As a media academic, media literacy is fundamental to what I teach and research. For the past few years, I’ve been researching online disinformation and following how tech companies and policymakers often describe media literacy as a response to online problems.
At worst, media literacy is reduced to a quick-fix solution. In contrast, practitioners and advocates tend to view media literacy in an more empowering way. I think it’s important to insist on that empowering view.
As almost all spheres of life are entwined with media technologies, being media literate is foundational to people’s capacity to engage fully in civic, social, and political life. It also means that media literacy requires collaboration across sectors. The phrase “whole of society” is overused, but media literacy has to engage society in the round. No sector fully understands all the issues or has all the answers. We have to listen to, learn from, and work with each other. I think that’s one of the great strengths of MLI. It has created a space where librarians, teachers, media, NGOs, academics, and others can exchange ideas and collaborate on public talks and campaigns like Be Media Smart.
At DCU FuJo, we are delighted to lead a new EU project as part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). The Ireland EDMO Hub will be created by DCU, TheJournal, NewsWhip and the University of Sheffield. One strand of this project is dedicated to media literacy and we aim to work closely with MLI and its members to build capacity and reinforce that empowering view of media literacy.
