‘Truthiness’ and Trust: News Media Literacy Strategies in the Digital Age Jennifer Fleming, Dept. of Journalism, CSU Long Beach “Anonymous sources are to journalism what silicon enhancements are to the feminine figure; they look impressive to the gullible, but something doesn’t feel right.” - Anonymous

Source? p_wZwhttp:// p_wZw

Merging Theory with Practice Source layering (or literacy?) Outcome –The ability to identify, question and critically analyze layers of sources embedded in digital news media texts Demonstrated by –Activities (online and in-class) that encourage reflective thinking through independent and collective critical analysis of digital media texts sources and sources within digital texts 1.Online viewing & discussion forums (in personal space) 2.In-class discussion and reflection pieces based on student- produced data and discussions 3.Online responses to forums, discussions (in personal space)

Media Literacy “Instead of scurrying into the corner and wailing about what media are doing to use, one should charge straight ahead and kick them in the electrodes. They respond beautifully to such resolute treatment and soon become servants rather than masters.” »– Marshall McLuhan (cited in Tyner, 1998, 54) Centre for Media Literacy –Five Core Concepts Five media literacy knowledge structures (Potter, 2005) –Media effects, media content, media industries, real world and self “Media literacy is the ability to decode, analyze, evaluate and produce communication in a variety of forms”

Cultural Studies Media culture/contested terrain (Kellner, 1995) –Diagnostic critique Race, class, gender & power relations Dominant cultural order (Hall, 1980) –“Any society/culture tends … to impose its classifications of the social and cultural and political world. These constitute a dominant cultural order … we say “dominant” because their exists a pattern of “preferred readings”; and these both have the institutional/political/ideological order imprinted in them and have themselves become institutionalized” (p. 134)

Journalism/Media Studies Liberal/democratic praxis & “watchdog” role of press Sources –They [journalists] lack the experience or education to evaluate the credentials of many people who could serve as experts in news stories; so they chose people not on the basis of knowledge but on their appearance of expertise and their willingness to tell a good story” (Potter, 2005, p. 108) Fabrication, bias and use of anonymous sources –Society of Professional Journalists (1996) Code of Ethics: Seek Truth and Report It

Teaching & Education Dewey (1933) – Critical thinking –Reflective thinking is the “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (p. 9) Freire (1970) – Curriculum as Conversation –“To alienate human beings from their own decision making is to turn them into objects” (p. 85) “Deep learning” opportunities –A motivational context that encourages students’ interest in the subject, active learning, opportunities for students to interact with others, and new information presented in a logical, integrated format to establish well-structured knowledge base (Cross & Harris-Steadman, 1996).

Merging Theory with Practice Source layering (or literacy?) Outcome –The ability to identify, question and critically analyze layers of sources embedded in digital news media texts Demonstrated by –Activities (online and in-class) that encourage reflective thinking through independent and collective critical analysis of digital media texts sources and sources within digital texts 1.Online viewing & discussion forums (in personal space) 2.In-class discussion and reflection pieces based on student- produced data and discussions 3.Online responses to forums, discussions (in personal space)

Student-generated results Sources: –Dateline/NBC/MSNBC: 29% –“wnwz”/Manziar: 27% – 15% –Keith Olbermman: 7% –Perverted Justice: 4% –Comments: 2% –No answer: 17% The Video segment is an excerpt taken from Dateline NBC’s "To Catch a Predator". The video is posted by a person under nick name “wnwz”, which is really vague. But besides that, as we can see at the beginning of the video, The video was posted, or taken, from a site that contains videos related to TV reporter and commentator Keith Olbermann. Keith Olbermann works for NBC as an anchorman, best known for hosting the show “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.” On the website, I could not find who posted it, so it probably was a just a home made tivo recorded excerpt or something like that.

Student-generated discussions Purposes –Catch predators –Increase awareness of issue –Entertainment –Ratings –Promote Keith Olbermann ‘Truthiness’ –I do not think the video presents a good level of truthiness at all … the clip is mere exposure for MSNBC, using the best exploitation duo available: children and sex. The people orchestrating the whole thing are following their gut feeling of justice, that every man they catch is a rapist who deserves whatever he (does this show even attempt to target females?) he gets, but everything about the set-up is falsified, from the decoy to the home setting. At least the men who want sex are up front about it

References Cross, K. & Harris Steadman, M. Classroom Research: Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Dewey, J. (1993). How we think. Boston: D.C. Heath. Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum. Originally published in Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/Decoding.In S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Love and P. Willis (eds.), Culture, Media, Language, pp London: Hutchinson. Kellner, D. (1995). Media Culture: cultural studies, identity and politics between the modern and the postmodern. London: Routledge. Potter, J. (2005). Media Literacy, 3 rd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (1996) Code of Ethics retrieved from SPJ website on June 2, Tyner, K. (1998). Literacy in a Digital World: Teaching and Learning in the Age of Information. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum