Media Literacy for Revolution

There is an infinite amount of information available to us online, from #StormArea51 to #BlackoutTuesday, Fox News to Al Jazeera, and every meme you could ever think of. Who, and what can we trust? How can we help? These issues apply to all people, not just journalists like our staff at the Golden Gate Xpress.

So here are five steps to building your media literacy skills for revolution. These are meant to be done in order; if you can’t finish one step, you can’t move on to the next.

1. Trust your instincts, Trust your gut

2. Find the source

3. Check their reputation

4. See previous work, Ask what’s missing

5. Choose to share, subscribe or ignore

It is easy to get lost or overwhelmed. Journalists receive years of training in analyzing information, but others rarely get the experience. But as with every skill, with time you become faster and faster and more adept at figuring out what’s been said, what hasn’t, and what you should do about it. Here’s your first five steps.

Check out the written feature of this story for Xpress Magazine here.

Please contact our staff with any questions or suggestions. Happy analyzing!