You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hugh.

Media literacy is an essential skill of our time.

With each technological leap, we've had to work

double time to keep up, says journalist and comedian Dave Jorgensen. In his talk, he explains why

media literacy, which he defines as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media

in various forms is a crucial skill in an age of proliferating

misinformation. But it doesn't mean you can't have a bit of fun doing it. With his absurdist

sketches that he makes to explain the news, he shows us how humor can cut through fear, spark

curiosity, and cool down hot takes

in order to explore more nuanced truths. And since this talk is quite visual, I'll jump in

throughout to describe a few of the videos and images that Dave shares during his talk. I'd also

recommend going to watch the video on TED.com.

I'm Dave. I've spent pretty much my entire adult life working in video journalism and media.

But what is media and what forms does it take? Let me show you an example. This is Kipu. Hey y'all, Elise here. So Dave is sharing an image of

this Kipu in English often spelled Q-U-I-P-U, which as he said was a record-keeping device. It looks

almost like a half-circle with long rays of string of different lengths coming down, or a large necklace.

The string is colorful, different earthy oranges, blues, and yellows.

It was used by the Incas in South America. It's a system of knots and strings.

And every knot, the shapes, the colors, dimensions, numbers, all of it works together to tell a story.

While you and I may not understand Kippu or how it works, this is a form of media.

And let me give you another example of media from across the pond in around 370 BC.

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