Media literacy

From Free net encyclopedia

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of print and non-print forms. Definition from the 1991 Aspen Media Literacy Conference

Edited from: Media literacy is the skill of understanding the nature of communications, particularly in regard to telecommunications and mass media. The skill entails knowledge of the structural features of the media, and how these might tend to influence the content of the media.

1 Major topics
2 Benefits of Media Literacy
3 History and dispersal
4 Proponents of media literacy
5 Further information

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Major topics

Understanding the processes involved in critically analyzing and creating media messages
The business aspects of mass media such as broadcasting
In particular, this includes the business and function of advertising
The interaction of media and government
The nature of journalism and the problem of media bias
The sociopolitical nature of the media's content such as the depiction of social stereotypes and violence.

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Benefits of Media Literacy

Enables people to gain understanding of the communication media used in their society and the way they operate and to acquire skills in using these media to communicate with others.
Ensures that people learn how to:
- - analyse, critically reflect upon and create media texts;
  - identify the sources of media texts, their political, social, commercial and or cultural interests, and their contexts;
  - interpret the messages and values offered by the media;
  - select appropriate media for communicating their own messages or stories and for reading their intended audience;
  - gain, or demandaccess to media for both reception and production.

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History and dispersal

The concept of media literacy as a topic of education first arose in the 1980s. Its establishment corresponds to a period of intensive academic and political investigation into the possibility that the media played a causative role in various social trends (usually 'negative' trends). It has become a standard topic of study in school in many countries. For example, media literacy is part of the government-directed 'Citizenship' curricula in the United Kingdom and Australia. Canada. is the foremost country to require media literacy in North America.

It is less widespread in formal schooling in the U.S., in large part because there is no central authority making nationwide curriculum recommendations. Each of the fifty states has numerous school districts, each of which operates with a great degree of independence from one another. Media literacy 'caucuses' or 'movements' arise as voluntary efforts by educationalists. Renee Hobbs of Temple University has documented [1] seven profound issues media literacy initiators are grappling with. Despite (or because of) the lack of federal government backing, US civic support and teaching resources for media literacy education are in some respects more academically rigorous, innovative and sustainable than their EU counterparts. In the 21st century, a growing number of education scholars and practitioners worldwide have begun to recognize media literacy as one of the 'new literacies' required for navigating in a contemporary multimedia environment.

Note that outside the U.S., media literacy is frequently referred to as media education. Media education describes the process by which learners become literate. However, those who espouse media education generally embrace the media as a site of pleasure, whereas some of those who espouse media literacy may take an innoculationist approach, seeking to protect children from what they perceive as its harmful effects. More recently, British educators and scholars have begun to use the phrase 'media literacy' to describe outcomes including critical analysis and media production skills while using the term 'media education' to refer to the instructional practices that promote these outcomes.

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Proponents of media literacy

Marshall McLuhan - an early Canadian theorist into the nature of media.
Noam Chomsky - an American linguist and political analyst most famous for his observations about corporate media's role in propaganda, which he describes as the 'manufacturing of consent'.
Jean Baudrillard - a French sociologist and philosopher known for his writings about media, virtuality, and the Gulf War.
Neil Postman (1931-2003) - a media ecologist and author of numerous popular press books, including Amusing Ourselves to Death.
David Buckingham (external link) British scholar and theorist on media literacy education.
Renee Hobbs (external link) - a leading authority on media education.
David Gauntlett - contemporary theorist whose 'new creative methods' offer new ways of exploring media literacy.
Frank W.Baker- nationally recognized media educator and workshop presenter for K-12 schools and conferences.
Sut Jhally(external link) - communications professor and executive director of a foundation - Media Education Foundation(external link) - that produces educational videos and supporting study guides on the role of media in health, democracy and happiness.