The Monterey County Media Literacy Coalition is finding ways to teach us all how to think critically.

Like me, you may be reading this newsletter on your phone. Long gone are the days when most of us read most of our news in printed form. 

Sara Rubin here, thinking about the fast-changing information ecosystem we live in. Some of it is the medium—information moves quickly online, and the expectation of information is now, not tomorrow. Some of it is the message—there is deliberately deceptive information published on the regular, and of course the internet makes it easier to disseminate widely. Some of it is how we, as humans, interact with information: In the world of social media, everyone can be a curator and producer, not just a consumer. 

I think in general this has had a fabulous effect of elevating people’s voices. It’s also made it harder than ever to discern what is real, and who to trust—and the power comes with certain responsibilities.

This complicated role as consumer/producer of information is at the core of the mission of the Monterey County Media Literacy Coalition, created by Susan Meister, who studied journalism in the pre-digital era. The coalition’s efforts are the subject of this week’s cover story, in celebration of Media Literacy Week, Oct. 21-25. (The Weekly is a member of the coalition, and staff writer Pam Marino will speak on a panel discussion tomorrow, Oct. 21, in The Press Club. I hope you’ll join us.) 

I remember learning media literacy in elementary school. The exercise was known as Current Events, and we were assigned to cut out a newspaper article, then present a summary to our classmates. I found it tedious and boring—it was reading comprehension more than critical thinking, and as a fourth-grader, I would have rather read anything besides a newspaper article written for adults. 

Luckily, we’ve come a long way in teaching media literacy, a big focus for the Media Literacy Coalition, which in May, hosted the first-ever Misinfo Day in California. It was fun, for one thing—and very online. (You can read more about the activities, including an escape room-style game, in the cover story, and find a link to play it yourself.) 

But of course we all have a lot to learn, and the subject we are learning is always changing. Consider AI, which rendered Taylor Swift (falsely) pleading her support for Donald Trump for president. When Swift announced she was in fact voting for Harris, she put it beautifully: “The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”

How did you learn media literacy? Did you learn in the digital era, or have you had to adapt? Are you among the 52 percent of Americans who reported to Pew that it’s hard to find accurate news on the election? I’d love to hear your insights into this learning process we’re all in together.

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