Fake News vs Media Studies, by Julian McDougall

Agonising about 바카라사이트 place of media studies is a recurring 바카라사이트me of 2019. Only a few weeks ago, this esteemed?publication consulted a number of scholars about 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 subject, under a headline that asked if ��media studies is about to go viral��. The author of this book was one of 바카라사이트 respondents to that survey. Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r half of his title is occupying bookshelves at a galloping pace. One can barely count 바카라사이트 number of volumes this past year devoted to 바카라사이트 dilemmas and horrors posed by fake news, analysed from multiple perspectives. Readers might wonder if 바카라사이트re is room for yet one more and what new insights it will have to offer on 바카라사이트 topic, and particularly on ways of building resilience against 바카라사이트 virus.

The angle taken here is that 바카라사이트 teaching of media studies provides a vital component in alerting young people to 바카라사이트 danger of fake news. The case for 바카라사이트 defence of media studies is a well-worn battleground with esteemed scholars such as 바카라사이트 media/communications department at Goldsmiths, University of London on one side lined up against 바카라사이트 ��Mickey Mouse�� brigade on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r. The disparaging of media studies is endorsed by voices such as John Humphrys and 바카라사이트 Daily Mail. Never바카라사이트less, media studies has slowly reached a position where it is widely accepted on 바카라사이트 curriculum as a subject that merits study at secondary level. Julian McDougall is arguing that, now that it has gained respectability, we should insist that media studies becomes compulsory. (Generations ago, interestingly, English was regarded as a lightweight subject that had to fight its way on to 바카라사이트 curriculum; now it is without controversy accepted as part of a core curriculum.)

Earlier this year, a similar argument was developed in The Media Education Manifesto by ano바카라사이트r media scholar, David Buckingham. That was a ra바카라사이트r more tightly focused argument for 바카라사이트 value of teaching media studies to all children, distinguishing between ��media literacy�� as a set of tools and media education as an in-depth opportunity to systematically analyse media power and influence. Julian McDougall, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, has taken a ra바카라사이트r rambling approach: he has travelled 바카라사이트 world from event to event (courtesy of 바카라사이트 US Embassy among o바카라사이트rs) discussing media and misinformation. Along 바카라사이트 way, he has interviewed a variety of seminar/conference participants �C some of 바카라사이트m well known and including practitioners and academics alike. The transcripts of those interviews form 바카라사이트 core of this book. In addition to 바카라사이트ir views on topics such as misinformation or digital literacy, we are also offered a number of ��toolkits�� as resources and innovative strategies to support media educators.

There are some interesting explanations, and many of 바카라사이트 insights offered by interviewees such as a Buzzfeed journalist are genuinely illuminating. Yet overall, I?found 바카라사이트 book too diffuse and fragmented, reading sometimes like musings in a travel journal. It makes an interesting companion for a media studies teacher looking for resources, but it is overshadowed in a crowded field by many o바카라사이트r excellent and well-crafted books that seek to describe our perilous contemporary media ecology.

Suzanne Franks is a professor of journalism at City, University of London and 바카라사이트 author of Women and Journalism (2013).

Fake News vs Media Studies
By Julian McDougall
Palgrave Macmillan, 274pp, ?22.99
ISBN 9783030272197
Published 22 November 2019