By: Erin Butts

By the time the 2020 presidential elections began, I was still in shock and dealing with a flood of emotions due to the death of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. I was fearful, and as an African American I felt responsible for helping the Black community in any way that I could.

The elections seemed like a great way to take a stance. I voted for the first time last year and it was during a very tense and critical time. I felt a lot of pressure to vote and felt overwhelmed by the racial injustice being discussed in the news.

I researched the political candidates, but I did not know where to begin or where to find the information I needed or questions to ask to help guide my research. I tried to make a decision based on the presidential and vice presidential debates and using Politico to find out what candidates believed on different issues, but my research was guided by my emotions.

Without a comprehensive plan regarding what I needed to know to make an informed decision, I was left with a genuine, but poor attempt at thorough research.

Media literacy helps answer the questions, “What should I be researching? What questions should I ask to make the best decisions?”

Len Masterman is the author of Teaching the Media and he defines media literacy as “critical autonomy.” Critical autonomy is the ability to think about information in the media differently than how it is normally perceived. It also refers to a student's ability to analyze and find fault with texts when they are not in class.

Being media literate is about a person becoming, “competent, critical and literate in all media forms so that they control the interpretation of what they see or hear rather than letting the interpretation control them."

During the elections, I felt overwhelmed by news reports about racial injustice and COVID-19. At times, I felt I could not process the information in order to come up with my own interpretation of what was happening in the world. The beauty of media literacy is that it encourages you to ask questions and make informed decisions.

Becoming a research expert overnight is nearly impossible, but starting small and asking questions (even if you do not end up researching information about it) is a great place to begin.

According to medialit.org, “To become media literate is not to memorize facts or statistics about media, but rather to learn to raise the right questions about what you are watching, reading or listening to.”

The Center for Media Literacy has determined five key questions when practicing media literacy:

Who created this message?
What techniques are used to attract my attention?
How might people understand this message differently [than me]?
What lifestyles, values and points of views are represented in, or omitted from this message?
Why is this message being sent?

I was not a research expert when I voted last year and I am still not a research expert today. Media literacy is not about extensive research. It is about being confident that you have the tools you need to ask questions and develop your own viewpoints on issues, so you can make decisions that reflect your values.

It takes time and intentionality to practice media literacy. It can be discouraging trying to determine if information online is biased or unbiased. The key questions mentioned previously can be helpful when trying to determine if the information you are reading is biased.

For example, knowing who created the message you are reading can lead you to gather important information about the news company or website you are viewing and determine if the information you are reading is notably biased. Another option is using mediabiasfactcheck.com to get an idea of which news sources are more factual and in what ways is the news source biased.

Everyone should intentionally work on their media literacy skills. Challenging how topics are covered in newspapers, the validity of information we read and the purpose of the message is not only the job of journalists, but of every American citizen. Media literacy is an important part of our democracy and it is a privilege to be able to practice it.

Why Everyone Should Practice Media Literacy