What is
Media Literacy?
Media literacy
is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce a variety of
media texts. Media education refers to the process of teaching media
literacy. In the United States alone, there exists many different perspectives
on how to media educate youth, but not all of them agree on what extent
youth audiences are active participants. PLAY moves beyond a passive
approach to media and youth. For the purposes of this project, there
are five governing principles of media literacy:
Audiences
actively interpret media.
Meaning does
not reside in the text itself, but is a product of the interaction between
text and audience. Audiences interpret meaning based on situational
elements such as geography, culture, age, class, gender, time of day,
and the context in which they interact with the medium. Various media
forms resonate in different ways, depending upon the experiences, values
and knowledge that audiences bring to it. Although audiences differ
in their perceptions, understandings and reactions to media, the key
to media literacy is to educate them to be aware of their own subjectivity
as well as the subjectivity of other audiences.
All media
are constructions.
Media are
neither reality nor windows to the world. Instead, they are carefully
constructed products—from newspaper headlines to nature documentaries.
A media literate person is aware that many decisions are made in the
construction of each media product and that even the most realistic
images represent someone's interpretation of reality. Media literacy
also involves the skill of producing media—so that youth in particular
can offer their interpretation of reality.
All media
are owned.
All media
are owned by individuals or institutions that have historical and social
contexts that may be concealed from the general public. Institutional
elements from production to distribution influence the content as well
as audience perceptions of the content. It is important to call attention
to the idea that commercial institutions are owned and ultimately operated
according to the principles that will generate the highest profit.
All media
expressed values.
Media are
carefully constructed products that represent a particular view of actual
people, places, events, and ideas. The language of newspapers, magazines,
television and the internet use shortcuts to meaning through stereotyping—the
consequences of which may be oppressive for certain groups of people.
Questions to ask of each medium are: "Whose story is told?"
"Whose story is left out?" and "To what extent is the
representative of reality?"
All media
adhere to codes and conventions.
Whether it
be through editing, narration, sequencing, camera angles, soundtrack
or timing—each media form has a language of its own. Magazine
editors use different codes and conventions as compared to video producers
as compared to web designers. The languages used influence
the meaning of the media text.
References
Aufderheide,
P. (1992). Proceedings from the National Leadership Conference on
Media Literacy. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.
Tyner,
K. (1992). The tale of the elephant: Media education in the United States.
In C. Bazalgette, E. Brevort, & J. Savino (Eds.). New directions:
Media education worldwide. London: British Film Institute.
Buckingham,
D. (1995). Media education: Beyond a defensive approach. Telemedium,
41(3), 10-11.