The American edition of "Defense News" in the material Hope Hodge Seck "The Marine Corps wants to develop media literacy training. It won't be easy" ("The US Marine Corps wants to develop media literacy training. It won't be easy") informs that the latest edition of the doctrine of the US Marine Corps contains a new initiative aimed at training the rank and file of "media literacy".
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The phrase "media literacy" occurs six times in the 8th edition of the US Marine Corps Doctrine, released in June. The authors of the document state that this requires serious preparation, both to maintain the stability of forces and to prevent enemy psychological attacks based on disinformation.
The document illustrates the power of media literacy in a page-long vignette describing the use of propaganda by the Myanmar armed forces on social and digital networks against the local Rohingya Muslim population. These disinformation efforts included the creation of fake user accounts and celebrity pages to spread messages promoting violence and falsely warning of impending attacks.
More recently, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia highlighted the need for effective assessment and interpretation of information; both sides used public statements, distributed photographs and materials, trying to influence public opinion and thus gain an advantage.
"No person can fully know or understand the breadth of available information that reinforces cognitive labels, biases and assumptions," the document says. "Nevertheless, media literacy instills the necessary level of critical thinking in everyday interaction with digital and traditional news, the information environment. Effective training in this area reduces the vulnerability of Marines to harmful influences and supports the stability of forces by combining efforts."
However, the question of how the US Marine Corps plans to conduct this training, who will participate in it, and what topics it will cover remains open.
At the media round table before the release of the 8th edition of the US Marine Corps doctrine, the Deputy Commandant (Commander) of the US Marine Corps, according to Lieutenant General Matthew Glavi, described the training as something that would take place in the format of a "school circle" with a squad or platoon of Marines after the end of training or other basic classes.
"The leaders have the most significant opportunities to teach the Marines lessons not only by the example of the actions performed, but also to really teach life," Glavi said. "The Marines, after such difficulties, are really in absorption mode... the mind is open for training."
Eric Shaner, senior strategist for information and policy of the US Marine Corps, and co-author of the mentioned document, made it clear that these efforts (to implement training) are in their infancy.
"The details will come later, but it is very important that our Marines are able to use social networks and distinguish truth from fiction," he said.
In a subsequent conversation in July, officials told the Marine Corps Times correspondent that the U.S. Marine Corps Communications Strategy and Operations Command, which handles public relations and media relations, had been tasked with developing the training, and that a planning group had been formed to conduct the training. According to officials, it remains to be determined who will receive the training, how it will be conducted, and what it will cover.
The timing of the deployment of the training program or module has also not yet been determined.
Although no other service has a formalized media literacy training program, officials noted that this initiative was not completely unexpected. Several previous iterations of the US Defense Budget bill called on the US Department of Defense to conduct annual training of military personnel and civilians to make them resistant to disinformation and foreign influence.
The version of the US Defense Budget Act adopted by the House of Representatives for fiscal year 2023 will expand the annual cybersecurity awareness courses to include a digital literacy module on "digital citizenship, media literacy and protection from cyber threats."
The bill defines media literacy as the ability to do the following:
Get access to up-to-date and accurate information through the media in various forms.
Critically analyze media content and the impact of various media formats.
Evaluate the completeness, relevance, reliability, credibility and accuracy of information.
Make informed decisions based on information received from the media and digital sources.
Operate with various types of technologies and digital tools.
And think about how the use of mass media and technology can affect personal and public life.
According to Renee Hobbs, a leading scholar in the field of media literacy and a professor at the University of Rhode Island, this is a good starting point. Hobbs spoke to the Marine Corps Times by phone from the National Museum of World War II in New Orleans, participating in a seminar for teachers on propaganda.
The most important aspect of media literacy, according to Hobbs, is the development of an understanding that public and media messages are always selective and incomplete.
Interpretation, according to her, is also subjective. Thus, the task turns out to be more difficult than sorting news reports and information sources into "good" and "bad".
"In more democratic organizations, where people sit at the table and can freely exchange opinions, it is possible to learn to respect our differences," she said. "And in fact, it may be useful for us to hear people who have different interpretations. Media literacy really cultivates respect for complexity and differences in thinking from different points of view."
According to her, the "instructor training" model works well, helping members of the organization to become more media literate, since it is important that understanding and support develop from the very top.
She added that the principles of media literacy should be implemented in all trainings, and not scattered within one course or event. After all, Hobbs said, media literacy doesn't just apply to news articles or Facebook posts; even maps should be understood and interpreted based on what they include and what they miss.
Marines may need to make an effort to accept media literacy as a point of view, Hobbs said. The police departments she trained also had difficulty developing a culture of transparency where members have some freedom to share their own points of view.
"Saying that media reports are selective and incomplete also means understanding that the media reports that our leaders provide to us are selective and incomplete," she said. "Therefore, sometimes there are difficult consequences from the introduction of this large concept of media literacy in hierarchical organizations."
According to her, despite the difficulties, this skill can contribute to improving combat capability. Media-literate Marines will have a better understanding of which messages are designed to evoke emotions and bypass critical thinking.
"And they will also be able to better understand how other people will interpret situations and react to them," Hobbs added.
"If I am in Afghanistan and I am in contact with a local resident, I can be sensitive to the fact that his interpretation of a specific situation and symbolic environment may be very different from mine," she said. "And I may actually be curious, and I may be interested in it, and I may use it to achieve my strategic goals."