EMERGING ROLE OF MEDIA LITERACY IN EMPOWERING CITIZENRY AND STRENGTHENING DEMOCRACY

Abstract

This paper investigates how, with the advent of revolutionary new media, collaborative and interactive forms of media have replaced the traditional forms, leading to a paradigm shift in the media and communication world, with a focus on ‘Media literacy’ that refers to an advanced human competency in critically approaching media texts and wisely consuming content with an enhanced understanding of the new media and its ethical concerns surrounding author anonymity, lack of accountability and credibility, and its rampant use in spreading fake news, promoting polarisation, running political propaganda, and breeding malicious practices, among others. This paper focuses on media literacy, which inculcates an imperative skill for an informed and empowered citizenry by developing one’s ability to encode and decode media symbols and synthesise and analyse messages with a critical and discerning eye. Active engagement of the citizenry in the civic, political, and electoral affairs of the state is instrumental to the foundational value of the state’s democracy. It discusses how, in recent times, civic participation has encompassed digital engagement and advocacy through various social media platforms. Easy access to production tools and the necessary skills to disseminate media texts in the form of information or news has led to the growth of a democratic and participatory form of journalism among citizens, at times with the use of mobile phones. The gatekeepers of traditional media have a faded existence in the new world of advanced media technology. The shift of power from traditional media houses to the common man adheres to the intrinsic value of a democracy; however, media literacy is essential to ingrain practices of responsible content production in citizens. This paper aims to promote awareness against potential media bias, manipulative influence, and misinformation. My objective for this paper is to evaluate the role and impact of media literacy in empowering citizen participation in a healthy democracy. This argument will open a new scope for academic understanding of the socio-political fabric and the other attached attributes of the nation.