A.

DEFINITION OF MEDIA LITERACY

Media Literacy - a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the media to
interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter.
B. CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIA LITERACY
1. Media Literacy Is Multidimensional
Media literacy requires that we acquire information and build knowledge in more than
just the cognitive dimension but also to consider informationfrom emotional, aesthetic and moral
dimensions.
The emotional domain contains information about feelings,such as love, hate, anger,
happiness and frustration. Some people have very little ability to experience an emotion during
exposure to the media, whereas others are very sensitive to cues that generate all sorts of feelings
in them. Crafting messages about these emotions requires more production skill from writers,
directors and actors. Perceiving these subtle emotions accurately requires a higher degree of
literacy from the audience.
The aesthetic domain contains information about how to produce messages. This
information gives us the basis for making judgments about who are great writers,
photographers,actors, dancers, choreographers, singers, musicians, composers, directors and
other kinds of artists. It also helps us make judgments about other products of creative
craftsmanship such as editing, lighting, set designing, costuming, sound recording, layout and so
forth.

The moral domain contains information about values.This type of information provides
us with the basis for making judgments about right and wrong. It takes a highly media-literate
person to perceive moral themes well.
2. Media Literacy Is a Continuum, Not a Category
Media literacy is best regarded as a continuum like a thermometer where there are
degrees. There is no point below which we could say that someone has no literacy and there is no
point at the high end where we can say that someone is fully literate there is always room for
improvement.
C. KEY CONCEPTS OF MEDIA LITERACY
a.) All media are constructions. This is arguably the most important concept. The media do not
simply reflect external reality. Rather, they present carefully crafted constructions that reflect
many decisions and are the result of many determining factors. Media Literacy works towards
deconstructing these constructions (taking them apart to show how they are made).
b.) The media construct versions of reality. The media are responsible for the majority of the
observations and experiences from which we build up our personal understandings of the world
and how it works. Much of our view of reality is based on media messages that have been
reconstructed and have attitudes, interpretations, and conclusions already built in. Thus the
media, to a great extent, give us our sense of reality.
c.) Audiences negotiate meaning in media. If the media provides us with much of the material
upon which we build our picture of reality, each of us finds or "negotiates" meaning according to

individual factors: personal needs and anxieties, the pleasures or troubles of the day, racial and
sexual attitudes, family and cultural background, moral standpoint, and so forth.
d.) Media messages have commercial implications. Media literacy aims to encourage
awareness of how the media are influenced by commercial considerations, and how they impinge
on content, technique, and distribution." Most media production is a business, and so must
make a profit. Questions of ownership and control are central: a relatively small number of
individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media.

D. REASONS FOR STUDYING MEDIA LITERACY

Why teach media literacy? Barry Duncan of Canada's Association of Media Literacy lists
six reasons:
1. Media dominate our political and cultural lives.
We can learn from the media that our nation is strong and decent, that our political
process is reliable, and that our technological acheivements are often remarkable. But in
other ways, allowing the mass media to shape our images of ourselves is dangerous
because the media must follow conventions that are often out-of-sync with real life.

2. Almost all information beyond direct experience is "mediated."

The influence of the media should not be underestimated. By mid-adolescence,
teens have watched many thousands of hours of televisionmore time than they spend

with teachers in school. Add to that figure the hours devoted to surfing the Internet,
playing video games, watching videos and DVDs, listening to the radio, and attending
movies, and the medias effect becomes clear.

3. Media provide powerful models for values and behavior.

By helping our teens become media literate, we can help protect them from
pressures from advertising and other media forms to smoke, drink, use drugs, have sex, or
eat unhealthy foods. We also can help them build communication skills, encourage them
to consider multiple interpretations of media messages, put portrayals of themselves and
others in perspective, and improve media use habits, such as changing ritualistic viewing
behaviors. In addition, we can improve the media use habits of the entire family and
promote more proactive behavior among all family members.
4. Media influence us without our being aware (McCluhan's "the environment is invisible").
Because we receive messages over and over, we may unconsciously come to
accept them as truth without really thinking about it.

5. Media literacy can increase our enjoyment of media.

Media bring the world into our homes. From them, we learn about war and peace,
the environment, new scientific discoveries, and so on. We are dependent upon mass
communication for knowing what is going on in our physical, social, economic, and

political environments. In other words, almost everything we know about people, places,
and events that we cannot visit first-hand comes from the media. We also rely on media
for entertainment and pleasure. Television and film have become the storytellers of our
generation; these stories tell us about who we are, what we believe, and what we want to
be.

6. Media literacy can make a passive relationship active.

Media literacy, as envisioned and practiced by Citizens for Media Literacy, seeks
to empower citizenship, transform a passive relationship to the media into an active, criticallyengaged force to challenge the traditions and structures of a privatized, commercial media
culture in order to find new avenues of citizen speech and discourse.
Renee Hobbs, director of the Harvard Institute, called media literacy "the turn-key that
opens the door to new ways of teaching and learning." She listed seven benefits of teaching
media literacy that go right to the heart of what it is to be an educated person in the postmodern world:
1. Appreciation of and tolerance for complexity
2. To make effective choices in a media-saturated environment.
3. Sensitivity to and respect for multiple points of view
4. To skillfully construct and disseminate messages
5. To be part of a valued, respected, functioning team and community

6. To make effective use of family, community and cultural networks

7. To set meaningful personal goals for the future.
E. MEDIA LITERACY COMPARED WITH MEDIA EDUCATION
Media literacy is seen to consist of a series of communication competencies, including
the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of forms,
including print and non-print messages.
Media literacy empowers people to be both critical thinkers and creative producers of an
increasingly wide range of messages using image, language, and sound. It is the skillful
application of literacy skills to media and technology messages.
While on media education, it is the study of media, including hands on experiences and
media production.
Media Education is the process of teaching and learning about media. It is about
developing young people's critical and creative abilities when it comes to the media. Media
education should not be confused with educational technology or with educational media.
Surveys repeatedly show that, in most industrialized countries, children now spend more time
watching television than they do in school, or also on any other activity apart from sleeping .
Media Education has no fixed location, no clear ideology and no definitive recipients; it is
subject to whims of a financial market bigger than itself.

F. MASS MEDIA IN RELATION TO MEDIA LITERACY/EDUCATION

Mass media consists of the various means by which information reaches large numbers of
people, such as television, radio, movies, newspapers, and the Internet.
The proliferation of mass media and new technologies has brought about decisive
changes in human communication processes and behavior. Media Literacy aims to empower
citizens by providing them with the competencies (knowledge and skills and attitude) necessary
to engage with traditional media and new technologies. It includes the following elements or
learning outcomes:

Understand the role and functions of media in democratic societies;

Understand the condition under which media can fulfill their functions;

Critically evaluate media content;

Engage with media for self-expression and democratic participation; and

Review skills (including ICTs skills) needed to produce user-generated content.