AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF MEDIA LITERACY TRAINING ON MTU STUDENTS’ ABILITY TO IDENTIFY FAKE NEWS AND MISINFORMATION

ABSTRACT The proliferation of fake news has become a multifaceted issue that affects both individuals and the society at large. Experimental research design was used for the study. Multi staged sampling techniques was used in this study. Pre and post-training surveys were developed to measure participants' knowledge, skills, and confidence in differentiating between credible and unreliable information sources. The survey instrument assessed the understanding of key concepts such as sensationalism, source verification, fact-checking, and the difference between opinion and factual reporting. Multiple-choice and true/false questions were used to evaluate participants' ability to recognize common characteristics of fake news and misinformation. The research questions asked in this study includes the level of media literacy skills possessed by the study groups, this inquiry seeks to document participant’s foundational abilities in criteria’s areas such as source evaluation, bias recognition, fact checking techniques, and information verification processes. The results show the mean score as 2.71 and the standard deviation as 1.144, the findings of this study also provide empirical evidence regarding the value of media literacy education in equipping students with the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate the complex information environment of the digital age. Another research questions is to access the effect of media literacy training ais intervention on fake news and misinformation detection among the study groups, The inquiry seeks to measure both the magnitude and statistical significance of improvement in fake news detection abilities. The results have implications for curriculum development and the promotion of media literacy initiatives in higher education institutions. Ultimately, this research contributes to the understanding of how to foster a more informed and discerning student population capable of combating the spread of misinformation. From this research, it can be tentatively concluded that media literacy training about fake news and misinformation detection among MTU students is significantly effective. And given the demonstrated effectiveness of media literacy in significantly enhancing fake news identification capabilities, MTU should integrate structured media literacy education as a mandatory component across all academic programs. Keywords: Media Literacy, Fake News, Misinformation, Mountain Top University Students, Experimental Study