Assessment of Media Literacy Skills Among LASU Mass Communication Undergraduates

Abstract

The study examines the level of awareness on media Literacy skills among Lagos State University Mass communication Undergraduates and their general knowledge on the concept of fake news and its implications on the society. The advent of technology has made it easy for traditional media to move to online platform, hence there is an overloads of Information on Online platform especially on social media. This also enables fake news among our society and it has been difficult for individuals to verify truthful information from false news. The study based its scope on LASU Mass communication undergraduates. The study was anchored on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study adopted the descriptive research design and survey method for data collection. Google form was shared among all levels and departments with over 500 responses retrieved. Findings revealed that majority of the undergraduates with over 51.4%  are aware of media literacy skills and agreed its about being able to create, access, evaluate, analyze and verify information received. The study concluded that, LASU Mass communication undergraduates understand the concept of media literacy skills, fake news and its implications but rarely verify information posted online especially on social media. The study recommends that, NGOs and media organizations should create awareness on media literacy skills especially on social media.