Sacred Heart U. Professor: Think Critically About Media In Era Of Fake News

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FAIRFIELD, Conn. --

Sacred Heart University’s Bill Yousman instructs students to determine who is sending the message.

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“We always have to look at all the media we use with a critical eye,’’ he said. “We can’t take it on face value. It’s not enough to look what most people would consider reliable sources. That’s the critical thinking part. Who produced this? What agenda do they have? Whose interests are being supported? Whose voices are not being heard?”

Because of the vast amount of media, Yousman feels education is the most important way for people to analyze information coming at them. “There’s not one magic pill that will solve this,’’ he said. “It’s about education. That type of media literacy can’t start too early.”

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“Media literacy has to start in the earliest grades,’’ he said. “There are things you can do. In talking to kindergartners, you can ask them does this toy really look like it did in the ad, and does it work like they promised? Even children can get some critical distance from media. It’s a long term project of critical consciousness that should start at an early age.”

Yousman offered pessimistic and optimistic thoughts on media literacy going forward. His pessimistic view is that democracy will be in trouble if people in power dismiss outlets who try to hold them accountable. “It’s a way to push out criticism or investigation,’’ he said. “It’s a way to deflect accountability.Facts still do matter. We need to hold powerful people accountable.”

His optimistic view is that people are developing a more critical media eye. “It’s waking people up to the idea that we can’t be passive, and we need to think critically about the messages we’re receiving,’’ he said.