On Monday Oct. 14, the International Programs Office held another installment of the Five College Election Panel series via Zoom. This week's theme focused on media influence and consumer literacy in the 2024 United States election cycle.
The panel was facilitated by International Student and Scholar Advisor Summer Cable from the International Programs Office. The panelists of the night included Razvan Sibii, senior journalism lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Stanley Moulton, a City Councilor in Northampton, a retired journalist and Hampshire College alum and Ethan Zuckerman, associate professor at UMass Amherst.
The panel focused on media industries, whether print, broadcast or social media are affecting the election cycle in the upcoming 2024 election.
Starting off the event, the panelists discussed how the changing landscape of journalism has affected the traditional media.
Moulton discussed how different the landscape was 50 years ago. The three main pillars of the journalism field were print journalism, television and radio. Now there has been a shift due to the rise of the Internet.
"The Internet increased greatly the ability of consumers to get news from dozens of sources, some credible not so credible," Moulton stated.
The need for media literacy was a theme that was brought up throughout the talk.
According to The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) media literacy allows people to become critical thinkers as they analyze and access all forms of communication.
Sibii offered his perspective on media literacy as a journalism educator. He stated that media literacy is crucial to the time right now.
"[Media literacy] is something that everybody who cares about democracy needs to be engaged with perpetually."
The panelists also discussed how the media has become one of the most mistrusted industries. With the rise of misinformation, Cable posed a question regarding how effective media outlets are in combating "flat-out lies" to the faculty.
Each of the panelists discussed the need for transparency as journalists.
"Showing your work, being transparent, might begin the long road of credibility of journalism," Sibii stated.
Sibii also talked about solutions to stop the spread of misinformation and to remain transparent. According to Sibii, he mentioned that journalists today need to report and get outside of their heads.
Sibii emphasized the need for journalists to engage in the process of verification. Making an effort to verify information narrows the amount of misinformation that is displayed to the public.
Wrapping up the panel, Cable asked the panelists how they see both traditional and social media impacting voter turnout in this year's election.
"I think the first fear is that there are a lot of ways this election could go wrong," Zuckerman stated.
Zuckerman discussed that as of right now polling suggests the race is too close to call and that no one has an idea of what is going to happen in the upcoming election.
Zuckerman mentioned that it could be a longer process that Americans are not used to as well as that people who are frustrated by the current situation could be enough to affect the voter turnout, thus affecting the outcome.
The International Programs Office will be hosting another panel on Zoom next week titled: "'Beyond Know Your Rights'; Understanding the Complexities of Protests for Non-Citizens."
The panels will continue throughout the month of October. Each panel will contain colleagues from Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and UMass.