Module 1 Readings

To understand media literacy, we must first understand what media literacy is. According to Jane Tallim, media literacy is “the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us everyday”. This includes using critical thinking skills to question the reasoning behind the media. Media literacy is still very broad, Elizabeth Thoman breaks it up into 3 stages which include: being aware of the importance of managing your media “diet”, learning to analyze and question what frame it is in, and exploring deeper issues. Media literacy also encompasses media education and media study. Media has shifted from being mostly print to now being mostly electronic. Marshall McLuhan taught us that “medium is the message” which means that the way the message is conveyed is equally as important as the content of it. The same events can be reported in different media, and each will have its own message. I also really enjoyed a quote from Masterman stating that “Media education is nothing if it is not an education for life”. I liked this quote because media is constantly changing and evolving and we are always learning new things and methods so it definitely should be considered an “education for life”. CML suggests five core concepts which include authorship, format, audience, content, and purpose. These are concepts are there to help you evaluate types of media. Masterman has a few more principles, his principles come out to 18 media education principles. One principle of his I liked was that “Media education is investigative”. I really liked him using the word investigative I feel like that describes the use of media very well. Media can help with transcultural communication, in New York 12 teens were interviewed. They found that the teens were able to exemplify multiple literacies by drawing on what is familiar and applying it to other things that were unfamiliar. The University of Michigan showed the effects of TV on children, both good and bad. The theme that I am seeing through all these articles is that media literacy is important, and it is also important that we take the correct form of media literacy. We don’t want the negative effects of watching television, such as more violence, health problems, and even alcohol and drug use. We also don’t want the media to be able to manipulate us into buying products that we don’t need or aren’t a good value. But there are many ways to learn about media and use media to make it beneficial and these articles are trying to show us those beneficial ways while also warning of the dangers. Gainer explained how media can even effect our culture. He also gives tips on how teachers can do the balancing act to incorporate media into curriculum and use it as a tool to engage students. Overall all of the readings we did this week helped me to learn what media literacy is and how it is in our lives and how it effects our lives.