Media and Information Literacy for Public Good

From the earliest history of human race, we were always a social kind of animal species. The means of communication among ourselves, were always the pragmatic way to distinct the human species from other animal kinds. With the perpetual flow of time, the world has witnessed many changes throughout the history. Along with that, the processes of communication among one another have also changed. However, in this 21st century the modern world is spectating a dramatic change in the field of communication and exchanging information. The word "literacy" usually describes the ability to read and write. But the phenomena “media literacy” and “information literacy” establish something way bigger than just being able to read and write. Media refer to the means of spreading information to the mass people and these means can be broadcasting, publishing and the internet also. The entire world is now profoundly connected through media and people can gain the access to the information they require even with just few presses on their mobile screen. The tele-media or press-media have long history of making impact on society or in broader sense the whole world. In the previous century, radio was the most important public medium along with newspaper. They always had significant impact on uncountable actions done not only by general people but also the policy makers of nations of the world. Now-a-days, the internet and social media like Facebook, Twitter etc. are taking the place of conventional media for conveying information to people. Anyone from any corner of the world can now pass any kind of news or information even with photos and videos attached making them available for the whole world. And here comes the matter of concern for media and information literacy. Moreover, there are some necessary things that should be kept in mind while consuming any information through any sorts of media. Firstly, who gave the message or information? Is that an authentic and trustable source for that particular kind of information or not? Anyone who holds a bad motive can spread falsified information and taking those kinds of information in serious consideration can create further big disastrous events, even like political or communal violence. Secondly, what was the process of spreading that piece of information? In the internet, there are thousands of news links being spread every other minute with a clickbait. Most of the time people fall in these kind of clickbait traps and end up consuming a bogus information. Understanding why is this message being published and what moral values, views, lifestyles are being expressed through that information is a crucial thing in information literacy. False or misleading contents with persuasive texts can be very dangerous. Media and information literacy enables people to interpret and make proper judgments regarding taking in any information or message from any kinds of media. The fundamental purpose of media is to make people aware, not to mislead them. Therefore, media and information literacy is mandatory for recognizing useful information along with gaining the ability to evaluate and use them effectively for the public good.