Media Literacy: Resources for Evaluating News Sources

In media literacy, what or who is absent may be more important than what or who is included. These messages may be the result of conscious decisions, but more often they are the result of unconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions – and they can have a significant influence on what we think and believe.

As a result, media have great influence on politics and on forming social change. TV news coverage can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of image; representations of world issues, both in journalism and fiction, can affect how much attention they receive; and society’s views towards different groups can be directly influenced by how – and how often – they appear in media (via MediaSmarts)

Therefore, we must ask ourselves the following:

• Who and what is shown in a positive light? In a negative light?
• Why might these people and things be shown this way?
• Who and what is not shown at all?
• What conclusions might audiences draw based on these facts?