So, how do we protect ourselves from those who rely on for such a large part of our lives? Paradoxical, isn’t it? Well, as a pupil myself I propose a simple yet effective change in the school curriculum. Allow me to explain: I am coming towards the end of my time at school, and writing this has made me realise the fact that I have never seriously been taught about the caution that we should exercise when using any media. That’s insane! Most schools in the United Kingdom operate PSHE schemes of some degree. I appreciate that for schools in different circumstances this may vary, but to my understanding it is written in law that schools have to provide some form of education regarding the wider world. There is an opportunity flashing at us right here and this is our opportunity to fight back against the bureaucracy. Here’s what I propose; The UK government should team up with organisations who specialise in fact checking, ensuring free speech and other critical parts of the media. This ‘task force’ as you like would work together to produce a PSHE media education scheme. This could be a 4 hour course comprised of 4 30-minute modules which look to tackle the 4 key areas of media awareness: Module 1 – what is media manipulation and how it affects you more than you realise Module 2 – censorship, facts and mass communication Module 3 – how you can look out for media manipulation Module 4 – how you can report media manipulation (big issue here, I’ll come onto it!) So, what would each module contain? Well, the general principle is that the first 10-15 minutes would be a video produced by the government and the last 15-20 minutes would be a discussion, exercise, or whatever medium of teaching feels appropriate. Module 1 – this is the most important module. Students need to be made aware of the threat they face when using any form of media online. I don’t want to spend ages diving into stats, but it’s clear that a large proportion of children in the United Kingdom use social media on a daily basis. The government could create an animated film talking about the media and the caution that young people should exercise. There are great stories here that teachers could use; one that springs to mind the story of Edward Bernays and his bacon company. I won’t use my word count on this story, but it’s a great read and says a lot about media and its potential. Module 2 – this module I think would prove to be the most interesting. I think a lot of people jump on the ‘freedom of speech’ boat at any opportunity they can find. I would love to see a programme put together showing examples of mass censorship in the past or even the present (cough cough, American leaders, cough cough, Indian farmers). It worries me immensely that the media can terminate accounts as quickly as they can create them. I think this would worry a lot of young people too, losing all of their materialistic likes and followers in a heartbeat at the will of one person. Facts too! Politicians often aim their campaigns at winning the younger generations, but whether they are on the left or right, they are human and are prone to the odd lie. Reading this you probably think I’m defending the old American president but 20,000+ lies later, it’s understandable. I think this would prove to be a great debate amongst younger people. Is it ethical to censor for the greater good? Module 3 – this module proves to be worth the most in educational value and is the whole point of the programme. Children need to be aware of when they’re being manipulated. Again, this is as simple as knowing which websites to trust, how to verify true information, etc. These are all teachable skills. These are necessary skills. Module 4 – this module is the most important to me. Recently, it has become a common occurrence for footballers to be subject to racism via social media. Now, how is this linked to media control? Well, if the media truly took this problem seriously, they would make it ‘high-risk, low-reward’ to be racist online. I think this will eventually happen. Creating an account on social media should be a rigorous process where there are serious consequences for poor behaviour. Now, whether this change happens or not is up to the media, but what we can do is educate. Children need to be taught that they can’t hide behind social media accounts and that there will always be serious consequences. This will help root out racism in our society as well. Two birds with one stone! Ok, to summarise. The UK government needs to take this issue seriously, and this pandemic has certainly made me take it more seriously. A simple 4 hour PSHE course could be introduced which would provide educational benefit not just about media, but about many other walks of life too. It should be professional, politically neutral and engaging. The government would need to work with educators (as they are with the A Levels currently) to find out what would be best. I was about to hit submit. But I need to add this: Writing this has me ask myself a bigger question. We need to ask ourselves as citizens of the UK, does the government actually favour media manipulation. Even if this is a great idea, maybe it wouldn’t make it to the desk of a senior politician because it would be at their detriment for society to realise the power they have through media. Makes me wonder. Want to end with a quote from Tacitus which sums up this thought, “if you would know who controls you, see who you may not criticise.” It’s funny because this also affects my chances of winning this competition, the power of the person reading this.
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