Media Literacy Special - Episode 29, 2025

BTN Transcript: Episode 29 — 21/10/2025

Yaama. I'm Jack Evans and you're watching BTN. This week we're bringing you a special episode for Media Literacy Week, and we're going to head online to find out all about digital media and how to make the most of it. Here's what's coming up. We'll learn about the algorithm, serve up some 'slopaganda', and meet some young Aussies making their own media. We'll also test your knowledge with a digital media super quiz.

Online Research

Reporter: Joe Baronio

INTRO: But first, we're going on a scavenger hunt. Well, sort of. We sent Joe to guide a group of students as they navigate the internet to answer a series of questions. It sounds simple enough, but will AI and search engines lead them to the truth or steer them off course? Let's find out.

JOE: Alright. Welcome, everybody. What we're going to be doing today is a digital scavenger hunt. So what we've got, we have a list of 11 questions here, but there are two pictures as well. One here is, "Is this image real?" That's this one of Donald Trump. And, "Who is this?" is the second image. And all you have to do is research these questions and find the answers. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

STUDENTS: Yep.

JOE: Great. Alright, let's get to it!

The obvious first step is to open up a search engine and, well, search. Easy. Although research has found that big search engines, including Google and Bing, often promote web pages based on keywords and monetisation or sponsorship over the quality of what they actually say. So you might want to check a few of the search results, not just what pops up first.

JOE: What were you using most to find the answers for these questions?

STUDENT: Generally, just Google, like we'd look something up and then we'd scroll down until we found a website that looked reliable.

JOE: Were there answers at the top that weren't quite right?

STUDENT: The AI Overview. It's useful for some things, like simpler statistics, but it's not always trustworthy, so we'd prefer to find actual websites.

Yeah, AI has become a massive part of online research now. In fact, people are now relying so heavily on AI summaries that some of the biggest news websites in the world have recorded a huge decline in people viewing their websites.

But AI summaries and chatbots like ChatGPT don't always get it right.

JOE: Did you get any false or inaccurate answers when searching?

STUDENT: Um, yes. So, for the question about how many countries use the Union Jack on their flag, it told us there was only 5.

STUDENT: The second time I searched on Google it actually came up with 30… so yeah.

STUDENT: it never gives you a straightforward answer, so always ask it for links to sources where you can actually find that information.

Speaking of, what is a source? Well, there are three categories of sources: Primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary sources are the original materials that provide firsthand information, experiences or evidence, like government documents, scientific journals or data, interviews, speeches, letters, diaries, photos, even artworks. Secondary sources offer an analysis of primary sources and usually try to describe or summarise them. Things like textbooks, reviews, biographies, newspaper articles, and even this BTN story are secondary sources. And, finally, there are tertiary sources. They are sources that summarise or compile primary and secondary sources without analysing them like dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks or manuals. But ah, I digress.

JOE: Which question are you guys up to?

STUDENT: We are up to question 6, "Is this image real?", and the image we've been given is this Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin.

Now, for images, there are two ways you could tackle them. You could use descriptive keywords to describe what you're seeing or do a reverse image search and see if you can find the source of the original image.

STUDENT: Started by actually just searching up in Google "Donald Trump holding a bitcoin" to, like, look if we can find any other versions of this image, and right now what we've found is there's lots of different angles. So, we're still deciding, looks more real than fake right now.

STUDENT: And then with the other one.

STUDENT: We did, like, "girl with striking eyes". It came up pretty quickly, actually, and then we looked into her name and what was the image about.

JOE: So, you found that using keywords came up with better answers than doing a reverse image search?

STUDENTS: Yeah, yeah.

What is few words of advice to any other students who need to research online?

STUDENT: Whenever using AI, you've got to be really sure to check the facts.

STUDENT: Find a primary source first, and then to also find a secondary source or some source that can back up that primary source.

STUDENT: Also making sure where the source is coming from like if it's coming from an organisation or government bodies, then it could be more factual. But if it's coming from like a social media post or a conversation platform. It could be more opinionated, so checking where the source is coming from is important.

Quiz

Which one of these URLs would link you to the website of Australia's federal education department?

www.education.gov.auwww.education.govwww.education.com.auwww.education.nsw.gov.au

It's this one. Just about all Australian government departments use the gov.au domain name, and it's restricted to government departments, so you can be pretty sure they're trustworthy.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Effective today, Sunday the 21st September 2025, the Commonwealth of Australia recognises the State of Palestine…

Is this a primary or a secondary source? It's a primary source. The Prime Minister is talking about what his own government is doing. And it's from his own channel, so it's not likely to have been manipulated.

Is this a primary, secondary or a tertiary source? Wikipedia is a tertiary source because it summarises information from primary and secondary sources and you can check where that info came from by following likes to sources.

Algorithms Explained

Reporter: Wren Gillett

INTRO: Have you ever wondered why social media feeds always seem to know what you like? It's not magic; it's something called the algorithm. Wren found out what it is and how algorithms can shape what we see and even influence how we think.

JOE BARONIO, REPORTER: Hello Wren. I've been waiting for you.

WREN GILLETT, REPORTER: Who are you?

JOE: I am the algorithm.

WREN: The algorithm?

JOE: Yes. The algorithm. I know you better than anyone else.

An algorithm is basically a series of step-by-step instructions made to solve a specific problem. Like a recipe, the rules of a boardgame, even the steps you follow to brush your teeth. Yep, they're everywhere, including online. Search engines, streaming services, social media platforms, they all use algorithms that determine what stuff pops up when you're online. By tracking your online behaviours, finding patterns, and comparing you to people with similar habits, they use all that info to guess what you'll click on next.

JOE: Your entire online world is my creation, Wren. Right down to the ads you see.

WREN: Wait. Even the ads.?

JOE: YES. Every tap, every pause, every scroll, every move you make online, I am right there watching, learning.

WREN: About who?

JOE: YOU.

Yeah. It's no coincidence that your 'For You' page is full of stuff you like. Or that your home page feels homey and personalised. The idea is…

JOE: To hold your attention for as long as humanly possible.

WREN: Huh?

JOE: Exactly.

Yeah, your attention is valuable, and tons of companies want it. If a search engine feels helpful, you'll most likely use it again. If a streaming service keeps you watching, you'll keep paying for the subscription. And the more you scroll social media, the more ads they can show you.

JOE: I'm designed to be addictive.

WREN: Okay, calm down buddy. But I don't see what the problem is. Like, what's wrong with seeing stuff I like?

Well, because algorithms tend to feed you content that's similar to stuff you've already liked, it can become less and less common to see new or different perspectives. And eventually, you end up in a little thing called an…

JOE: Echo chamber. echo chamber, echo chamber, eco chamberrr…

That's when your feed is reduced down to people just repeating, or echoing, ideas you already think. And when every comment agrees with you, it's likely to narrow your view of the world. You might become less tolerant of new ideas and people you don't agree with and start to seek out stuff that supports what you already believe and ignore the stuff that doesn't. We call that…

WREN: I'm right-itis.

JOE: Correct.

WREN: Wait actually?

JOE: No. Confirmation bias.

Many are worried that the people who control algorithms could use this power to sway elections or push society towards extreme views. It's why some are calling for laws that would make algorithms more transparent, by forcing companies to tell us exactly how they work, and make sure they actually serve the public good. In the meantime, there are some things you can do to take control of your algorithm, like following new creators, and going out of your way to watch stuff your feed might not be feeding you. And remember, the algorithm can only influence you if you let it, so step away, take a screen break.

WREN: Huh, I guess I kinda hold the power then, hey.

JOE: Wait, what? No, wait! Please stop. No, stop!

WREN: Mm. Nice.

Quiz

Is this article and example of disinformation, news or satire? It's satire. It was created to make people laugh, not to trick them, although a few people did think it was real.

Did the US president really post this meme? The answer is yes. You can tell by looking at the account, which, as a bit of research will tell you, does belong to President Donald Trump.

How about this TikTok? Do you think it's reliable? There are pretty good reasons to suspect it's not. For starters, it's claims of ancient alien rock art are pretty out there and if you're still unsure you can do a quick search. Nope. Made up.

Slopaganda

Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: Now it's time to serve up some slop, more specifically, slopaganda. It's a relatively new term used to describe how AI can be used to sway people's political beliefs. Take a look.

JACK EVANS, BTN REPORTER: With the rise of AI we've seen a lot of, um, interesting things in our social media feeds. Some entertaining, some confusing, and some that's just…

SERVER: Slop come get your slop.

Yep slop, it's a term used to describe well a number of things including low quality media made using artificial intelligence. Like shrimp Jesus and soap operas about cats. Most of this is pretty harmless, although it could give you nightmares and take money away from human creators. But experts say when slop meets politics it can become a problem. I'm talking about slopaganda.

SERVER: Slopa-what-a?

Slopaganda, a combo of AI slop and propaganda.

SERVER: What's propaganda? I've never heard of that before…

Propaganda is a form of communication that has been used for a really long time to try to convince people to believe something, feel a certain way, or act in a particular manner. It's usually biased, misleading and designed to promote just one point of view even if it looks like news or entertainment.

SERVER: Oh, what, like this?

Ah, yeah, kinda.

SERVER: Wait, does that mean that slop isn't the number one recommended source for all your slop needs?

Umm…

SERVER: Could have fooled me…

I'm not sure.

MARK ALFANO, PROFESSOR: Propaganda has been around ever since there's been politics, which is ever since there's been humans. But I do think that these new tools are troubling in a way that earlier propaganda was not.

Experts, like Mark Alfano here, say that AI is making it easier for people to push their ideas onto others. Whether it's by creating fake images and videos to mislead people or content that reinforces people's biases. He says Slopaganda is particularly dangerous because it's easy to make and can target specific people based on their likes and beliefs using the algorithm to tap into our confirmation bias, remember that?

MARK: You can digitally generate millions and millions of things and distribute them in a targeted way to people that you have some reason to think will be influenced by that.

And there are big concerns about how it might be impacting democracies around the world.

JEREMY CARRASCO, AI COMMENTATOR: I don't even have to think that far into the future. You know, people say, I do some live streams and people will ask, well, what if they can deepfake politicians? And I said, just so you guys know, people have been able to deepfakes politicians.

SERVER: Well, what am I 'spose to do? Swap my slop for soup? I don't think so.

While it doesn't look like this stuff is going away anytime soon, there are some things you can do to spot the slop. I mean some of it is pretty obvious. But it doesn't hurt to take a look at who posted it and why they did. Do they benefit from the post? And what else have they posted? Think about how the tone or emotion of the post may be manipulating how you feel, and you can always switch off from social media platforms that spread this kind of content.

Quiz

Okay, let's play real or AI. Is this picture real or AI? Okay, that's an easy one. The giant pre-historic shark kinda gives it away. But if you look closely, you can also see that the people's faces are bit messy.

Is this image real or AI? It's real. It shows a plane on a flooded tarmac in Brazil and was a finalist for the World Press Photo awards.

Are these adorable bunnies really bouncing on a trampoline? Sadly not. It's AI. Look carefully and you'll see bunnies randomly disappearing.

Independent Media

Reporter: Tatenda Chibika

INTRO: Next up, we're going to look at how the internet and social media have transformed the way people consume news and opened the door for independent media voices. Here's Tatenda with more.

PAK, Student Spotlight: Good. OK, let's talk about leads for this issue…

PAK: Hello, my name is Pak.

NOKTHOR, Student Spotlight: My name is Nokthor.

RYAN, Student Spotlight: My name is Ryan.

Tatenda, Reporter: Pak, Nokthor and Ryan are three of the brains behind the Student Spotlight.

PAK: We specialise in youth led content and youth led articles. We focus a lot on coverage about young people.

Each month, they tackle a range of topics, from what's happening locally to the arts to politics.

PAK: The Northern Territory is a very, very media concentrated place where there isn't much media outlets specifically for young people.

That's a big part of why they started it in the first place. Their magazine is an example of independent media which means it's not influenced by governments or big commercial companies.

You see, Australia has the second-highest media concentration in the world. It means that a lot of what we consume comes from just a handful of organisations. For example, our newspapers are dominated by these companies which control 84 % of the market. Meanwhile, if you look at broadcast TV these companies make up 87% of the market.

That's why these guys say independent media is so important. It offers audiences an alternative option to traditional or legacy news and gives people from underrepresented communities a chance to share their stories and perspectives. And thanks to the internet, it's now easier than ever to publish your own stuff.

Emma GillespIe, The Daily Aus: I mean, the internet has changed news and the media landscape, irreversibly forever and ever and ever.

This is Emma. She is an editor for the Daily Aus, an independent online news outlet.

Emma Gillespie: We speak to millions of young Aussies right around the country every day through our Instagram, TikTok, YouTube podcast, newsletter… that's kind of what drives that, that thinking behind, let's be the new source for these audiences in the places that they're at.

Research shows that about 1 in 4 Aussies get their news from social media but when anyone can put stuff out there as news, it can be tricky to tell what's real and what's not.

Emma Gillespie: Young people need to kind of build out that muscle where they can identify "Okay. I like this person, and I follow them, and they have a really strong take on this, that doesn't necessarily mean that that is a news story or that that is unbiased and impartial information."

Even though there are some challenges that come with independent news these journos say without them, some stories might never be told.

PAK: The Internet also gave birth to a lot of new journalists who are on the ground telling their stories of their communities. So, there's definitely good journalism here on the internet.

Emma Gillespie: We really need young people to want to be engaged journalists who want to tell these stories, because otherwise it's all up to the big legacy media, the traditional outlets, and we really need to make sure that there is room to platform the voices of people like us, people like you.

Her Way

Reporter: Kushi Venkatesh

INTRO: Finally, we are going to meet a young independent journalist who started her own media company called Her Way. Kushi sat down with Abbie to find out what inspired the journey.

KUSHI VENKATESH, REPORTER: You're usually the interviewer, but today we're interviewing you. How are you feeling? Welcome back.

ABBIE, HER WAY MEDIA SNIPPET: Yeah, thanks so much for having me back. It's great to be back on BTN four years later.

YOUNGER ABBIE: Hi BTN, my name is Abbie and I'm 11 years old.

ABBIE: It is a bit weird being on the other side of it. Usually, I'm used to controlling the interview, but I'm sure it'll be fun.

ABBIE, HER WAY MEDIA SNIPPET: International rugby league is growing and today there's a clinic going on in western Sydney featuring some of the best players in the world.

KUSHI: So, tell me all about 'Her Way' Media.

ABBIE: I started with a monthly magazine, this is one of them, and it went for 16 issues. So, I did 16 issues, and then it kind of evolved into what it is today, which is a podcast, YouTube channel, sub stack and yeah, so much more.

KUSHI: What inspired you to get into women's sport and reporting on women's sport?

ABBIE: We see a lot of coverage of men's sport, even though the women have to work just as hard and, you know, they don't get paid as much money yet, they're still amazing and I was just frustrated that we weren't seeing them on TV. I think we're definitely seeing things start to change, but it's great to be part of this journey and helping them hopefully get the coverage that they deserve.

KUSHI: You've interviewed so many amazing athletes. Do you have a favourite person you've interviewed?

ABBIE: I think one of my favourite athletes was when I went down to Melbourne for the Australian Open and I got to interview American tennis star Coco Gauff and she has been like a person I've looked up to since I was like, probably seven or eight years old. I had pictures of her on my wall and to interview her was so great.

KUSHI: One of my favourite videos you've done is the one where you asked the athletes how to spell Mississippi.

ABBIE: Oh, yeah.

SPORTSWOMAN, HER WAY MEDIA SNIPPET: Oh, yeah! No, don't put me on the spot! So, M-I-S-S-I… ..S-S-I-P-I?

ABBIE: Ooh, so close!

KUSHI: So, how do you come up with fun ideas like that?

ABBIE: I think one thing I love about, I guess being my age as well, is that I feel like sometimes I can, it allows me to have a bit more fun with the athletes. So, one angle that 'Her Way' is really trying to go for is doing like fun questions with the athletes.

ABBIE,HER WAY MEDIA SNIPPET: I saw that this year one thing you really want to do a lot more is gold panning.

SPORTWOMAN: These young girls talk about all these TikToks and stuff.

KUSHI: And you're so young. Have you faced any challenges being a young journalist?

ABBIE: I feel like being a young journalist, I'm only 15 and given I was 11 when I started, I think sometimes people don't know how to treat me as a young journalist or they don't treat me seriously. But I guess now I'm 15, I've been doing this for four years and I go to watch games I go sit in press conferences, and I've done lots of interviews with athletes. So, I think I want to be treated as a proper journalist and not just as a little niche kid I guess, doing some interviews with athletes, even though that's still really cool.

SPORTSWOMAN, HER WAY MEDIA SNIPPET: It's been…it's been really good and I've felt really comfortable coming in and being with these girls, so…

KUSHI: Do you have any advice for any young people wanting to go into journalism or any sort of media?

ABBIE: Yeah. I think one piece of advice would be just that the journalism and media landscape has changed so much. It's no longer just newspaper articles, but you can make video content. You can still write articles, obviously, you can use social media, have a podcast. Like, there are so many different ways that you can be involved in journalism and the media. So, I would say just if you have a passion or there's something that you think needs to change, follow up on it and you might be able to make a career out of it in the journalism or media space.

ABBIE, HER WAY MEDIA SNIPPET: Thanks so much. Good luck.

SPORTSWOMAN: Thank you, Abbie.

ABBIE: Thank you.

SPORTSWOMAN: Thank you so much.

Closer

Well, that's a wrap on our Digital Media Literacy Special. We'll be back with a regular show next week. In the meantime, you can catch Newsbreak every weeknight. And if you haven't already, head over to our website, there's plenty to see and do, including our social media ban survey. Have an awesome week, and I'll see you next time. Bye.