‘Even Better Than Being Informed’: Satirical News and Media Literacy

Peters, C. (2012). ‘Even Better Than Being Informed’: Satirical News and Media Literacy. Peters, Chris; Broersma, Marcel(Eds.). Rethinking Journalism: Trust and Participation in a Transformed News Landscape, 171-188London: Routledge.

Abstract: This chapter engages with how audiences’ expectations and perceptions of journalism are currently being shaped by considering three pertinent and interrelated changes in concert: the shifting experiences of public trust in the media; increasing audience involvement in journalism; and a growing public understanding of media techniques. I propose we try to understand the shifting nature of the news landscape not by taking journalism as a starting point, but by looking at journalism through the changing lens of its audience(s). More specifically, the idea of media literacy is a helpful concept we can use to begin deciphering the changing audience—journalism relationship.