What is Media Literacy?

Using the readings answer the following questions

– In your own words, and without using the words MEDIA, LITERACY, INFORMATION, JOURNALISM, IMAGES, COMMUNICATION, FILM, TV, RADIO, BROADCAST, INTERNET, you are to define media literacy

– ½ OF CLASS: write 10 attributes a media literate person would portray. A media literate person should display _________________?

– At what point to do you consider an individual informed? – As a group, rank on a scale of 1 – 10 how media savvy do you

think the youth of today are, in terms of using media and of being active, engaged, and aware participants

Media Literacy

The ability to access, evaluate, analyze, and produce all types of communication (Aufderheide, 1993)

“The media are undoubtedly the major contemporary means of cultural expression and communication: to become an active participant in public life necessarily involves making use of the modern media. The media, it is often argued, have now taken the place of the family, the church and the school as the major socializing influence in contemporary society” (Buckingham, p. 5).

Group Brainstorming Part #2

1. At what point to do you consider an individual informed?

2. Taking Gillmor’s Principles of Media Consumption/Creation, rank them in order of importance and comment on which you think are the most realistic, and which are the least possible in “real” life.

Gillmor – Principles of Consumption

1. Be skeptical of absolutely everything.

2. Although skepticism is essential, don’t be equally skeptical of everything.

3. Go Outside your personal comfort zone

4. Ask More Questions

5. Understand and Learn Media Techniques

Gillmor – Principles of Creation

1. Do your homework, and then do some more.

2. Get it right every time

3. Be Fair to Everyone

4. Think independently, especially of your own biases

5. Practice and Demand Transparency

Citizenship Timeline

• Early Citizenship

• Good Citizenship

• Informed Citizenship

• Monitorial Citizenship

Monitorial Citizen

a gatherer, monitor, and surveyor of information, who “swings into public action only when directly threatened” (Lemann 1998).

• Are we participatory?• Will there be collective intelligence?• Is mass media power becoming larger

or smaller?• Where will converged culture lead us?

Citizens in an Information AgeCitizens in an Information Age

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm12.html

Classic Example…

…

Jan. 21, 2009

print version

online

Feb. 22, 2008 online politics page

online home page

Jan. 21, 2009

print version

Newseum Website

And now we are all part of this…

The future tools for media will bring the world together in new

ways…

Kevin Sites in Yahoo’s Hot Zonehttp://hotzone.yahoo.com/

Participation, Production, Voice

And now we all have cameras…

– Good Consumers – by teaching how to understand, analyze, evaluate, and produce media messages, and;

– Good Citizens – by highlighting the role of media in civil society, the importance of being a responsible, aware, and active participant in local, national, and global communities.

Good Media Education focuses on Connections…

… which are vital to the future of our civic democracy

CONCLUSION journalism, news, YOU, and the future of civic society

• CONNECTING Skills to Citizenship• CONNECTING Analysis to Production• CONNECTING Culture to Creation• CONNECTING Responsibility to Empowerment• CONNECTING communities, media, and citizenship

“As a citizen, I should learn from that not to accept any analysis that tells us the game is over, that the world can’t get any better, because, say, the corporations have the politicians in their pockets, or because the corporations run the media….”

• Seeking diverse, credible, and independent information.• Learning how play with power, to cover issues, and to

participate in democracy• Understanding the absolute necessity of a free press for

civil society• Appreciating the complexities of information systems in a

globalized world (especially a capitalist one)• Using our Collective Intelligence• Finding diverse, independent & credible voice….

Informed Citizenship in the 21st Century

“And what does she have that I don't?”

“One of us is in the wrong movie.”“This is our first hit, did we remember everything”“Face it, Eddie, you don’t know where the East River is – pull over and get directions”“Yo, Ralphie, is that your ring tone?”

So then, with all this noise, what does it take to become media

literate?

Ways of Looking at Media

• Media Producers– Who owns media– What is their agenda?

• Messages

• Audience– How do people consume media?– Two views

• Audience are dupes• Audience are supplicated media consumers

What we know

• No direct, powerful effects– People are complicated

• Audiences view the same media message in very different ways depending on things like:

– Education– Racial/ethnic background– Gender– Economic status– Religious belief

What we know

• If there are effects, they are subtle and cumulative (stalagmite)– Violence for instance

• Most studied effect – no evidence for a powerful, direct effect

• Over time, in certain individuals, watching violent shows and movies may make them somewhat more aggressive

What we know

• Our beliefs are influenced most about things we have the least first-hand knowledge of.– Stereotyping– Messages about different countries and

cultures

What we know

• Media has little effect on our political beliefs– Media Messages primarily confirm what we

already believe

• Media can bring an issue to the forefront-Agenda setting

• More fragmentation | More consolidation

• Multiplicity of voices | Reduction of substantive reporting

• Information richness | Information fatigue

• Citizens who know more facts | Citizens who have less truth

PARADOXES OF THE INFORMATION AGE

LESSON PLANS FOR MEDIA LITERACY

5 A’s of Media Literacy

AccessAwareness Assessment

AppreciationAction

How the 5 A’s work

5 notions of global citizenship: access to

media, awareness of media’s power, assessment of how media cover international events and issues, appreciation for media’s role in creating civil societies, and action to encourage better communication across cultural, social and political divides.

Building a Media Literate Future

Story

Exercise

Analysis Criteria

Resources

Authorship

Ownership

Interactivity