Educational Technology - Media Literacy

Media Literacy. What is it? Well, according to Wikipedia, "Media literacy encompasses the practices that allow people to access, critically evaluate, and create media." Basically, media literacy is what allows people to understand media. If you don't know what a vlog is, then you are not 100% literate! There are tons of types of media, ranging from news articles to personal blogs to videos of people doing crazy challenges on YouTube! However, not all media is reliable. In many cases, news programs can have a bias, which means that they favor one viewpoint over another. Another way that media is often corrupted is through censorship. Censorship is when a government or someone in charge bans certain information. Media literacy is important because it allows people to learn about current, or past, events, and it helps to spread important information such as a major spread of disease or if a criminal is on the loose. Media literacy allows people to understand most sources of information, whether it is blog post, a news station, or a photo gallery.