Understanding media and how to sort through evidence can be daunting, but is essential in today’s social and political landscape.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) recently held a Media Literacy Panel on April 12 at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) in Escalante Hall. This panel was hosted to discuss the importance of media literacy and the role it plays in today’s digital age.
It was composed of four panelists: Director of Audience Engagement for the Daily Sentinel Gretchen Reist, Editor and Publisher of the Enterate Latino Hector Morales, anchor for KKCO Hannah Hickman and Head of Access Services and Outreach at CMU Tomlinson Library Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic. The event was moderated by former SPJ President, and now Chair of the News Literacy Committee for the Colorado Press Association, Doug Bell.
The panel emphasized that media literacy is essential in a world of 24-hour news cycles, rapidly-changing technology and a growing amount of misinformation. They addressed the importance of digital media and its role in promoting the free exchange of ideas, and how the dangers can outweigh the good qualities in some cases. Each panelist talked about the measures their own organization takes to ensure quality information.
“As newspaper outlets, we haven’t done a great job of engendering trust, we have to do better,” Reist said. “We need to make our audiences recognize that we are not the same as some of these extremist [journalists] that are out there. It’s not the same thing. We’re not speaking into a vacuum, throwing out a bunch of opinions. The goal is that you take facts and verifiable facts upon verifiable facts, you put those together, and you’re going to get as close as you possibly can to the truth.”
The panelists also discussed the importance of critical thinking when it comes to media. They noted that it is essential to look at sources and verify the information before sharing it online. They highlighted how media literacy can be used to promote meaningful conversations and help fight against the spread of misinformation.
Even as professionals, the speakers relayed their own run-ins with misinformation and how easy it is to get sucked in. Cantwell-Jurkovic stated that students can avoid these incidents by using the resources available to them on campus.
“It’s hard even within academic databases, there are gradients of expertise. There are differences in depth and the purpose of the different types of sources. I mean, we have streaming media, we have newspapers, we have scholarly articles, there are so many options for sources. Our job [at the library] is to help students parse through those,” Cantwell-Jurkovic said.
The panelists concluded the discussion by giving the attendees a chance to ask questions. The panel provided a great opportunity for both the speakers and attendees to discuss the importance of media literacy in today’s digital landscape. It was a great reminder of the importance of verifying information, developing critical thinking skills and using media literacy to promote meaningful conversations online.
“Everybody in SPJ really put their all into making this event possible. This went a lot better than we had anticipated it to be, we thought it might have been kind of awkward trying to go from panelist to panelist, but it flowed really well and the turnout was amazing. I do hope that it gives a better light not only to the media, but also the mass comm department as a whole at CMU,” junior in mass communications and SPJ President Ziggy Ross said.
SPJ meetings are every Monday at 4 p.m. in Escalante Hall 125. More information can be found on their Instagram, @spj.cmu.
