A website I had written for is folding. I am reposting some of the pieces here to keep them from disappearing forever. The following is one of those:
I am a member of the media. As such, I like to begin my day with a cup of coffee and a ZOOM call with other members of the media and George Soros to get my marching orders for the day.
At least that’s what you may have been led to believe. “Media” has become a boogeyman. My own family has said phrases like: “the media is all garbage.” To which I reply, “Hi, I’m media.”
I am a member of the media. I host a morning radio show five days a week. I do have coffee every morning but I’ve never met George Soros nor would I recognize him if he popped into the station. But as a member of the media and as a citizen of my town, my state, my nation and my world, I am concerned about the lack of media literacy and the abundance of misconceptions about news media.
I want to offer a few easy to use tips for greater media literacy but, before I do, I want to weed some of you out of this post. It’s not that I don’t want you to read what comes after this paragraph, but it is necessary to question yourself before possibly wasting your time with the rest of what is written.
Do you want to know the truth or do you want to win an argument? Do you want to find facts or do you want to be coddled into further believing what you already choose to believe?
Jesus asked in John 5:6 “Do you want to get well?” I will ask the same question. If you do want helps in becoming media literate continue on, if not, then thank you for reading this much and please leave an angry face on the social media account you discovered this post on. But if you are a professing Christian let me warn you that the Bible is filled with warnings and admonishments to be pursuers and sharers of the truth. Not bearing false witness made God’s top ten and it should make ours as well. We follow the God-man named Truth; we should be people of truth as much as humanly possible.
Tip 1) Ask: is this opinion or news?
If the FCC could let me make one change to the vast wasteland that is cable news it would be this: I would place a label on all programs disclaiming whether it is news or opinion. Our newspapers have Opinion and Letters to the Editor pages. Our TV’s mix the two until many well-meaning people can’t tell the difference.
Sean Hannity once famously said, “I’m not a journalist, I’m a talk show host.” Hannity is right. He’s an opinion man who talks about the news, he’s not a journalist. Stephen Colbert occasionally has referred to himself as a clown, not a newsman. Colbert is right. This doesn’t mean they never say true things, but it does mean disseminating facts is not their primary job.
There is a MASSIVE difference in the standards for the news departments of these companies and the opinion departments. My station uses FOX News radio updates and they are strictly factual, but others in the same corporation aren’t. If you’re watching CNN and there are 12 people on a panel, they aren’t all there to read you the news; they are there to bicker for your entertainment. It’s no different than in sports media when you see one guy reporting on a leg injury and then you see Stephen A. Smith shouting about the Cowboys.
I’m a radio host and as such, I admire the skill of someone like Rush Limbaugh. Every weekday for 3 hours he gets people riled up about something. For decades the man has had a massive following of people who either love him or hate him. It’s ratings gold and he’s great at it. Don’t get me wrong, Rush may say true things, but his job is to entertain you so much that you listen to the commercials between segments while wondering what he’ll say next.
There’s nothing wrong with listening to, reading or watching news opinion, but you must recognize it for what it is and what it is not.
Tip 2) Read the Darn Article
A recent study from Columbia University and the French National Institute discovered that 59% of links shared on social media have never been clicked. Meaning, millions of news articles are shared daily without ever having been read. Couple this with the fact that clicks=dollars and you have a big problem. Clickbaiting is good business, but it’s bad media literacy. I post news stories on our station’s website daily. I know for a fact that I could get more traffic simply by writing more bombastic headlines, but I know for a fact that people would have a wrong understanding many times if all they read was the headline. DO NOT share news items you have not read, watched or listened to. This doesn’t mean you have to consume every headline you see, but it does mean you don’t have to pass along every headline you see.
Tip 3) Google It
If you come upon a news item that interests you then use a search engine to see who, if anyone else, is also reporting on it. MSNBC and Newsmax have very different points of view, but they should both agree that the event had indeed happened. Some very intelligent friends of mine have passed along fake news, satire or old news. Sometimes the news is so big you want to share it immediately, but take five extra seconds to Google it first.
Tip 4) Memes Aren’t News
This doesn’t mean that a meme can’t be true, but meme creators range from pure of heart to pure evil. The woman in the picture isn’t necessarily the one who said the words. The stats may not be accurate or up to date. Once again, Google is your friend. Plus, if a story in the news is important enough to share then it’s important enough to read more than fifteen words about. Not many of us base our points of view on bumper stickers; memes are the bumper stickers of the internet.
Tip 5) Avoid Confirmation Bias
We all want to be right. We all want our side to win. We all think our shade of the political spectrum is best and there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a dog in the fight. But seeking news only to confirm our previously held biases isn’t helping our towns, states, nation, and world. Be most wary of the news that tells you what your itching ears like to hear. Always remember that much of the news media sees you as a customer not as someone to be served honestly and this has only gotten worse, especially on the national level, in my lifetime.
Don’t flee to newspapers, TV stations, radio programs and online sources that coddle your bias. This doesn’t mean you can’t have trusted voices in your tribe that you go to, but it does mean that simply seeking out the site that agrees with you and ignoring the rest is a fool’s decision.
I see this too much. People Googling and then scrolling four pages down until the “AHA” is shouted. People who once loved a network until it said their guy didn’t win Arizona in the election. People running to the boundaries of acceptable journalism to feel the comfort of confirmation. Stop this.
Adfontesmedia.com has a great media bias chart if you need help navigating these messy waters. I recommend it.
Media literacy is an important skill to have. People have literally died this month for lack of it. Families and friends become divided for lack of it. Fools are made intentionally and unintendedly because of it. For our society, truth matters. For our witness, truth matters. Seek the truth with wisdom: be media literate.
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