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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2017)
Street Roots • March 17-23, 2017 News Page 5 HOBBS, from page 4 has been growing all over the world, particularly in Eastern Europe where a campaign to destabilize people’s generally positive views of Western democracies is used to justify oppressive authoritarian governments. What’s unique in the U.S. is that our president has called The New York Times (arguably the best newspaper in the world) a form of fake news, even as he appears to be getting his policy briefings from Fox and Friends. E.G.: In New Mexico, lawmakers have introduced a bill to hold a hearing where they would decide how to best teach media literacy in the classroom. Are American public schools currently doing a good job of teaching children how to decipher news from propaganda? A promotion for Rush Limbaugh’s Facebook Presence. Below, just one o f President Donald Trump notorious and unfounded statements on Twitter. Renee Hobbs was a founding partner or creator of these online tools you can use to learn about or teach media literacy. Visit MediaEducationLab.com, for inaccurate uses of the term, implying that people do not have Donald «I. Trump I f W te * I control over their «__________i ^reaiDonakfRomp behavior and Trte so-called angry crowds in home districts of some attitudes. Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out The rise of Fox by liberal activists, Sadi News and right-wing media in general is 3:28 PM-21 Feb 2017 linked to changes in American demographics: As people get older, they lessons from Turkey suggest that politicians get more fearful of loss and death. They feel and other political leaders are indeed aware nostalgic for times past and worry that what of media literacy’s revolutionary potential (little) they have will be taken away. Rush and feared its spread, since genuine critical Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their ilk exploit thinking is a threat to authoritarian regimes. these natural fears. Fear is the easiest E.G.: “The Brainwashing of My Dad” is a emotion to exploit To address this, with my documentary in which a woman explores how relative, I would watch or listen and stop listening to right-wing talk radio and watching whenever I notice language that creates Fox News may have changed her dad’s beliefs anger or fear. By noticing the patterns in and personality. He became angry and non- how the emotion of anger or fear is receptive to all other news sources. She met activated, we can discuss: Who benefits from many others who had people becoming angry? Fearful? How friends and relatives this realistic are these fears? What could be some had also happened to. Here intended consequences of making people R.H.: Teachers and school leaders don’t get much exposure to media literacy as part of their teacher education programs, so many school districts are still not aware of the importance of integrating media literacy into the K-12 curriculum. Because there are 15,000 school districts, though, there is tremendous diversity and there is a lot of experimentation going on in schools all over the country. Through publications (available online) like the Journal of Media Literacy Education and national membership organizations like the National Association for Media Literacy Education, educators are sharing “what works,” and this helps build a knowledge base that helps people who are just beginning to explore this field. I’ve been a t Street Roofc, wewerie generally surprised " B e rise of Fox Mews aad by students who find right-w ing media la geaeral Is talking about this movie, as we interviewed its director a H ated to ehaages la TMZ.com to be a while back, and as it turned reliable source of Mmerlcaa deatographlcs: out, many of us also had an celebrity news - and Ms people get older, they older relative who was who lack awareness get more fearful of lass aad engrossed in Fox News or of how publicists are death« They feel nostalgic right-wing talk radio and deeply involved in fo r times past aad w orry that had changed, not positively, the shaping of because of it. celebrity news - are what (little ) they have w ill be Let’s say you have an also by those who takes away» Bash Limbaugh, older relative who are unaware that RT Glean Beck aad their Ilk exclusively watches Fox is funded by the News. This person is Russian government exploit these statural fears» Fear Is the easiest ematloa to convinced that all other Its pro-Russian bias forms of mainstream media exploit» seems obvious to news are fake or me, but lots of misleading, and that only students don’t Fox News “tells it like it is. ” recognize it. How would you help someone like this to see E.G.: You’ve studied media literacy the error of his or her ways without putting education in Turkey. What can the U.S. learn them on the defensive? from Turkey’s program and other media literacy programs in other countries? R.H.: I have a little problem with the R.H.: Turkey is a hot m ess right now with more than 40,000 educators, journalists and judges in jail, accused of conspiracy. It seems like as democratic values really started to take hold in that country - including the rise of the internet, a free(r) press, freedom of speech and a wider variety of educational opportunities - the authoritarian forces got nervous of losing power. Many of the educators who pioneered media literacy education in Turkey - like my Media Education Lab colleague Sait Tuzel - are now in jail or have lost their jobs. The Online platforms for learning media literacy premise because of your use of the term “error of their ways.” People are entitled to their interpretations of right-wing radio and television, and right-wingers are entitled to see the dominance of liberal journalists and the New York Times in particular as the “problem” that they aim to correct Media literacy educators respect different interpretations of media messages. That’s a key concept The documentary also problematically uses the language of brainwashing, with words like “deprogramming,” with feel fearful or angry? A wareness of the constructed nature of media in activating emotion helps build people’s resistance to it, because it encourages them to substitute critical thinking for just feeling or reacting. This technique is even good for knee-jerk, . crunchy granola Portland liberals. They are also susceptible to emotionally arousing messages that activate anger and fear. E.G.: What about a Facebook friend you might have, who is always sharing bogus stories in their thread. What advice would you give this person on how to check the validity of an unfamiliar source - let’s say a website- before sharing the stories it publishes? R.H.: People should unfriend or reduce the status of friends who share poor-quality content, and it’s wise to explain your rationale, explaining, “When you share content that is untrustworthy, it wastes my time, and it reflects badly on you.” For people who share content that runs counter to your existing ideology, you should thank them for helping you get out of the filter bubble, but also take the time to comment on what they shared and offer your own critical interpretation. Friends help friends by sharing our interpretations - and as I mentioned in the opening, sharing interpretations is pleasurable (even when we have different responses) and helps us to grow as human beings. Asking questions is a good response to these friends: Why did you like this? What value do you see in it? It’s better to engage people in a genuine way than simply trying to persuade them against access to an array of online media literacy teaching tools for all ages, lesson plans, videos, links to books and For free, online access to an 18-uoit curriculum including video and handouts Hobbs developed in partnership with the Discovery Channel for the Maryland State Department of Education, visit MediaEducationLab.com/assignment- media-iiteracy. Tween girls can use the award-winning edutainment game at MyPopStudio. com to go behind the scenes of music, television, magazines and online media. Go to Propaganda. MediaEducatlonLab.com to peruse and rate contemporary media messaging at Mind Over Media: Analyzing Contemporary Propaganda. The National Association for Media Literacy Education website, namte.net, also offers teaching resources and informationabouMts conference in Chicago this June. At jmle.org, you can access The Journal of Media Literacy Education, an online collection of peer-reviewed media-literacy-related studies and more. their beliefs. E.G.: I also wanted to ask you about what you have called “dynamic content.” Can you tell our readers what this is and how media consumers can avoid having a limited perspective because of it? R.H.: Perhaps you mean my writing about learning to recognize sponsored content, which is also called native advertising. These are the posts on your Facebook or other websites, like Salon, Slate, CNN, that sometimes say, “Recommended” or “You Should See This.” People may not be aware that this particular content is coming to them dynamically, customized by the platform and based on the content of their emails, the keywords they use in searching, and their posts on social media. Because they are highly customized and likely to appeal to your current interests, people may be less critical of such content - and such content is generally disguised marketing and public relations content, gussied up with a listicle or celebrity photo. emily@streetroots. org D on't m iss a single issue. Follow Street Roots on Twitter a n d Facebook!
