Media and Cyber/Digital Literacy

Objectives of this lesson is:

 Develop a working understanding of Media and Cyber/Digital Literacy and how they relate to
one another:
 Appreciate the importance of developing Media and Cyber/Digital Literacy both in ourselves and
one another in the information age:
 Realize that practical steps must be taken to develop these literacies early in children and
cannot wait “until they are older”.

Media literacy is a popular term. If you were to do a search of the academic literature using one
of the many databases available at university libraries, you would find somewhere between
several hundred and several thousand citations for scholarly books and articles while if you
were to a search for “media literacy” on Google, results will in more than 100 million hits.
Clearly, media literacy is a popular topic among not just scholars but among the general
population, which includes parents, teachers, social activists, and policymakers.
It should not be a surprise that there are many definitions for media literacy. In this lesson, I will
first show you the range of definitions for this term

So, what is Media Literacy?

 According to Patricia Ann Aufderheide 1993, “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and
communicate messages in a wide variety of forms”.
So this variety of forms may come in print media that is describe as the traditional or "old-fashioned"
print-based media like (books, magazines, newspapers, comics or graphic novels), television,
movies, video games, music, cell phones, various kinds of software, and the Internet.

 while Christ and Potter (1998) defines it as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create
messages across variety of contexts”.

So, these context is defined as the characteristics of the content of the medium in which an ad is
inserted (articles in magazines, spot in a television program) as they are perceived by the persons who
are exposed to them. Some type of context may be more appropriate for certain types of advertising
than for others.

 Hobbs (1998) posits that it is a term used by modern scholars to refer to the process of
critically analyzing and learning to create one own’s messages in print, audio, video and
multimedia.

 (Common Sense Media, n.d). “the ability to identify different types of media and understand
the messages they are communicating” The exact types of media varies-television, radio,
newspaper, magazines, books, handouts. Flyers, etc.-

But what they have all in common is that they were all created by someone, and that
someone had a reason or a purpose for creating them.
According to Boyd (2014), media literacy education began in the United Stated and United Kingdom as
a direct result of war propaganda in the 1930’s and the rise of advertising in the 1960’s.

In the 1930s, radio was not just a source of entertainment for millions; it also had become a way for
people to stay informed. When the Hindenburg airship exploded just a year earlier, news of the
explosion spread over radio waves. The radio message was far-reaching and capable of reaching millions
of Americans, much like the Internet today. By 1939, an estimated 28 million American households
would own a radio. When audiences heard of an alien invasion on Oct. 30, 1938, many listeners believed
it – and panicked, becoming a textbook example of mass hysteria (Cruz, 2008). Newspapers published
stories of the hysteria caused by the radio broadcast for days after. Some told stories of deserted New
York streets and terror caused by the alien invasion story.

In both cases, media was being used to manipulate the perspective (and subsequent actions) of those
exposed to it, thereby giving rise to the need to educate people on how to detect the biases,
falsehood, and half-truths depicted in print, radio, and television.

Because media communication lends it self so easily and so well to the purpose of
manipulating consumer’s perceptions on issues both political and commercial, being able to
understand the “why’’ behind media communication, is the absolute heart of the media literacy
today. Despite the relatively simple and clear definition of media literacy, it should come as no
surprise that scholars and educator have been debating for quite some time on how media literacy
should be both defined and taught. Aurderheide (1993) and Hobbs (1998) reported, “all the 1993
Media Literacy National Leadership Conference, US. educators could not agree on the range of
appropriate goals for media education or the scope of appropriate instructional techniques”. The
conference did, however, identify five essential concepts necessary for any analysis of media
messages.

1. Media messages are constructed. (Authorship)

Media texts are not “natural” although they look “real.” Media texts are built just as buildings and
highways are put together: a plan is made, the building blocks are gathered and ordinary people get
paid to do various jobs. Whether we are watching the nightly news, passing a billboard on the street or
reading a political campaign flyer, the media message we experience was written or assembled by
someone (or probably many people), that “someone” could be a single person or it could be be a large
organization, images were captured and edited, and a creative team with many talents put it all
together.

In photographs, the photographer's own vision of what she wants to show within the frame
demonstrates her own values and beliefs. A newspaper writer’s articles may be based on his own
beliefs, or it could based on the beliefs and ideologies of his publishers, or perhaps even the beliefs of
the companies who advertise in that particular newspaper.

The media message's construction isn't only based on the creator’s own ideas and ideologies, but also
on a pre-defined set of rules for that particular type of media. A photographer uses camera angles,
lighting, and lens length to get her ideas across, while radio producers use voices, sound effects, and
music to get their ideas across. Each type of media must adhere to its own set of rules in order to
construct the intended message.
Guiding question for this core concept is, What kind of “text” is it? What are the various elements
(building blocks) that make up the whole? How similar or different is it to others of the same genre?
Which technologies are used in its creation? What choices were made that might have been made
differently? How many people did it take to create this message? What are their various jobs?

2. Media messages are produced within economic, social, political, historical and aesthetic
contexts. (Purpose)

Much of the world’s media were developed as money making enterprises and continue to operate today
as commercial businesses. Newspapers and magazines lay out their pages with ads first; the space
remaining is devoted to news. Likewise, commercials are part and parcel of most TV watching. What
many people do not know is that what’s really being sold through commercial media is not just the
advertised products to the audience – but also the audience to the advertisers! The real purpose of the
programs on television, or the articles in a magazine, is to create an audience (and put them in a
receptive mood) so that the network or publisher can sell time or space to sponsors to advertise
products. We call this “renting eyeballs.” Sponsors pay for the time to show a commercial based on the
number of people the network predicts will be watching. And they get a refund if the number of actual
viewers turns out to be lower than promised. Exploring how media content, whether TV shows,
magazines or Internet sites, makes viewers and readers of all ages receptive target audiences for
advertisers creates some of the most enlightening moments in the media literacy classroom.

Now, the Internet has become an international platform through which groups or individuals can
attempt to persuade.

There is a major reason for the message: to sell a product, to persuade someone, to establish
information or to entertain.

3. The interpretative meaning -making process involve in message reception consist of an

interaction between the reader, the text, and the culture. (Audience)
How do audiences interact with the media in their lives? Our bodies may not be moving but in our
heads, we’re constantly trying to connect what we’re hearing, seeing or reading with everything
else we know.
In other words, when different people watch the same show, they see different things; or when we
listen to a song we might feel differently and etc. Audiences play a role in interpreting media messages
because each audience member brings to the message a unique set of life experiences. Differences in
age, gender, education and cultural upbringing will generate unique interpretations.

When you think about it, no two people see the same movie or hear the same song on the radio; even
parents and children do not “see” the same TV show! Each audience member brings to each media
encounter a unique set of life experiences (age, gender, education, cultural upbringing, etc.) which,
when applied to the text – or combined with the text – create unique interpretations. A World War II
veteran, for example, brings a different set of experiences to a movie like Saving Private Ryan than a
younger person – resulting in a different reaction to the fi lm as well as, perhaps, greater insight.
 4. Media has unique “languages”. Characteristics which typify various forms, genres, and
symbol systems of communication. (Format)

Key Question explores the ‘format’ of a media message and examines the way a message is
constructed, the creative components that are used in putting it together – words, music, color,
movement, camera angle and many more.

Each form of communication has its own creative language: For example, large newspaper headlines in
bold print means this headline is important; while music played in movies with minor keys, that mean
that part is “scary”, camera close-ups convey intimacy.
Understanding the grammar, syntax and metaphor of media language helps us to be less susceptible to
manipulation.

5. Media representations play a role in people’s understanding of social reality. (Content)

TV shows, magazines, video games and other media messages show you what someone else thinks is
important.

Because all media messages are constructed, choices have to be made. These choices inevitably reflect
the values, attitudes and points of view of the ones doing the constructing. The decision about a
character’s age, gender or race mixed in with the lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors that are portrayed,
the selection of a setting (urban? rural? affluent? poor?), and the actions and re-actions in the plot are
just some of the ways that values become “embedded” in a TV show, a movie or an ad. Even the news
has embedded values in the decisions made about what stories go first, how long they are, what kinds of
pictures are chosen, and so on.

To become media literate is not to memorize facts or statistics about the media, but rather
to learn to raise the right questions about what you are watching, reading or listening to. Len
Masterman, the acclaimed author of Teaching the Media, calls it "critical autonomy" or the ability
to think for oneself.

Today, we must learn to be literate with yet another set of symbols: the media. Just as learning to read
is a process that allows for improvement over time, such is the case with media literacy.

Media literacy is not an academic skill we learn by studying a book and then being tested. Media literacy
is a process in which media consumers (everyone is a media consumer to some degree) learn how to ask
questions about the media in hopes of coming to a deeper understanding of it.

The following is a list of questions people can ask themselves about media to better understand it and
its influence. The list of questions are organized in a similar manner as those asked by a newspaper
reporter researching a news topic: who, what, where, why, and how.
Who sent this message to me? Does the sender have an interest (something to gain) from having
sent this message to me? Does the sender hide this interest?

What are the message's embedded values? All media messages are created with the producer's
values embedded in it. It's practically impossible to receive a neutral, unbiased media message.

Where was the message placed for my consumption? Does the message reach me as its target
market where it was placed? Does it say something about me that I am consuming this message where it
was placed? For example, If you read a men's magazine, most of the ads will be for products that appeal
to men.

Why was this message sent? Possibly one of the most important of these questions. Why did the
media producer find it so important to send me this message? Does the message try to sell me a product
or service? Does the message try to sell me a lifestyle? Most media message try sell you one of two
things: a product or service, or an ideology.

How do I view this message and might other people view it? Since all media messages have
embedded values, people whose values differ from those of the message's producer will have a different
interpretation of the message. Because of people's differing backgrounds and world experiences, tot
everyone experiences media messages in the same way. This is why you may love a movie, and your
friend hates it. This is why you may find something funny, and someone else finds it offensive.

These questions are simply a starting point for understanding media literacy. They mean very little if
they aren't applied by experiencing media and using them to further your understand of media
messages.