I attended the media literacy Lecture by Frank W Baker and learnt that , nothing indeed can be more important today,  than MEDIA LITERACY.
It is really disheartning to know that India is the hub of Fake news , video’s and information. Being the future, this is solely our responsibility to ensure that what we see or read is authentic and from a credible source.

I sum up the following points from his lecture.

When in doubt , check it out !

*MEDIA LITERACY*  is a 21st century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyse, evaluate, create and participate with a variety of forms from print, video to internet.
It aims to increase students understanding and enjoyment of
– how media works
– how they produce meaning
– how they are organised
– and how they construct reality.

*Fake news is the “cancer of our time”*
Because teens get their news more frequently from social media site’s ( Facebook, Instagram, twitter etc) rather than directly from news organisations.

*Q. HOW SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY REAL NEWS ?*

Researchers said:
” People viewing a blend of news and entertainment on a social media site tended to pay less attention to the source of content they consumed- meaning they could easily mistake satire or fictional for real news”
           – Source: Science News, March 2020

*LATERAL READING*- Act of verifying , what you are reading.
It is the process of consulting third-party sources to help verify authority and reliability of the source.

*For example*- an image located in a post on Facebook on March, 25 ,2020   came up that COVID literally stand for Chinese Orignated Viral Infection Disease
      Whereas
COVID-19 is an abbreviation of the “coronavirus disease 2019” where
CO- stands for Corona
VI- virus
D- disease

and number 19 reflects the year ,disease was identified that is 2019.

*Q. HOW TO RECOGNISE A FAKE STORY ?*

-distinguish between a news and option.

-check the URL of the website you are reading news from!

-check the published date and time.

-check the author or journalist – as often fake stories do not have name mentioned of the author.

– For health information go to
CDC.GOV  or  WHO.INT

-fact check what you are reading websites like
• Snopes.Com
•Annenberg’s Factcheck.org
•Duke University’s Reporter’s Lab

-to find out the real image you can use
• reverse image search on Google
• TinEye.com

–  search if other news outlets are reporting it.

–  ask experts.

– *slow down or don’t share.*

*DEEPFAKE*- is a process where your face is edited and is placed on someone’s else face.
• women’s are mostly the victim’s of pornography in such cases.

* Signs of fake video’s*

– simple composition , looking straight forward.

– weird blending along the outline of the face.