The growing popularity of the online practice in which rival companies pay people to post comments that promote themselves or attack their opponents requires an equally robust effort to increase people's media literacy. Media literacy is the competence of audiences to analyze, evaluate and sift through messages offered by mass media. Without it, people may get lost among all the content available on the Internet and through the media, following information blindly at their own peril.

For many people, the media are the most authentic and authoritative source for information. Whereas many people agree that the media play a vital role in disseminating information in modern society, many others have also pointed out that they are not completely flawless. All media are bound to have their own standards for choosing and reporting information. The esteemed intellectual and reporter Walter Lippman once said the media provided only a "pseudo-environment," an incomplete world created by the media. A critical attitude, therefore, is necessary when consuming such information and is the essence of media literacy.

With the advancement of new media such as the Internet and mobile phone, traditional audiences are now becoming generators of media content and information disseminators themselves. The advantages are many, but it is also easier to get much more lost in this new so-called information age. When a post on a forum accuses a certain dairy product of being harmful to children, people immediately stop buying it. When a text message claiming oranges have maggots inside, nobody dares buy the fruit. People are starting to believe everyone, not just the traditional media.

To prevent the media from stringing people along, people must be educated on how the media operate and report stories. They need to learn what kind of questions to ask when consuming information. Education specialist Jane Tallim suggests questions such as "Who is this message intended for? Who wants to reach this audience and why? From whose perspective is the story told? Whose voices are heard and whose are absent?" Knowledge of media law, ethics and technology are also crucial to media literacy.

Media literacy education in China is still its infancy. But efforts to improve literacy, such as at Hutong of Black Sesame, a Beijing primary school, have provided valuable first-hand experience. The success of the Black Sesame's experiment is chiefly attributed to the close cooperation between scholars from Communication University of China, Tsinghua University and primary school teachers, melding theory with practice.

Teachers, of course, need to be trained on media literacy first, as the basis of a large-scale education program. Such an endeavor would also require government support. The government should make media literacy part of the national education project with corresponding syllabuses and financial aid. Such a curriculum should borrow from foreign models and modified to fit China's cultural context.

Mencius once said: "If you believe all that is written in a book, it is better to have no book at all." Media literacy education is a complicated and systematic project that demands the involvement of the whole society. It won't happen overnight, but it is something to strive for.

The author is a visiting scholar in School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University.

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