Prof. Tobin Beck shares media literacy insights on webinar series

Tobin Beck, assistant professor of journalism and political science, was a panelist on a recent webinar presented by The League of Women Voters of Nebraska (LWVNE), which explored the topic of media literacy.

The webinar, “Media Literacy in an Age of Disinformation,” presented on Nov. 4, focused on how to determine if news is credible, how to improve the relationship between the media and citizens and the importance of the First Amendment.

Mason Walker, a research analyst at the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC who focuses on trust in the new media and the economics of the news industry, shared research that surveyed Americans’ views of the news media. In a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults that took place in June 2021, 58% of them said they have a lot or some trust in information that comes from national news organizations, and 75% of them said the same about local news organizations. Both of those percentages have decreased since 2016 when the same survey took place—during that survey, 76% of all adults said they have a lot or some trust in national news organizations and 82% said the same about local news organizations.

According to a 2021 study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (pages 112-113), the U.S. has a media trust rating of 29%, the lowest among the 46 countries surveyed.

Walker went on to share that a Pew study from 2020 found 63% of surveyed U.S. adults said it's better for society if the American public is skeptical of the news media. Beck, who has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist, including 12 years as a senior news manager for United Press International in Washington, said it’s healthy for citizens to be skeptical of what they read, but there’s a difference in being skeptical and being cynical.

“You don’t want to be cynical with expecting that news is just bad, that reporters are only in it for helping some particular point of view,” he said on the panel. “I think media should be concerned about the decrease in trust, but they should also be pointing out to the public how they’re doing their job and they are doing their job by making sure the facts are there, making sure that in their news reports, opinion is kept out and columns, commentary and op-eds are clearly labeled.”

While the public’s trust in news media organizations has declined over the last six years, Walker shared research conducted by Pew, that 75% of surveyed U.S. adults said it is possible to improve the level of confidence Americans have in the news media.

“I think it would help if media would help the public know about the ethics that every major news organization abides by,” Beck said. “We all have codes of ethics in the profession that we’re very serious about following and I’m not sure the public is aware of that or knows how ethical standards come into play.”

On the panel, Beck said when consuming content, either as a member of the media or the general public, it’s important to first acknowledge one’s own opinions and where their information is coming from, because oftentimes people get information from sources they trust, without considering the other side of an issue.

“As you look at and try to identify what the facts are, and try to separate facts from opinion, consider all sides of an issue and then bring back what your beliefs and principles are,” he said. “You don’t get rid of your beliefs and principles, but you to identify first what the facts are and then see how those facts are presented. Are the facts actually facts? And if opinions are presented, are the opinions linked to facts and linked to facts that you can check?”

Fact-checking, Beck said, is an important step for citizens, as well as media members—to help improve one’s critical thinking skills.

“It’s a good idea to look at multiple sources to compare how those sources are using facts,” he said. “Do the facts line up, or are they told from different perspectives? Those different perspectives can greatly change how those facts are perceived and what they mean, and the opinions that are based on those facts. Critical thinking in the way I define it and use it in the classes that I teach is first of all discerning what information is credible, which information is not, so we can make decisions based on that information, or that we can reject the information as not being credible and not being useful.”

The webinar was half of a two-part series presented by LWVNE, with the second, titled “On the Beat: Reflections from Journalists on Their Profession,” featuring journalists with ties to Nebraska working at national, state and local media outlets, where they discussed their careers and important issues within the profession. Both webinars were free and open to the public, part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to reach high school and college students interested in learning more about critical thinking skills and media literacy.

“It’s important for high school and college students to learn how to tell whether news is accurate and reliable because news is a major source of what we know about the people, issues and events of our community, nation and world,” Beck said. “And what we know influences how we interact with each other.”