Media Literacy Education

Previous to coming to OU, I do not recall having any formal media literacy education. Ive always understood that the media can be biased and self serving to particular interests, no one really had to explain that to me.
One event that opened my eyes to both positive and negative aspects of media biases was my trip to England for the British Media Studies program. On one side is a company like the BBC, while still having objectives and interests, was striving for accuracy and truth in their reports. On the complete other side was Sky News (owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns FOX) where we were told their main objective was to be first. If the facts were wrong, so be it, they will worry about it later.
The approaches to reporting were so vastly different. Sky News didn't (seem to) care about manipulation or dishonesty while the BBC did its best to be reputable and honest above all.
One thing about it is viewers of these two stations seem to know what they are getting in to when they watch either channel. Sky News didn't try to pretend they were serving the public good. They weren't worried about being exploitative or sensational.
As far as the US goes, this sentiment seems to hold. As long as you take the news with a grain of salt and consider where it is coming from, you don't have to worry so much about being manipulated. It's your responsibility to be an educated viewer.