Most organizations do not have a media literacy plan, which is understandable. Five years ago, there wasn’t widespread recognition of its necessity. It’s not typically part of the technology, HR, or strategic plans, even though several tools can help protect against possible dangers. But times have changed, and we and our small and mid-market organization customers need to adapt.

You may ask yourself, “Why does media literacy matter?” That’s a fair question. It likely wasn’t part of the strategic business plan template you pulled off the web or covered in your executive MBA class. So, why is it so important? We create business plans because we need good data to make good decisions. We all know that errors in spreadsheets or incorrect accounting numbers can lead to bad decisions by misrepresenting the health of our organization. What if the news channel your director watches says the GDP is decreasing when it’s increasing or says exports exceed imports when the inverse is true?

Accurate data matters. Misinformation could lead to wrong investment decisions, product launches, and strategic plans.

Why are we talking about Media Literacy now?

Because AI accelerates everything, including misinformation, we have already seen this with the increase in email phishing attacks. The sophistication of impersonation via email is remarkable and, unfortunately, quite compelling. The volume of attacks is also much higher. That is the power of generative AI to create sophisticated and effective impersonations to deliver false data via email, malware, or deepfake videos.

It’s not all bad news. AI can also help us identify credible information and verify accuracy.

Empower Employees to Protect The Company and Themselves

So, how do we protect and empower our team to protect themselves? Our teams need to be able to:

  • Check the intent and credibility of the information.
  • Be hyper-aware of emotionally charged language, sensational headlines, hyperboles, and anonymous authors.
  • Require citations. Ask yourself when it was published, who the author is, and who the publisher is.
  • Do multiple different sources have similar information? What is the publisher’s business model? How does the publisher make money? How could that affect their content?

Create A Platform to Support Your Team

A platform to protect your team from bad data would include education on key terms, problem-solving methods, and technical tools to support and protect the team.

  • Training and Education: Ensure your team knows the key concepts of media literacy and how that plays into effective decision-making.
  • Critical Thinking: Foster a culture of questioning and objective discussion to help spot data issues if they find their way into the organization.
  • Cybersecurity: Microsoft Cloud offers several tools to help protect your team from misinformation. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Edge help protect your team from misinformation delivered through sophisticated impersonation.
  • Critical Thinking, Analytics, and Discussion: Teams and Power BI support a culture of collaboration, discussion, and open questioning. Tools like Azure Cognitive Services provide more technical power to assess the sentiment, bias, and credibility of media content.

Increase your team’s media literacy, and your organization is more likely to navigate the vast changes AI has brought with it effectively.