Media Literacy Brought to you direct by the letters A, B, C… and the Department of Education (who’ll be testing you on this stuff!)

WHAT IS MEDIA LITERACY? It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in a variety of forms. It builds an understanding of the role of media in society, as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.

MEDIA LITERACY IS NOT... Media ‘bashing’ is NOT media literacy, however media literacy often involves criticizing the media. Simply looking for political agendas, stereotypes or misrepresentations is NOT media literacy; there should also be an exploration of the systems making them appear “normal.” Looking at a media message or experience from just one perspective is NOT media literacy because media should be examined from multiple positions. Media literacy does NOT mean “don’t watch;” it means “watch carefully, think critically.”

Source: Who is Communicating? The first element you should examine when reviewing media texts is the source from which the text has come. You should ask questions such as: From where does this text come? Who created it? Who owns it? How is this text distributed or sold to the public? Who profits?

Audience and Purpose: To whom is it communicated? What is the purpose of the communication? The next element to be examined will involve looking at for whom and why this message was created. This will involve answering questions such as: What is the purpose of this text? Entertainment? Information? Persuasion? Who is the intended (target) audience? How and why might this text appeal to its intended audience? How does this text appeal to you? What things do you like and dislike.

Message: What is being communicated? Then you can move on to the message itself. What is it that they are trying to say. To determine this look at: What does this text appear to be saying on a surface level? What are the values and ideology behind this text? Does the text present the beliefs of one particular group? What stereotypes, if any, are presented? To what effect? To what extent do you share these beliefs?

Forms and Conventions: What medium is used? What are its conventions? Finally, you will look at how this message was delivered by examining questions such as: What medium was used? What techniques are used to reach and hold the audience? How was the text made? What production techniques were used? What rules and laws affect this text (e.g., running time, copyright)?

Overall Assessment Through your analysis of the previous questions you may begin to see a bigger picture emerging. With an analysis of all the elements combined you should ask yourself : How effective is the communication?

Production To bring this evaluation to another level, ask yourself: How was this text produced? How would you produce a similar text? What would you change?

Some other factors to consider: All media is created by someone – it is not a naturally occurring phenomena. As we are not part of that creative process we must work to deconstruct the thinking involved in creating the message Media has a way of grabbing our attention, often through its own “language” such as incorporating scary music, big headlines, or camera close-ups Remember that different people may not experience the media in the same way. We all have social, educational, gender, generational, cultural, religious, political, psychological backgrounds that affect our interpretation of a given text. Media has its own sub-culture and reasons for doing what they do. Each person involved in the creation of the media places his/her stamp on it as well as addresses the requirements of the client. The choices made of who/what to include often demonstrate bias: think of the all- white casts of the past, the stereotypical family dynamic, etcetera. When media chooses to deviate from a standard pattern there is a reason for it. Look at what they include and what they omit. There is always a reason why the media text has been created: to sell something, to persuade the audience, to gain power, etcetera. Look at what the potential gain is for the particular message. The more we know the less susceptible we are to falling victim to their tricks

Think about it…