medialiteracy-blog2

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Hello! Welcome to MediaLiteracy, the blog focused around showcasing different sources, both the good and bad, reliable and unreliable, with the goal of providing good examples of what people should turn to when navigating a world centered around the media, hence the name, media literacy. 

Media literacy describes ones ability to locate, create and analyze different forms of media. In a world more connected to the media than ever before, being well versed in media literacy has recently grown in importance. 

For this reason, the MediaLiteracy blog was created, providing a space for individuals to learn about it’s importance and hone in on their skills as media viewers and creators. 

Enjoy!

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During the previous voting season, like most people, I struggled to find a good place to research candidates without seeing signs of bias. I eventually stumbled upon this site, which went through all of the potential candidates for each party of whatever chosen state. It went into detail about each of the problems laying out and clearly stating which the candidates focused on as well as what steps they have taken to solve these issues. Sites such as this one, made the research process easier and more reliable than navigating through various sites to try to get accurate information along with making sure said information is not biased or sponsored by party affiliates. Even through tv, many advertisements are crafted by politicians to make themselves look better, such as this one, https://youtu.be/z1YP_zZJFXs, an ad by Ron DeSantis, used to make himself more appealing to conservative viewers by boasting about his loyalty to Trump and his policies. However, this advertisement mentions nothing of Ron’s political past or his plans for the future, other than hinting at his undying allegiance to the president. Compared to this advertisement, this website highlights specific facts about candidates as well as their history in politics, making it easier for voters throughout the voting season. 

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A couple months ago, I stumbled upon an article centered around a man who was experiencing violent coughing fits. After being admitted into the hospital, he ended up coughing up a blood clot originating from his lungs which held the shape of his bronchial tree perfectly. About a week after reading about it, another article with the same topic popped up on my feed. However, this article claimed that the same man coughed up part of his lung. Curious, I clicked on the article which went on to go over the same information as the first one I read in the first article, only this time they described how the man coughed up a piece of his lung, as seen in the description. Considering how that was basically impossible, it was hard to believe that all of the details of the article. Even in the comments of the article, people were commenting about its inaccuracies. Just to be sure about which article was correct or not, I looked around for the original article I found by the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2018/12/08/blood-clot-formed-exact-shape-mans-lung-passage-then-he-coughed-it-up/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.684bc89f5ac8). The Washington Post article featured quotes from one of the doctors working at the hospital which the man was admitted into. It also mentioned specific information about the patient which was not mentioned in the Daily Mail article. I also took not on the fact that the Washington Post article was written two days after the Daily Mail one was, possibly allowing them to gather more evidence about the topic instead of piecing together rumored information and throwing it into an article. A point which would make sense considering that the Daily Mail is a tabloid newspaper focused around covering the “latest breaking news”, seemingly before they know if their coverage is correct or not. 

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My mom recently sent me the link to this post, informing me to read all about the importance of spices. The post, from the looks of it, seemed to promise people that they would lose weight by only eating one food or spice they would lose weight. Posts such as this one is easy click bait for the untrained eye, giving false hope to people by promising a quick and easy solution. One of the first issues that caught my eye was the photo of the random woman, who looked as though she had lost weight, next to an anonymous food or spice which the author claimed was the “murderer of obesity”. Nowhere in the article is this woman tied to the “miracle” food or even addressed, it is as though the author just threw in a woman’s weight loss pictures and put it next to a random spice, which is also not addressed or identified in the article. The article itself is filled with vague details and assumptions on how to lose weight, even going as far as stating that hunger is a common feeling and should be expected. All the author’s claims seem to stem from a study performed by scientists from the Medical Sciences University of Iran, which is also vague and only mentions a few details that are used to support their claim. However, these details do not explain how one can lose 30 pounds in one month and most compellingly, there is no Medical Sciences University of Iran. While scanning through this article with my mom, I pinpointed some of the main issues I had with the article and explained to her how this was not reliable enough to take seriously. And this article was not the only one, after scrolling through the account, Best Fitness Tips, I found that their page was only made up of health scams. I encouraged her to not take health tips or facts from twitter too seriously, as posts such as this one are only made to get attention and give false information, not to help people.