Do you know the Frankenbite? Media Literacy on the power of story and editing

Over the last decade, the hybridization of information and entertainment into infotainment in legacy and social media, plus technical innovations from Deep Fakes to AI, have escalated the challenge of upholding ethical principles in media creation. Our media literacy curriculum for High school students addresses the prevalence of fictional storytelling in fact-based media. Our goal is to guide students as media consumers to understand and explore the ways in which picture editors alter facts to favour story, and to decipher fact from fiction in audiovisual media. However, the responses and feedback we received after two trial years revealed a disturbing general mistrust of students in all media, questioning of any empirical facts and established science. This article explores this fundamental epistemic dilemma in teaching media literacy, leading to a crisis in society. We are experiencing a shift in the media landscape as dramatic as the transition from oral to written storytelling.