Bangalore: The Second Edition of Vidwat Sammilan on ‘Digitial Media Literacy: The need of the hour’, was organized by the Department of Media Studies, Kristu Jayanti College Autonomous on October 17, 2022. The resource person for the event was Prof. K G Suresh, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal.
Vidwat Sammilan began with an invocation prayer song and lighting of the lamp. Addressing the students, Prof. K G Suresh, deconstructed digital media literacy and explained it with various examples. He opined how digitization divided media history into two parts that being before and after Google. The vice chancellor emphasized that “Media Literacy does not just mean fake information, misinformation or fact-checking. Media literacy means understanding where one tries to understand what goes into the making of news and the news organisation. When people have an understanding of the dynamics of news, media houses, mainstream media and alternative media, only then can they become media literate.
Furthermore, Prof KG Suresh, discussed the concept of democratized communication, the digital divide, digital immigrants and natives. He delved into cyberbullying and cyberterrorism that arise out of a lack of digital media literacy.
The interactive session concluded with students questioning the ethics in media, the relevance of northeastern states in mainstream media, the credibility of news on social media and the significance of alternate media. Prof KG Suresh generously answered the queries of students.
