The USF College of Art and Sciences’ (CAS) Democracy and Citizenship Speakers Series featured three experts on political communication and media—Drs. Miyoung Chong (assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Digital Communication), Jianing Li (assistant professor in the Department of Communication), and Joshua Scacco (associate professor in the Department of Communication).
Drs. Scacco, Chong and Li with USF College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Magali Michael. (Photo by Dakota Galvin)
The trio shared the importance of self-awareness and skepticism in assessing information, practices that local journalists and news outlets use to obtain and vet quality content, and how individuals can navigate content online to find quality information.
The discussion, “Media Literacy and Information Quality in the Digital Age,” was held April 18 at the USF Marshall Student Center’s Oval Theater.
“There are multiple types of skepticism and just being skeptical or thinking about ourselves as skeptics alone is necessary but not enough to navigate the complex social media environment today,” Li said.
She shared tips for how to become a “good skeptic” when using social media and how we can check our own views when approaching and reading information found on social media.
“We should approach information as if we are going to be taking an exam,” Scacco said. “We are going to be motivated to be accurate if we approach it this way as opposed to using our own identity, political identity or other identities as the lens through which we think through information.”
Chong highlighted the importance of maintaining a connection to local news media and the dangers of relying solely on social media for news, which is not subject to the scientific credibility of journalism-based stories.
“[Dr. Chong reminds us] what is it about what journalists do? What is it about the training that they get and ways in which they vet information?” Scacco said. “One way you can differentiate a good source from a bad information source is whether or not it really is motivated to admit when they get it wrong.”
Scacco closed out the discussion by providing some concrete tips for vetting information for credibility, particularly online and on social media. Some of his tips include checking:
- URLs: Is the article a repost or it is directly linking to the source who created it? Watch for third-party posts and odd URLs.
- Dates: Is the article from the last few weeks or from years ago? Most recent is more credible.
- Authors: Is there a byline? Credible sources are not afraid to show you who wrote the article. It should take you to the journalist’s bio and training.
- Voices: Who is quoted? It should include all voices on an issue, regardless of class or status.
“The last thing we want to do after a very long day is to make sure that we are looking for quality information,” Scacco said.
“But that is in the type of media system that we're in. That is where we have to be. And if we're going to be looking for information, we cannot turn that off. That is something I tell my students; you cannot sleepwalk through democracy. You have to be aware. Because the moment that people fall asleep is when the rights and privileges and opportunities that we have can begin to get chipped away,” Scacco added.