Media literacy research during COVID-19 pandemic: Social network screening

Shevchenko, L.; Syzonov, D.; Pliasun, O.; Shmatko, V.

The article presents screening of Facebook and Instagram news pages for the degree of media literacy of modern recipients in the perception and further dissemination of information about COVID-19. We state that in most cases modern recipients do not check the information obtained from media sources (as confirmation, we present the results of an electronic survey). Nowadays most respondents do not pay attention to the information provided and are ready to repost the material on their social media pages. The data obtained confirm this thesis: 45.8 % partially 23.7 % fully do not check the information from media sources, therefore, almost two thirds of respondents trust the facts presented in media. We associate low media literacy with the rapid globalization of modern media, due to which the flow of information is uncontrolled, especially in Internet communication. Another reason for low media literacy is the "skill" of journalists to mislead recipients through bright headlines. It is proved that a bright headline, compositionally organized as an interrogative or exclamatory sentence, has a greater impact than a narrative construction. According to our survey, headlines with lexical manipulative resources are the most popular (44 %), while headlines with phonetic manipulative means are less affected by the recipient. Most of the interviewed recipients are still ready to check the factuality of the information in a media text (we emphasize that we have deliberately selected fake news). Some recipients (22 %) pay attention to fake news because of a bright headline (or trusting a verified media resource) and are ready to repost the news without verification. Due to the resonance of the news related to COVID-19 journalists have used not only objective but also fake news as a tool to influence the recipient. The questionnaire clearly indicates that media literacy of modern recipients is influenced by the political orientation of a media source, as well as the recklessness of recipients to verify the facts and trust any information obtained from official sources and interpreted in media. Copyright © 2021 by Academic Publishing House Researcher s.r.o.