Media Literacy: Resources for Evaluating News Sources

Media products are created by individuals who make conscious and unconscious choices about what to include, what to leave out and how to present what is included. These decisions are based on the creators’ own point of view, which will have been shaped by their opinions, assumptions and biases – as well as media they have been exposed to. Even the most objective content creators have to decide what information to include and leave out, but we (i.e. media consumers) instinctively view media sources as objective representations of reality (via MediaSmarts).

Therefore, we need to ask ourselves the following when consuming news media:

• Who created this media product?
• What is its purpose?
• What assumptions or beliefs do its creators have that are reflected in the content?

To understand this and use these skills allows us to be media literate, that is, able to critically understand the nature, techniques and impacts of media messages and productions.