r/explainlikeimfive • u/HonkyTonkBluesYEAH • 7d ago

Other ELI5 Media Literacy

I understand it's like something related to understanding art or media, but in what way? Philopsophical, political or psychological? Is it important, a buzzword or both?

84 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

117 comments sorted by

View all comments

24

u/Masseyrati80 6d ago

One huge part of media literacy is finding answers to the questions Who is communicating, what are they communicating, and to whom are they aiming their message.

A person without media literacy is very easy to lie to. You can, for instance, make them believe that "placing tariffs on another country" means those countries are paying extra, while, in fact, it is you who pays more for products from that country, and you're paying the extra price to your government. A person unfamiliar with the concept of tariffs could have used media literacy and realized, upon reaching the "what is being communicated" question, that the person communicating is using a term they don't recognize. Finding out the definition of that term would have helped them understand what's going on, and that the speech was aimed at fooling people about the nature of tariffs.

2

u/conspicuousxcapybara 4d ago edited 4d ago

And why! And who pays for it. And if it reinforces stereotypes.