A Study On Media Literacy Of Township Government Staff In The New Media Age

In the just past ten years, new media represented by network media and mobile media booming, has developed from nothing gradually and experienced a great change from the edge to the mainstream. The rapid development of new media makes its status and roles grow gradually, such as spreading information and guiding consensus. Also, the relationship between the government, the media and the public has changed in a great way. In the new media age, media literacy manifests the power level. The special identity and social status of civil servants decides the importance of media literacy of this group in social management and development.As the main body of civil servants, township government staff is the implementer of the party’s line policies. It is also the bridge and the link between superior civil servants and the public. It should be pointed out that the township government staff mentioned in this paper is a relatively broad concept, which mainly refers to all staff for official business in township government, including the civil servants in a strict sense, the staff compiled in career, contract workers and temporary workers. The media literacy of this group is directly related with the media image and credibility of the township government in a large degree, also indirectly affecting the efficiency and social evaluation of the township government. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the media literacy of township government staff in the new media age.The paper aims to launch a questionnaire survey among 210 township government staff in NJ county in Hebei, combined with the core components of the media literacy of civil servants in new media age, such as understanding, criticizing, replying and utilizing new media, on the basis of which to find out the media literacy status of this group in the new media age. The survey shows that the township government staff in NJ county has biased understanding of the new media; the consciousness and ability of questioning the information from new media is insufficient; the ability to response to the new media positively and effectively need to be improved urgently; the ability to utilize new media privately and the ability to hold power with the aid of the new media should be increased steadily. The survey results reflect the basic situation—the media literacy of township government staff in our country is of common deficiency and need to be advanced in the new media age.The paper also does some in-depth exploration in the reasons why the media literacy of township government staff in NJ county is on low level in the new media age. And several factors are concluded: There are negative emotions among partial township government staff in new media; there is lack of effective media literacy education among township government staff; there is deficiency in the related system of township government. On the basis, this paper puts forward several proposals to the media literacy promotion of township government staff in new media age. And the following aspects are included: the erection of the correct viewpoints on people and the media among township government staff, the launch of systematic and effective media literacy training among township government staff, the inclusion of media literacy into the employed and evaluation system of township government staff, the rapid construction of the "internet + government service" of township government. Hope these suggestions can provide reference to the improvement of media literacy of township government staff in the new media age.