The COVID-19 pandemic presented a multitude of challenges worldwide. People grappled with illnesses, and personal losses, and the rampant spread of misinformation concerning food supplies, death tolls, and vaccines, among others, only made matters worse.
Geetika Vashishata, an Adjunct Faculty member at Manipal Institute of Communications in Manipal, Karnataka, and a media educator, had an understanding of the harmful effects of fake news and misinformation. She witnessed firsthand the extent to which it wreaked havoc on people’s lives during the pandemic, and at times with fatal consequences. Tragically, she lost a loved one to COVID-19, who had resorted to experimenting with a home remedy he found online, thinking that it would cure him.
In 2020, when FactShala launched its media literacy program dedicated to taking information literacy at the grassroots level, it resonated strongly with Geetika. She reflects,
“Amidst all the chaos, FactShala came as a ray of hope for people like me who did not want to drown in the sea of misinformation”
For Geetika, FactShala provided an opportunity to contribute to a more informed society, especially in the backdrop of the pandemic.
Since then, Geetika has organized multiple training workshops, particularly focusing on students. She believes that guiding the younger generation, who will become the nation’s future leaders, not only empowers them but also lays the groundwork for a more informed society.
Geetika’s objective in these workshops is to instill in students the importance of media literacy. She explains,
“A major challenge I face during my training sessions is the resistance in the form of apathy and skepticism among participants. In the age of information overload, some students feel overwhelmed or detached, questioning the relevance of media literacy”
She believes an effective intervention is to “directly engage with students, acknowledge their concerns, and practically demonstrate the need and importance of media literacy in their daily lives”. And this is precisely the approach she takes.
A particularly memorable training experience for Geetika took place at her home base, the Manipal Institute of Communication campus, where she brought together undergraduate and postgraduate students to create a dynamic learning environment.
Combining students across graduation levels was an innovative approach to building an understanding of media literacy. Geetika emphasizes that
“Discussing a topic as crucial as media literacy with peers with varying academic backgrounds and real-world experiences offers a platform for exchanging ideas and perspectives, nurturing mutual learning and understanding of how misinformation spreads and its impact on society”
While Geetika thinks this is true for discussions on any subject, it is particularly important when it comes to media literacy and media students who will play pivotal roles in the media ecosystem once they transition into the real world.
During the training, Geetika initiated open discussion, encouraging students to share their views and brainstorm solutions. The students discussed various topics, including the creation and proliferation of fake news and misinformation, deep fakes, confirmation bias, and the pitfalls of social media content such as text forwards, videos, and memes. They also recounted personal experiences of falling victim to phishing scams and fake news stories.
While they did this, the students realized that they were consistently arriving at the conclusion that media literacy is, in fact, the key to addressing the range of issues they were exploring. And that is essentially what Geetika sought to achieve through the training sessions — to underscore the importance and indispensability of media literacy in daily life.
For Aadhya Arora, a BA student, the workshop exceeded her expectations. She reflects, “The media literacy workshop turned out to be a guiding light amidst the maze of misinformation. More than anything, it made us realize the importance of fact-checking and verifying messages, a seemingly simple practice that we often disregard as unimportant”.
Another student, Ishaan, expressed that “the workshop equipped me with the ability to effectively identify social media forwards that are intentionally created in a way to create havoc, cause confusion, and gain attention”.
With each workshop, Geetika, who is now simultaneously pursuing her PhD, is laying the foundational step towards creating a more informed and literate society.