a right-wing leaning were found to have slightly lower levels of literacy than those who say they lean left.
Trust
News literacy is also associated with the levels of trust in the news.
Amid the debate about the quality of information on social media, the impact on the audience and the efforts of social giants to tackle disinformation – this indicates that those with higher levels of trust in news on social media have lower levels of news literacy.
Previous research has found that users often do not recognise news brands on social media. This raises questions as to what social media companies can do to support users in making informed choices about what they click on or scroll past.
Be media smart
In 2016 the BAI launched a Media Literacy Policy which “sets out a range of skills to help people to navigate current, new and emerging content platforms.”
“The survey findings and wider concerns about disinformation underscore the need for media literacy to help people be informed about the media they consume,” said BAI chief executive Michael O’Keeffe.
It is European Media Literacy Week 2019 and Be Media Smart is a public awareness campaign running across media platforms to encourage people of all ages to ‘Stop, Think, and Check’ that the information they see, read or hear is reliable.
Be Media Smart is an initiative of Media Literacy Ireland, which is an independent network of volunteer members, facilitated by the BAI, working together to enhance Irish people’s understanding of, and engagement with media.
Niamh Kirk is a Media and Journalism Researcher in DCU, School of Communications and FuJo Institute examining journalism, digital networks, information flows and transnationalism.
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Distrust of main steam media is common among people with their eyes open.
No one in their right mind would/should trust anything coming from rte or O’Brien’s media.
@Bill Clay: don’t forget this site, changing ‘fact checks’ to suit new editorial directions.
One of the main problems is that the future as a journalist is not secure nor well paid. It is well know that if journalists rehash the government agenda and press releases, if they don’t challenge ministers a glorious well paid new career will present itself as a PR or special advisor. thats their future.
@eric nelligan: give us an example of where a fact check was changed. Genuine question.
@limofax: in the year or two before announcement of 8th ref majority of fact checks backed up the claims by pro life regarding abortion disagreements. These were fact checked again during the ref and the outcomes were altered on most. This was highlighted frequently during the campaign. The originals have now been deleted and links no longer exist.
This site was very pro repeal during the referendum.
@eric nelligan: still moaning away..
@Francis Mc Carthy: what he’s saying is true though.
@Skimothy: is it. No links to same. Plus the fact that the Anti-choice side continually massaged facts and told lies during the campaign makes me doubt this.
@limofax: it was pointed out on numerous occasions on this platform. As he already said, the links have been deleted.
@limofax: Their “facts” are what is known in the business as ‘alternative facts’ ;here are some examples ;In the UK 90% of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted,citing the Finnish & the New Zealand studies as factual,when it has been proven that both of those studies have serious flaws in it..oh one could go on..
@Skimothy: so the only proof of what you’re both saying is not available and only exists in your memories?
@Dave O’Keeffe: good man Dave. Fair play. Missing the point completely.
@Skimothy: but anyone could say the same about anything is my point. RTE had a story earlier about a massive manhunt underway, gardai were looking for you. Story has been deleted now though. See how that works?
@Dave O’Keeffe: exactly. Everyday I come on here someone talks about a story that “you won’t see on MSM”. I always here about these stories first in the MSM or they turn out to be bull.
@Dave O’Keeffe: yes dave your right. Believe what you want. You’re on here quite alot so no doubt saw the numerous links posted but by all means pretend it never happened. Just like the journal did really.
@Bill Clay: or The Journal.
It’s easier to identify untrustworthy news sources. MSM in general have proven themselves to be the least trustworthy news source. Ireland is plagued with an extremely biased MSM, no more than a government propaganda machine.
@Dave Doyle: absolute rubbish
@Dave Doyle: Thanks for the heads up, I’d no idea about this propaganda machine, I read an article about Ireland losing to Wales in the Six Nations on The Irish Independent last week, turns out it was Fake News and Ireland actually won the UEFA Champions League beating Accrington Stanley 10-0, Messi scored a hat-trick for us.
@Orla Smith: 73 men dead in Irish Air Corps toxic chemical exposure scandal. Thankfully the Journal & Examiner have covered it in detail. But go find coverage of it in IT, Indo or RTE.
Possibly the greatest workplace health & safety tragedy to ever occur in Ireland and not a dickey bird from those three.
Raised extensively in the Oireachtas by multiple parties, raised at leaders Q time and even then the IT, Indo & RTE polcors ignored.
@limofax: MSM in Ireland could give Pravda lessons in propaganda.
@Orla Smith: I replied to you with links to three stories. Two of which are of importance to many people. One the true report of something reported inaccurately in MSM. The comment wasn’t allowed.
@Dave Doyle: Dave, you have written here in the past that Facebook is a source of accurate information.
@Chin Feeyin: FB in itself is doubtful. But many pages on FB tell the truth, inform people. I posted 3 links from FB pages with two informative articles that never made MSM, one other link that tells the truth about the Garda arrest in Strokestown.
That comment wasn’t allowed on here.
@Dave Doyle: of course it wasn’t allowed.
The Journal has no war chest to spend on legal fees.
There is no conspiracy against you.
@Dave Doyle: Try posting just the two links at the time.That might help..
@Chin Feeyin: Twisting words again.
@Dave Doyle: ??
@Dave Doyle: So, what news source/s do YOU trust?
@Dave Doyle:
How do you know your FB story about the Strokestown arrests was telling the truth?
Not saying it wasn’t by the way, but how do you decide which of two competing narratives is truthful? Is it just the one that matches your worldview most closely?
@The Great Unwashed: The report was made by someone who has reported on the Strokestown debacle since the beginning. The detail contained in the report, like 10 Gardai in 4 cars calling to the house @ 8am, and the arrested man named. He turned out to be the man who was originally evicted.Not at all like what was reported in MSM.
@Dave Doyle: stick to reading tea leaves if you’re linking to stories on FB.
@limofax: Tea leaves would do a better job than RTE or the Spindo.
@limofax: Another story from a page on FB today. 54% of 18-34yr olds would take part in a large scale uprising against the generation in power.
20,000 people in Ireland were polled as part of research carried out by the European Broadcasting Union’s Generation What.
Makes for interesting reading. Yet it won’t be reported by MSM or RTE.
@Dave Doyle:
RTE are involved in making Generation What!
@Dave Doyle:
So basically the Strokestown source you’re depending on for the truth is an anonymous Facebook user…
I majorly distrust the journal. it is impossible to trust any outlet that is as far left as this organisation is.
@Michael: Best to stick to Infowars and Breitbart, I also find Donald Trump and Gemma O’Doherty’s Twitter feeds to be the most unbiased sources for my news, unlike the lamestream media. Now, where did I put my double-enforced tinfoil hat, hmm?
@Orla Smith: one of the problems with Gemma is that she will block you if you leave any factual comment on her ridiculous Facebook page.Maybe if i went & donated a few bob she might go to like me :-)
@Michael:
The funny thing is that many right wing commenters think the Journal is left leaning propaganda rag, but many left wing commenters think the Journal is a right wing FFG mouthpiece.
Can’t please everyone I suppose.
@The Great Unwashed: Balance is pissing both sides off :)
@Chemical Brothers:
Probably the most accurate comment we’ll see on the Journal all day – hat off to ya ;)
Yes. We already know not to trust the government controlled rte and DOB s papers. So we are clever enough to know the truth
@Mark Gough: I usually read stories from different sources, sometimes the same story and you can usually get a balanced view on the story at hand but after seeing the Covington kids story and the Jussie Smollett story recently I’ve begun to question even the most straight forward of reports, twice in quick succession they ran with only part of a story, no reporter actually investigated anything, it was simply a copy and paste job from one site to another. As for Irish papers reporting on matters at home it’s easy to see which news sources are towing the pre approved line, this publication in particular being one of those.
Yes. I don’t trust anything from our gov as far as i could throw them. Their record speaks for itself. And the rte news is just the govs propoganda machine.
@Adrian: No it’s not. It’s a state funded public service broadcaster.
@limofax: i have witnessed first hand rte news broadcasting blatant lies
@Liam McDonald:
A few examples would be useful. Just so they can be fact-checked like.
@Liam McDonald: give us an example
@The Great Unwashed: just take a look at rte over this weekend. The FG event is on in wexford. Actual access to the event will be restricted only to themselves, so they’ll have hours of national tv coverage over the weekend to spew out their spin and bs, totally unchallenged, (nobody can correct them on anything), directly into the homes of the whole nation through rte. FF were able to do same a few weeks ago. This from two parties who now according to opinion polls have a core support of only 20% each.
@Adrian:
Doesn’t the same apply to every political party?
@limofax: had friends of mine demonstrating peacefully at the corrib pipeline several years ago who were escorted peacefully off site. They were having the craic with security and gardai and everyone was decent with each other. Rte showed carefully edited footage and reported about the “violent protesters”.
@Liam McDonald: but there were violent protests up there. That’s what made the news. You hardly expect RTE to report everyday that a peaceful protest that everyone knows about is still ongoing. The violence made the news because it was a newsworthy event. Comments were taken from the protesters, the guards, shell and the locals. That’s how the news works. Events get reported on.
@limofax: True, violent newsworthy events were reported. But on this day rte reported arrests and violence when there were absolutely none. Blatant lies. Why are you so keen to defend that?
When all your news sources are behind the firewall of western news concensus, you learn not to read stories about Brexit (‘we’ are against it), Venezuela, China, Russia, Iran (only hostile stories need apply).
The comentariat is a tightly controlled group of luvvies who all sing from the one hymn sheet. Only a gullible person would take their comments as ‘news’.
@Willie Penwright:
Do you think the people of Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran etc. are receiving unbiased news? Genuine question.
@The Great Unwashed: Of course not, but neither are we.
@paul kelly:
We’re not perfect here, but there’s certainly far more journalistic freedom here than in any of those countries.
@paul kelly:
We’re ranked 16th in the World Press Freedom Index. The HIGHEST of the other four countries mentioned is Venezuela at 143rd. Says it all really (or do you just think it’s all part of the conspiracy?).
https://rsf.org/en/ranking
Given the fact that The Journal reported the Momo challenge urban legend, as if it was factual, NO!
@Paraic: as did every single other news organization until they didn’t.
@limofax: What does that tell you about source checking due diligence though?
@limofax: well limofax, the MSM reported it as fact with no checking. The MSM perpetrated fear based on their own ignorance. This is a clear example of why the MSM should not be taken at face value. Another example is the yello vest and anti-semitism reports – in France, the rise in anti-semitism is the increased hostility from Islamic extremism yet the yellow vest narrative is to lazily throw them into the far right, anti-semite bracket because one supposed Jewish person was insulted verbally.
One look at an average Journal comments section quickly reveals that many commenters are completely hapless when it comes to spotting fake news and unreliable sources.
An opinion piece about trustworthy news sources on a website whose main source for the Syrian ‘civil war’ was a man in his flat in Coventry who hasn’t stepped foot in Syria in over a decade. Can’t make this stuff up!
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: oh the power of the imagination.
1984 has been here for some time now,we are manipulated in every concievable way. We are gullible enough to believe we are free
I never heard of the fourth estate, mentioned in the third paragraph of the article. Am I the only one who had to google it?
@Michael Kelly: Yes.
@Michael Kelly: cringe
@Michael Kelly: You obviously never read Phoenix
@limofax: I submit to your higher intellect.
What farce..! Both the article and the responses. It just further demonstrates the problem ie, news or spin?
I wouldn’t be on this site if I could to be fair.
@Liam Byrne: huh? You lost me
The problem with modern journalism is that it’s permeated by a lack of perspective and a willingness to copy and paste press releases as if they are unbiased. They only give one side of a story.
Case in point, many outlets went with a story about 20,000 scientists in Germany, Switzerland and Austria endorsing the Greta Thunberg protests as if the figure meant something.
Not one outlet decided to find out how many scientists there are in Germany for example. 3 million as it happens.
Which puts the 20,000 figure into some perspective:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20180920-1
@Jaycee Laycee:
But then where do you want it to stop? Do you want them to report the facts (20,000 scientists etc…) or spoonfeed you with everything?
@Jaycee Laycee: They are all bias especially in the UK and in the US… Here as well….
Some might disagree because people don’t choose what are facts but on what views these media outlets have to fit what they already believe like FoxNews?
But at least there are…
WSWS.ORG
TRUTH-OUT.ORG
AlterNet(dot)org
Globalresearch(dot)ca
Consortiumnews(dot)com
Socialistworker(dot)org
Mediamatters(dot)org
Commondreams(dot)org
Internationalviewpoint(dot)org
Democracynow(dot)org
Wikileaks(dot)org?
have your say