Academic Commons

News Literacy in the System of Formal and Informal Media Education in Russia

Charles B. Wang Center

A multifaceted approach to the solution of media information literacy problems has not yet taken shape in Russia, nor in many other countries, although society keeps placing greater emphasis on this issue. Up to this point, mandatory informational training in schools in Russia is regarded in an unjustifiably narrow way and is typically reduced to informatics courses, which teach students computer literacy skills. At the same time, the challenges of shaping knowledge and skills needed for understanding informational flows and media, both industrial structures and structures representing reality, mastering critical analysis and analytical information processing methods, are not being adequately addressed. Media education, including news literacy, is not considered in the context of “public interest”, and is neither compulsory nor widespread (inter alia, for adults). They are basically implemented within the framework of informal education (a system of additional education of children), professionally oriented education aimed at the creation of media content. Certain courses and programs which establish a goal of forming media consumers’ critical autonomy were established relatively recently in Russia. Starting from the last decade, media criticism courses are given in several Russian universities by the media and journalism faculties (for example, Moscow, Belgorod, Kazan). Since 2013, media and news literacy courses have been incorporated into educational programs of the media department at National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow). News literacy courses are given both in the format of formal higher education (for bachelors of journalism, non-media bachelors at the university- wide “Media and Mass Communications” minor), and in the form of informal, additional education (for non-media students and media teachers in short-term News Literacy workshops). The modern social, economic and political period is characterized by the following: media opposition and the distortion of media space (“post-truth”, digital aggression, fake information, etc.); the dismal state of intolerance with regard to media; post-modernist scepticism towards the values of democracy and humanism; and fundamental changes to media consumption by young people who obtain information predominantly from social networks. They frequently cannot distinguish news from advertising and facts from falsehood, and do not realize the need to verify information sources. Against this background, it is extremely important to observe “cognitive distortions” and stereotypes of media perception, and to analyse the ways they are manifested and overcome or, on the contrary, become permanent in the process of news literacy training. Observation over trainees (both adults and students) and polled data (collaborative studies with Svetlana Shomova and Anna Kolchina) give an idea of the fact that information rates, the changing nature of media consumption and social pressure of the environment often have bigger and more massive impacts than media literacy “vaccination”. It is not a coincidence that in role-playing games even professionals follow media stereotypes, and students (as shown by polls before and after the news literacy courses) when debunking fakes and manipulations tend to distrust all sources of information. To some extent, this “contradiction” effect is a confirmation of scepticism about many modern scholars to illusiveness of efficient rational and critical thinking and local media education. Certain cases which illustrate methodological collisions arising in the course of training people of different ages in news literacy, and the significance of media professionals (researchers and practitioners) playing a role in training media teachers, will be shown in the report.

https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/cnlglobalconference/cnl2017/one/8