Stop fighting the unknown! managing fake news though media literacy

Abstract

The quandary of fake news continues to scare governments, media, journalists, nongovernmental organizations and audiences across the world. Various institutions and individuals have developed mechanisms to spot and counteract fake news that range from anti-fake news laws, social media policies, facts checking applications and reverse search technologies. However, fake news remains an enigma to the world of communication and information management [1]. One management strategy that has been overlooked over the years is media and information literacy as proposed by Grunwald Declaration on Media Education in 1982 by 19 nations during the UNESCO’s International Symposium on Media Education. This theoretical review paper focuses on the role of media literacy in managing fake news [2]. Since most of the fake news spotting and counteracting practices have focused on the place of journalists, media houses, governments and social media owners without definitive success, this study focuses on empowerment of the consumer of fake news though media literacy [3]. The review concludes that, if audiences of fake news are empowered through media literacy, then they can source, process, consume and archive information only after verification. This study recommends a paradigm shift from focusing all the attention on spotting and counteracting fake news from media, journalists, legal systems and social media owners to empowerment of news consumers though media literacy