1.8 Media literacy – understanding media and culture (2023)

Advertising

Many of the hours people spend with media relate to commercially sponsored content. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimated that every child ages 2 to 11 watched an average of 25,629 television commercials, or more than 10,700 minutes of advertising, in 2004 alone. Each adult saw an average of 52,469 ads, or about 15.5 days of television advertising (Holt, 2007). Children (and adults) are bombarded with conflicting messages – newspaper articles about the obesity epidemic run side by side with ads promoting soda, candy and fast food. The American Academy of Pediatrics claims that advertising aimed at children under the age of 8 is “inherently misleading” and exploitative because young children cannot distinguish between programs and commercials (Shifrin, 2005). Advertising often uses psychological pressure techniques to influence decision making. Ads can appeal to vanity, insecurity, prejudice, fear, or a spirit of adventure. This isn't always done to sell a product — anti-smoking public service announcements can rely on disgusting images of blackened lungs to shock viewers. Nonetheless, part of media literacy is teaching people to be cautious consumers and to be critical of claims.

Bias, Spin and Misinformation

Advertising can have the explicit goal of selling a product or idea, but it's not the only type of media message with an agenda. A politician may be hoping to convince potential voters that he has their best interests in mind. A supposedly objective journalist can allow her articles to be subtly skewed by her political leanings. Magazine writers may avoid criticizing companies that advertise heavily on their pages. News reporters can sensationalize stories to increase ratings - and advertising revenue.

Mass communication messages are created by individuals, and each person has their own set of values, assumptions, and priorities. Accepting media messages at face value could create confusion due to all of the conflicting information that is available. In 2010, for example, a hard-fought gubernatorial race in New Mexico resulted in conflicting ads from both candidates, Diane Denish and Susana Martinez, each claiming the other had approved policies that benefited sex offenders. According to Media Watchdog websiteFaktenCheck.org, the Denish team's ad "shows a teenage girl - apparently around 9 years old - descending a playground slide in slow motion while menacing music plays in the background and a narrator discusses two sex crime cases. It ends on an empty swing, as the narrator says, 'Today we don't know where these sex offenders are lurking because Susana Martinez wasn't doing her job.'" The counter-advertisement proclaims that "a department in Denish's cabinet gave sanctuary to criminal illegals such as child molester Juan Gonzalez (Robertson & Kiely, 2010).” Both claims are highly inflammatory, play on fear, and distort the reality behind any situation. Media literacy means educating people to look critically at this and other media messages, to sift through different messages, and to understand the conflicting information we encounter every day.

New skills for a new world

In the past, one goal of education was to provide students with the information deemed necessary for a successful engagement with the world. Students memorized multiplication tables, state capitals, famous poems and notable dates. Today, however, vast amounts of information are available at the click of a mouse. Even before the advent of the Internet, the well-known communications scientist David Berlo foresaw the consequences of the spread of information technology: "Most of what we call formal education was designed to inculcate in the human mind all the information we might need throughout our lives .” Changes in technology require changes in the way we learn, Berlo noted, and today “education needs to be about data manipulation, not data accumulation (Shaw, 2003)”.

Wikipedia, a hugely popular Internet encyclopedia, is at the forefront of the debate about the proper use of online resources. In 2007, Middlebury College banned the use ofWikipediaas a source in history papers and exams. One of the school's librarians remarked that the online encyclopedia "symbolizes the best and worst of the internet. This is the best because everyone gets a chance to speak and express their opinion. It's the worst, because people who use it uncritically take what is only opinion to be the truth (Byers, 2007).” Or, as comedian and satirist Stephen Colbert put it, “Any user can edit any entry, anytime enough other users agree with it, it becomes true (Colbert, 2006).' A computer registered with the US Democratic Party changed theWikipediaPage for Rush Limbaugh proclaiming he was "racist" and "fanatic" and it was discovered that a person who worked for electronic voting machine maker Diebold had deleted paragraphs connecting the company to Republican campaign funds brought (Fildes, 2007). Media literacy teaches today's students how to sort through the Internet cloud of data, find reliable sources, and identify bias and unreliable sources.

The central theses

• Media literacy, or the ability to decipher and process media messages, is particularly important in today's media-saturated society. The media surrounds today's Americans on an unprecedented scale and from an early age. Because media messages are created with specific goals in mind, a media savvy person will interpret them with a critical eye. Ads, bias, spin and misinformation are all things to watch out for.
• Individual responsibility is critical to media literacy because while media messages can be created by individuals, businesses, governments or organizations, they are always received and deciphered by individuals.
• When analyzing media messages, consider the author, format, audience, content, and purpose of the message.

exercises

List the considerations for evaluating media messages, and then search the Internet for information about a recent event. Select a blog post, news article or video on the topic and identify the author, format, audience, content and purpose of your chosen topic. Then answer the following questions. Each answer should be at least one paragraph long.

1. How did your impression of the information change after answering the five questions? Do you think other questions need to be asked?
2. Is it difficult or easy to practice media literacy online? What opportunities are there to practice media literacy for TV or radio broadcasts?
3. Do you think the public has a responsibility to be media literate? Why or why not?

Rating at the end of the chapter

review questions

1. Part 1

   1. What is the difference between mass communication and mass media?
   2. How does culture affect the media?
   3. What influence does the media have on culture?

2. Section 2

   1. Name four roles the media play in society.
   2. Identify historical events that shaped the adoption of various mass communication platforms.
   3. How have technological changes affected the media over time?

3. Section 3

   1. What is convergence and what are some examples of it in daily life?
   2. What five types of convergence did Jenkins identify?
   3. How do different forms of convergence shape the digital age on an individual and societal level?

4. Section 4

   (Video) Unit 1 : Media Literacy
   1. How does the value of free speech impact American culture and media?
   2. What restrictions are there on freedom of expression and how do they reflect societal values?
   3. What is propaganda and how does it reflect and/or influence social values?
   4. Who are gatekeepers and how do they influence the media landscape?

5. Section 5

   1. What is a culture period?
   2. How have events, technological advances, political changes, and philosophies helped shape modernity?
   3. What are some of the key differences between modernism and postmodernism?

6. Section 6

   1. What is media literacy and why is it relevant in today's world?
   2. What role does the individual play in interpreting media messages?
   3. What are the five considerations for evaluating media messages?

Critical thinking questions

1. What does the history of media technology teach us about America today? How could current and new technologies change our cultural landscape in the near future?
2. Are gatekeepers and tastemakers necessary for mass media? How does the internet help us to rethink these roles?
3. The idea of ​​cultural epochs assumes that social and technological changes lead to dramatic changes in people's view of the world. How have digitization and the Internet changed how people interact with their environment and with each other? Are we changing into a new cultural epoch or is life today still a continuation of postmodernism?
4. US law regulates freedom of speech through laws on obscenity, copyright infringement and other things. Why are some forms of expression protected and others not? How do you think cultural values ​​will change US media law in the near future?
5. Does media literacy belong in US schools? Why or why not? What could a media literacy curriculum look like?

professional connection

In a media-saturated world, companies use consultants to analyze and manage the interaction between their organizations and the media. Independent consultants develop projects, keep abreast of media trends and advise based on industry reports. Or, as author, speaker, and media consultant Merlin Mann put it: “The key task is to remain curious about everything, identify the points at which two forces could collide, and then enthusiastically share what that might mean and why She cares (man).”

Read the blog post So what do consultants do?http://www.consulting-business.com/so-what-do-consultants-do.html.

Explore author and editor Merlin Mann's website now (http://www.merlinmann.com). Be sure to check out the Bio and FAQs sections. These two pages will help you answer the following questions:

1. Merlin Mann provides some work for free and charges a substantial fee for other projects. What are some of the clues he gives in his bio about what he values? How do you think this affects his fee?
2. Check out Merlin Mann's projects. What projects is or was Merlin involved in? Now look at the Speak page. Can you see a connection between his projects and his role as a prominent author, speaker and consultant?
3. Check out the Merlin FAQ section. What is his attitude towards social networking sites? What about public relations? Why do you think he holds these opinions?
4. Think of niches in the internet industry where a consultant could be helpful. Do you have any expertise, theories or sound advice that could make you a useful asset to a company or organization? Find an example of an organization or group with some media exposure. If you were the advisor to this group, what would you recommend to help them achieve their goals better?