Media Literacy: Introduction

Short definition: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms.

Longer definition: A 21st century approach to education, providing a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and participate with messages in a variety of forms from print to video to the Internet. Builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.

Source: Center for Media Literacy

News Literacy --The ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television or the Internet. 

Definition of "News Literacy" from the glossary of Stony Brook University’s Center for News Literacy.

The website AllSides describes how to identify 16 types of media bias:

• Spin: Straying from objective facts using vague, dramatic or sensational language
• Unsubstantiated Claims: Statements that appear to be fact but do not include specific evidence
• Opinion Statements Presented as Fact
• Sensationalism/Emotionalism: Information presented in a way so as to maximize shock value
• Mudslinging / Ad Hominem: Unfair things said in order to damage someone's reputation / Attacks on someone's motive or character rather than the content of their ideas.
• Mind Reading: Where writers assume that they know what someone else is thinking
• Slant: Focusing on only one part of a story or playing up a piece of information
• Flawed Logic: Misrepresenting people's opinions or arriving at conclusions that are not justified by the given evidence
• Bias by Omission: Choosing not to cover certain stories, cherry picking legitimate stories but without providing the full context, omitting voices or information that would support an alternate viewpoint
• Omission of Source Attribution: Not backing up claims by linking to the source of information
• Bias by Story Choice and Placement
• Subjective Qualifying Adjectives: Adding words, based on the writer's emotions or opinions, that characterize or attribute specific properties to something
• Word Choice: Using words or phrases that reveal a particular perspective or ideology
• Photo Bias: Using a photo to give a false impression of a subject
• Negativity Bias: Emphasizing bad or negative news, or framing news in a negative light. "If it bleeds, it leads."
• Elite v. Populist Bias: Deferring to the viewpoints and perspectives of society's most prestigious and credentialed institutions, or alternatively, deferring to the viewpoints and perspectives of those outside those institutions

For a more detailed description of each type of media bias as well as some examples, consult the AllSides website.