News Literacy and ‘Fake News’: Towards a responsable news experience

The new media environment we are presently witnessing creates a conceivable possibility of reinforcing “fake news” and propaganda consequent to social media, blogs, forums and wikis that massively altered the traditional mediation process. The rapidly changing reality of news and journalism, which includes citizens as content creators thanks to platforms and technological evolution empowerment, has led to transformation in news experience especially online.
Unfortunate consequences of such alterations include public misinformation, deterioration of the public sphere and hence potential destruction of democracy. This is reflected through the current social concern related to the credibility of information as well as citizens’ ability to acquire critical reflection on their news use and consumption. Historically, news has been a unique genre of media content, because of its role in maintaining one of the main pillars of democracy; free flow of information and hence informed citizenry that can act and engage accordingly.
The responsible news experience is shaped by professional media as well as critical citizens able to discern fake information and appreciate verification. How can we reinforce this and counteract the negative effects of today’s irresponsibly ubiquitous “fake news” in the information environment? What role can news, media and information literacy play in facing the present challenges? This article analytically reviews the latest contributions of news literacy and discusses its possibilities of equipping citizens pedagogically and being embraced by journalists.