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MediaGuard
A Digital Literacy Program for Students
About
What is MediaGuard?
MediaGuard, a digital literacy program founded by Anusha Shayegan in 2022, works with upper-elementary and middle school students to help them develop effective digital literacy skills. The program consists of an accessible, collaborative, and engaging 5-week curriculum that introduces students to digital literacy in a safe and age-appropriate way.
Anusha first became interested in digital literacy at the beginning of the pandemic when she set out to learn about the new disease, Covid-19. What she hadn’t anticipated was how careful she would have to be in figuring out what information on the internet was reliable and what was misleading. She spent the next couple of years trying to improve her skills in this area and wishing she had been exposed to digital literacy tools as early as primary school.
As Anusha dug into the problem of false information, it became clear to her that the health of our democracy, as well as our ability to handle crises like the pandemic depends on strengthening everyone’s digital literacy skills. According to a study by the Pew Research Center in July 2020, a significant percentage of Americans believe to some degree that the Covid 19 pandemic was planned, and an even larger number think the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.
In a landmark study in 2016, the Stanford History Education Group (“SHEG”) assessed students’ ability, across a diverse range of schools in California, to identify unreliable internet sources and false information. SHEG found that more than 80% of the students were unable to distinguish advertising from real news, even when it was identified as “sponsored content.” Furthermore, the vast majority of students did not investigate or even question the source of a post.
MediaGuard launched its pioneer program in January 2023 at GALS LA, the Girls Athletic Leadership School of Los Angeles. The curriculum has since been shared with numerous schools across the diverse Los Angeles community. MediaGuard strongly believes that the earlier we teach these skills, the greater the impact.
What are Misinformation, Disinformation, Opinion, and Bias?
Misinformation:
Defective Information or Mistakes
Misinformation is defective information spread unsuspectingly or out of carelessness. In other words, the person sharing the misinformation is not aware the information is wrong and does not have any harmful intentions.
For example, if somebody shares an article with a good friend about a miracle cure for which there is no scientific evidence, this would constitute misinformation. The person sharing the article believes the information to be true and never intended to mislead. However, the outcome is ultimately the perpetuation of false information.
Disinformation:
Deceptive Information or Hoaxes:
Disinformation is deceptive information spread deliberately to mislead or harm the public by creating confusion, doubt, or discord. Disinformation includes the concept of “fake news”—false information intentionally presented as reliable news. Fake news is often meant to generate skepticism towards reputable news sources, the government, or civil society.
For example on January 23, 2020, a prominent YouTuber tweeted about the benefits of chlorine dioxide, a bleach used at pulp mills, as a cure for Covid 19. He wrote, “Not only is chlorine dioxide (aka 'MMS') an effective cancer cell killer, it can wipe out coronavirus too, … Big Pharma wants you ignorant."This information is clearly false, but it is also extremely dangerous. The Federal Drug Administration has warned that drinking chlorine dioxide can be lethal resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, and acute liver failure.
Bias:
Bias often involves the slanting of facts to reflect the speaker’s preference in favor of or against an idea, person, group, or ideology. Oftentimes, biased information on the internet doesn’t provide the full picture and, instead, presents only one side of an argument extremely aggressively to persuade the reader to accept the biased opinion as fact.
A reader is more vulnerable if their confirmation bias leads them to look only for perspectives that agree with their already existing beliefs.
Opinion:
An opinion is a statement based on feelings or beliefs that cannot be proven true or false. Opinions, however, are more convincing if they are supported by facts. Although an opinions itself is not necessarily wrong or right, if the facts supporting an opinion are false, it begins to constitute false information.
For example, justifying that dogs are superior to cats because dogs can run 100 mph would fit under the category of false information, because dogs cannot run nearly this fast!
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