Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

Sangmun Lee is from South-Korea, where he spent most of his life. When he was young he didn't notice how dangerous electronic devices and internet technology can be, but he finally encountered the truth. He thinks that this problem should be solved in some way or people are going to become slaves to technology. He thought about what part of technology made itself so toxic to us, and the reasons why we are so hooked on tech.

This is Mika Brzezinski , the co-anchor of “Morning Joe,” a news talk show on MSNBC. In this segment, the anchors are on camera, chatting, about to launch their daily summary of the top stories of the day. Mika Brzezinski and her co-anchor had been talking about U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar’s critique of the President’s war strategy when she looked down to see the first story on her script was Paris Hilton’s release from jail, which was getting a lot of news coverage at the time. Brzezinski swears it was a spontaneous response and not a publicity stunt. What do you think she is reacting to? If you are going to be effective consumers of news you need to have an understanding of how Paris Hilton’s term in jail came to be the lead story on so many newscasts

Effective media education requires that teachers have sufficient media literacy competencies as well as the competencies to promote media literacy in students. This article describes the development of a questionnaire to measure these competencies individually or as a team. The questionnaire was developed in five stages. A systematic and critical listing of existing inventories resulted in a preliminary questionnaire. In the final stage, the questionnaire was submitted to a representative sample of 454 teachers and 219 student teachers, and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted. The results show that the questionnaire is sufficiently valid and reliable.

Finnish basic education faces a significant change with the 2016 commissioning of the renewed core curriculum, which introduces a new transversal competence, termed multiliteracies—a concept closely related to media literacy. This systematic literature review examines the research literature on media literacy and multiliteracies, analysing and comparing the nature of knowledge constructed and the varying definitions of the two concepts. Previous review articles (Marten 2010; Potter 2010) found little consensus among scholars regarding the definition of media literacy. This review examines the research literature published in international peer reviewed academic journals between 2010 and 2014 to investigate whether a mutual understanding of the concept has since been established. The article argues that significant differences exist between the concepts of media literacy and multiliteracies and, further, that Finnish core curriculum defines multiliteracies differently than the research literature defines the term. In line with previous research, this article finds no consensus on the definition of media literacy in the research literature. Based on the multifaceted nature of the concept, this article rejects attempts to establish a universal definition of media literacy and presents a theoretical framework for conceptualising media literacies based on their abstraction levels. The article aims to facilitate understanding of the concept and its operationalisation in research and practice and discusses future opportunities for research on media literacy and multiliteracies.

In the age of digitalization, Digital and Media Literacy (DML) has gained increasing attention in European compul sory education, blending insights and experiences from the media education and digital literacy domains. Teacher education, starting from pre-service education, is central for the actual integration of DML education in classroom practice. This article discusses the case study of a two-credit introductory course to DML education for pre-service pre-primary and primary school teachers in Switzerland. The course, partially co-designed with its participants, intentionally explored many topics (as opposed to the in-depth analysis of a few) and focused on hands-on experi mentation and reflection. The data collected with a pre/post survey and follow-up interviews offer insights on the evolution of pre-service teachers’ approach to DML, on their perceived role as teachers in this domain, on self efficacy, and on potential enablers and obstacles to implementing DML activities in class. The case study suggests that, despite the limited space in the curriculum and resources available, even a short course can make a difference and enable teachers to integrate DML in their profession

Findings from research on the education of teachers show that student teachers lack competence in the utilization of digital media and often fail to see the added value in using digital concepts in classrooms. Teacher training institutions are faced with the central challenge of providing student teachers and teachers with adaptive learning opportunities for their competence in digital areas. In the context of various teaching subjects, this raises questions about specific starting points and the actual needs of students, as well as university course offerings. The present study tackles this topic and explores the commonalities and differences between student teachers from three subject clusters: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); language literature arts (LLA); and social sciences (SOCS). The questionnaire-based study examines student teachers’ self- assessments of their abilities in terms of digital media, attitudes, and motivational orientations towards the use of digital media in teaching. Group comparisons show that STEM student teachers rate themselves better in competence facets such as technological knowledge, technological content knowledge, and technological pedagogical knowledge, although their attitudes and motivation towards learning with digital media do not differ. Despite the different interrelation effects of investigated influencing factors on motivation depending on subject clusters, the f indings suggest the promotion of technological competencies and positive attitudes to increase motivation.

The question “What is news literacy?” has been asked and answered in a number of ways, as scholars, teachers, librarians and journalists have sought to address the confusion resulting from the increasingly crowded digital information sphere. Concerns center on how the difficulty people face in differentiating reliable, credible information from unverified and biased information threatens their ability to participate in democratic life. Approaches to training and curriculum aimed at minimizing that difficulty have included standalone courses, modules in existing courses, after-school programs, and online exercises aimed at a variety of populations, from K 12 to college students to adults. Given this wide range of settings and populations, it is perhaps not surprising that the content of news literacy instruction also has ranged widely. A series of articles in the Columbia Journalism Review covering the 2014 National News Literacy Summit (the coverage and the summit were sponsored by the McCormick Foundation) makes clear that beyond shared civic goals, there remains a lot of diversity and, even, disagreement about what news literacy is and what efforts to enhance it should include (e.g. Jolly, September 4, 2014; Fry, 2015; Hobbs, 2010b). The lack of a common understanding has hindered efforts to assess the effectiveness of different approaches to news literacy instruction and to examine the relationship between news literacy and achievement of those shared civic goals. A newly developed and validated measure of news media literacy may offer a way to help fill this gap.

Although we live in a global society, educators face many challenges in finding meaningful ways to connect students to people of other cultures. This paper offers a case study of a collaboration between teachers in the US and Turkey, where 7th grade students interacted with each other via online social media as a means to promote cultural understanding. In a close analysis of a single learning activity, we found that children had opportunities to share ideas informally through social media, using their digital voices to share meaning using online writing, posting of images and hyperlinks. This study found that students valued the opportunity to develop relationships with each other and generally engaged in sharing their common interests in Hollywood movies, actors, celebrities, videogames and television shows. However, not all teachers valued the use of popular culture as a means to find common ground. Indeed, teachers had widely differing perspectives of the value of this activity. Through informal communication about popular culture in a “Getting to Know You” activity, students themselves discovered that their common ground knowledge tended to be US centric, as American students lacked access to Turkish popular culture. However, the learning activity enabled students themselves to recognize asymmetrical power dynamics that exist in global media culture, where information and entertainment flows are primarily one-way in nature and perceptions about the value of popular culture are contested.

It studies about Media literacy and the challenge of new information and communication technologies

The article investigates whether media literacy education can enhance youth civic and political engagement. Using a longitudinal panel dataset of high school and college students, it provides rare quantitative evidence on the prevalence and impact of media literacy education. The study finds that exposure to media literacy education is not strongly tied to demographic characteristics. Controlling for prior political interest and online political activity, the results show that digital media literacy education is associated with higher levels of online political engagement. It also links media literacy exposure to greater interaction with diverse political perspectives, suggesting its democratic potential.

The article addresses the growing need for AI literacy in light of artificial intelligence’s expanding influence on workers and citizens. It reviews and compares existing definitions of algorithmic literacy, AI literacy, and generative AI literacy across fields such as media studies, human–computer interaction, technology, and education. The authors analyze how these disciplines conceptualize AI literacy differently, revealing conceptual ambiguities and overlaps. Moving beyond narrow skill-based approaches, the paper proposes a definition of responsible generative AI literacy that extends beyond effective prompting. It frames AI literacy as a broader ethical, critical, and socially aware competence required for responsible engagement with AI systems.

The article examines how widespread algorithmic decision-making systems shape digital media while remaining difficult for the public to critically evaluate. Drawing on the theory of attitude–behavior consistency from political communication, the authors develop a framework to foster algorithmic literacy and encourage more informed public attitudes toward algorithms. They design and test an intervention that combines algorithmic education with personalized user experiences to assess its impact. The findings show that both components together shape attitudes toward algorithms, but the effectiveness of the intervention varies depending on individuals’ patterns of technology use.

The article argues that artificial intelligence is pervasive, complex, and often opaque, making it difficult for individuals to understand its influence on everyday life. It contends that existing digital and information literacy frameworks are insufficient for addressing the specific challenges posed by AI systems. To fill this gap, the authors introduce the concept of algorithmic literacy as a necessary extension of current literacy models. They outline a working definition of algorithmic literacy, explain why it is urgently needed, and propose pedagogical strategies for teaching it.

The article examines how brands have become deeply embedded in social media and online spaces, reshaping advertising practices. It critiques the professional discourse that presents social media marketing as transparent, conversational, and equal, arguing that such claims mask strategic promotional intentions. Using a socio-semiotic communication framework rooted in French information and communication sciences, the study analyzes how brand messages continuously transform and hybridize within digital environments. It also highlights how users are becoming increasingly skilled at recognizing and interpreting marketing strategies online.

Nowadays, online learning is already ubiquitous in the education of most countries and is one of the fastest-growing trends in the use of educational technology. However, despite literature on the effectiveness of online learning, little is known about the influence of student media literacy on effective learning outcomes in online learning. The present study tried to fill this research gap by exploring the effect of the four-factor construct of media literacy on effective learning outcomes that were measured by focusing on how students perceived their overall learning outcomes in online learning. Data were collected in a sample of 421 undergraduate students from 32 universities in Vietnam. The results of the structural equation modeling indicated that except for functional prosumption, the remaining three factors of media literacy (functional consumption, critical consumption, and critical prosumption) had significant positive effects on perceived learning outcomes. Critical prosumption was found to be the most powerful significant influence on student learning outcomes in the online learning environment. The findings provide some significant practical implications for stakeholders in setting up strategic plans for increasing the effectiveness of online classes.

Climate disasters cause significant economic losses in grain yields, emphasizing the need for adaptation to ensure food security. As digital technologies advance, it is imperative to investigate how digital literacy among grain farmers affects their adaptive production behavior in the face of climate disasters. Drawing on survey data from 505 grain smallholders in Sichuan Province, China, this study constructs a theoretical framework linking digital literacy, climate disaster risk perception, and adaptive production behavior. Empirical analysis shows that digital literacy positively impacts adaptive production behavior of grain smallholders. Our result is robust across various models and tests. An analysis of the mediation mechanism reveals that digital literacy contributes to climate disaster adaptive production behaviors by improving the awareness of climate disaster risks. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact of digital literacy is more pronounced in samples to whom internet skills training and climate information services are provided, and this impact intensifies as the level of agricultural infrastructure improves. The findings suggest that digital literacy plays a key role in reducing production risks, thereby contributing to increased sustainable agricultural development among smallholders.

The rapid digital transformation in higher education has highlighted the importance of sustainable and adaptive learning environments and strategies that foster student resilience. This study investigates the influence of risk management and digital technology literacy on student resilience, with the modern learning environment as a moderating variable. Using a quantitative approach, data were collected from 475 undergraduate students across various universities in Indonesia through an online survey. Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) was employed to analyze the relationships between the variables. The findings reveal that both risk management and digital technology literacy have significant positive effects on student resilience. Moreover, the modern learning environment strengthens these relationships by providing students with reliable digital infrastructure and innovative learning strategies that amplify the impact of institutional policies and individual competencies. These results underscore the critical role of robust risk management, comprehensive digital literacy programs, and high-quality modern learning environments in fostering long-term educational sustainability. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of resilience by integrating institutional, individual, and environmental factors. Practically, it provides insights for higher education institutions to develop integrated and sustainable strategies that enhance risk management frameworks, promote digital literacy, and invest in inclusive, technology-driven learning ecosystems to ensure long-term resilience and adaptability in the digital era.

Within theextensiveliterature onthe roleofeducationalmediainchildren's learning and thefactorsinfluencing that learning, the possible impact of media literacy remains unexamined. The present study examines the influ ence of media literacy on learning from television and hypermedia environments. In a sample of 150 children with ameanageof5.33,acomputer-basedtest wasusedto assess medialiteracy, and recognition and inference questionswereusedtomeasurelearning.Theinfluenceofintelligence,mediausage,andsocioeconomicstatusas independent variables was also assessed. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that media literacy was a sig nificant predictor of learning from media, even when controlling for other relevant factors such as intelligence.

This study investigates the relationships between three crucial literacies for the digital world - information literacy, data literacy, and privacy literacy - and positivity towards emerging technology adoption within communities, specifically the chatbot ChatGPT. Data was collected through web-based surveys of adults living in a four-county area in northern Texas over a two-week period in late 2022, resulting in 130 valid responses. Regression analysis shows that interest in using ChatGPT to improve one's community is positively related to information literacy and privacy literacy skills, but not significantly related to data literacy skills, which is unexpected given ChatGPT's status as a data science innovation. Age, gender, educational attainment, and Internet usage are also factors that influence these relationships. These findings are significant for understanding how various literacies and personal and community-based factors influence each other's development.

Fake or manipulated images propagated through the Web and social media have the capacity to deceive, emotionally distress, and influence public opinions and actions. Yet few studies have examined how individuals evaluate the authenticity of images that accompany online stories. This article details a 6-batch large-scale online experiment using Amazon Mechanical Turk that probes how people evaluate image credibility across online platforms. In each batch, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 28 news-source mockups featuring a forged image, and they evaluated the credibility of the images based on several features. We found that participants’ Internet skills, photo-editing experience, and social media use were significant predictors of image credibility evaluation, while most social and heuristic cues of online credibility (e.g. source trustworthiness, bandwagon, intermediary trustworthiness) had no significant impact. Viewers’ attitude toward a depicted issue also positively influenced their credibility evaluation.

This article introduces a new method to support critical media literacy, learning and research in higher education. It acts as a response to an unprecedented profusion of visual information across digital media that contributes to the contemporary post-truth era, marked by fake news and uncritical consumption of the media. Whereas much has been written about the reasons behind and the character of the post-truth, less space has been dedicated to how educators could counteract the uncritical consumption of images from the perspective of semiotics. This article adopts a unique semiotic approach to address the stated gap. It discusses in depth the meaning making of pictures, digital photographs and material objects that photographs can embody. It does so by focusing on three aspects of a pictorial sign: (1) the materiality of its representation and representational elements, (2) its object (what the sign refers to) and (3) its descriptive interpretations. These three aspects inform the signification analysis within the proposed production-signification-consumption (PSC) method, exemplified with digital photographs. Understanding and analysing images via the PSC method draw attention to how humans create, interpret, (re)use, consume and respond to online and offline communication signs. The method can contribute to the development of critical media literacy as an engagement with postdigital semiotics, much needed in an age of global ecological and social crises, uncertainty and fast consumption of digital content.

This article argues for the adoption of an affordance model for media literacy. Media literacy efforts have largely evolved separately from visual literacy programs, neglecting the role of the photographic image in the digital public sphere. The hyper-visuality of media today demands closer attention to visuals in media literacy efforts because individuals cognitively process images differently. Images are more emotionally powerful and memorable than words. For these reasons, visual communication cannot be treated in parallel with words. Conceiving of visuals in media as artifacts used by messengers instead of independent messages supports media literacy’s goals of helping individuals navigate today’s digital environment. While such an approach is not the only way to understand images, the affordance paradigm cultivates discourse that supports media literacy. Rooted in the constructivist paradigm, the affordance frame serves as a bridge between photographic indexicality and contingency.

This study analyzes disinformation as an obstructionist tactic in climate discourse, particularly on social media. It explores impacts on public perception, policy delays, and the role of bots in amplifying denial. Recommendations emphasize systemic responses to counter polarized narratives.

Media and information literacy has benefited from a series of European Commission programmes over the past decade, particularly since its inclusion in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Thierry Vedel provides a panorama of five governance models in relation to communication networks in a manner that could be tested for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) as it is located at the crossroads of media and education: state governance, international regime governance, communitarian governance, market-driven governance and associative governance. Governance theory calls for scoping models to provide for ongoing assessments of the local MIL situations. Regarding the composite definition of MIL, the term often relates to three distinct literacies, when the term is not restricted to pre-2011 'media education'. The role of regulatory media authorities seems fully present in countries with a greater tradition in MIL, yet trends show that they seem stabilized with little progression.

Climate disinformation is pervasive and undermines public understanding of anthropogenic climate change. This review examines the nature, sources, and impacts of climate disinformation, including its role in delaying mitigation efforts. It discusses effective countermeasures like prebunking, fact-checking, and inoculation theory applications to build resistance against misinformation. Priorities include scaling interventions and addressing organized denial networks.