A Crash Course in Media Literacy

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A Crash Course in Media LiteracyPatricia H. Hinchey

Online publication date: 03 April 2010

To cite this Article Hinchey, Patricia H.(2003) 'A Crash Course in Media Literacy', The Clearing House: A Journal ofEducational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 76: 6, 295 297

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A Crash Cou rsei n M edia LiteracyPATRICIA H. HINCHEY

edia literacy, like so many other fields, is a com-

M lex terrain. Scholars argue over appropriategoals. Teachers, parents, librarians, and administratorsargue over suitable curricula, materials, and procedures.Web sites and journals overflow with advice. Theamount of information is enough to overwhelm noviceswho need a concrete and concise overview of the terri-tory before stepping into the classroom. Appropriately,because media literacy hinges largely on the visual, aneasy and effective way to get some sense of essentialissues is by viewing some of the many excellent videoson crucial topics including gender and race stereotyping,violence, news, and rampant consumerism.

There are several ways to get a quick survey of the ter-rain, all of which I have used with both undergraduateand graduate classes. Watching the following half-dozen videos would provide a sound introduction tosome core issues and require a total viewing time of lessthan five-and-one-half hours. I have found that eachprovokes a great deal of critical thought and discussionamong my students, no matter their age and experi-ence.All are less than an hour long, and each is suitablefor classroom use at the middle- through high schoollevels, as well as for a teachers personal professionaldevelopment. Many of the videos can be borrowedfrom university libraries and other units offeringinstructional resources to classroom teachers; or,schools can obtain preview copies from distributorswithout charge. These resources would be a suitableaddition to any schools media library and can be pur-chased from a variety of vendors, with discount pricesfor high schools often as low as $125-$150. Onlinepreviews and study guides are also available as noted.

For the over-achieving academic, I also list a few stepsto follow up on particular films.Gender, Race, and ViolenceKilling Us Softly ll): Advertisings Imagine of W ome n.

2000. Created by and featuring Jean Kilbourne;directed, edited, and produced by Sut Ihally.34 minutes. Distributor: Foundation forMedia Education; preview and study guideavailable at .

1999. Featuring lackson Katz;directed by Sut Jhal-ly; produced by Susan Ericsson and Sanjay Talreja.High school version, 57 minutes. Distributor:~~~~~

Patricia H . Hinchey is an associate professor ofeducation at Pennsylvania State University.

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Foundation for Media Education; preview andstudy guide available at .In this video laced with images from a range of

media, Jackson Katz presents the well-supported argu-ment that popular culture promotes an image of mas-culinity as ruggedly individualistic and violent, withharmful effects for both women and men. Katz reviewsexamples of negative portrayals of men and discussessuch topics as the school shootings in Littleton, Col-orado, and Jonesboro, Arkansas. However, a particularasset of this video is that it also offers alternative, morehealthful images of masculinity from such movies asGood Will Hunting and Boyz N the Hood and includessuch well-known figures as baseball great MarkMcGuire and country singer Garth Brooks.Game Over:Gender, Race, and Violence in Video Games

2000. Produced and by Nina Huntemann;executive producer, Sut Jhall edited by Jeremyfor Media Education; preview and studavailable at chttp://www.rnediaed.org,&%$MediaGenderAndDiversity/GameOver>.The video and computer game industry consumes

billions of dollars annually, luring young people tospend an average of ten hours a week playing electron-ic games. This video explores such topics as how gamestypically portray gender, race, and violence and whatimpact they may have-especially on the males whomost often buy and use them. Educators with limitedfirsthand knowledge of video games are likely to be infor a shock when they see the extent and types of vio-lence and the gendered and racial stereotypes that char-acterize the games. One of the most powerful segmentsincludes the testimony of one of the worlds foremostmilitary experts in the field of human aggression, whodetails the demonstrated effectiveness of simulationgames in training military and law enforcement per-sonnel to overcome a natural inhibition to shoot otherhuman beings. This video can be counted on to sparkheated discussion among viewers who may want todefend the games as harmless fun.Dreamworlds 11: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video

1995. Written, edited and produced b SutJhally. 56 minutes. Distributor: FounJationfo r Media Education; preview and study . y d eavailable at .Given that pop culture centers on music and music

videos, the close examination of gender images pre-sented in this genre is crucial to any adults under-standing of this component of adolescent experience.The video is powerful evidence that here too, males are

Smith. 41 minutes. DistriF tor: Foundation

presented as dominant and violent, whereas womenare presented as passive, sexualized objects, often thevictims of violence. Although this is one of the mostpowerful videos to show to a teenage audience, it isimportant to note that scenes of graphic violence maymake the video unacceptable in some environments. Itwould be wise to allow viewers to leave the room ifthey become too disturbed by the material. It is thissegment of the video, however-where scenes frommusic videos are interspersed with a gang rape scenefrom a movie about an actual event-that most strong-ly makes the case that young men are receiving harm-ful messages from the media that are ultimately dan-gerous to women. This presentation makes it clearwhy, as renowned educator Maxine Greene onceargued, everyone in secondary classrooms must befamiliar with the genre of music video.Corporate Control of MediaFear and Favor in the Newsroom

1996. Narrated by Studs Terkel; directed andproduced by Beth Sanders in association withICTEH, San Jose. 57 minutes. Distributor: Founda-tion for Media Education; preview and studyguide available at chttp://www.mediaed.orgFavorintheNewsroom>.Despite the much vaunted freedom and tenacity of

the American press, many stories never make it intoprint. Today, nearly every newspaper is a product of avery few media giants with strong ties to corporationsand their wealthy and powerful leadership. Reporterswho have been censored, demoted, and even firedbecause they pursued stories that might damage orembarrass particular people o r corporations can testifythat mainstream news is far more censored than thepublic might imagine. Among those censored is aPulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose column wascancelled by the New York Times after he investigated avariety of issues related to New York Citys elite and anEmmy Award-winner who shot footage of civiliandamage caused by U.S. bombing, which was personal-ly vetoed by the president of NBC.

For those who find themselves worried by thisvideo-which would not be surprising-here are a fewterrific possibilities for learning more:

A visit to the Project Censored Web site,, might be in order.This group, based at Sonoma State University in Cali-fornia, tracks important stories ignored by the main-stream media and makes many of them available on itsWeb site. For example, articles from the groups 2003report include pieces on government/corporate supportfor creating privatized, union-free public schools; thehealth and environment dangers of fish farms; NAFTAsdestructive impact on rural farming communities

videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/Fearan


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not only in Mexico and Haiti but also in Canada andthe United States. A video from the Foundation forMedia Education titled Project Censored: Is the PressReally Free? (1996) is available at .The video Rich Media, Poor Democracy () s another re-source that explores the impact of media consolida-tion. A closer look-well worth the significant timeinvestment-is to read the book of the same name(New Press 2000). Author Robert McChesney detailsthe contradiction between a democracy's need forinformation and communication and the "for-profit,highly concentrated, advertising-saturated, corporatemedia system." McChesney tracks the evolution of thecommunications industry, now dominated by a veryfew giants, and uncovers the political and corporatecomplicity that has enabled the current dismal situa-tion. His proposed remedy is a better-informed andproactive citizenry-great material to explore in asocial studies class.ConsumerismAfluenzu

1997. Hosted by NPR's Scott Simon; producedby John de Graaf and Vivia Boe; a production ofKCTS/Seattle and Oregon Public Broadcasting.56 minutes, in two se ments for classroom view-. Distributor: Butfrog Films, .nterdiscipli-nary study guides available at

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A Crash Course in Media Literacy