Introduction to Media Literacy check old laptop

Media literacy is a set of skills that anyone can learn. Just as literacy is the ability to
read and write, media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and
create media messages of all kinds. These are essential skills in today's world. Media
literate youth and adults are better able to decipher the complex messages we receive
from television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, signs, packaging,
marketing materials, video games, recorded music, the Internet and other forms of
media. They can understand how these media messages are constructed, and discover
how they create meaning usually in ways hidden beneath the surface. People who are
media literate can also create their own media, becoming active participants in our
media culture.
Media literacy skills can help children, youth and adults:
Understand how media messages create meaning
Identify who created a particular media message
Recognize what the media maker wants us to believe or do
Name the "tools of persuasion" used
Recognize bias, spin, misinformation and lies
Discover the part of the story that's not being told
Evaluate media messages based on our own experiences, beliefs and values
Create and distribute our own media messages
Become advocates for change in our media system
Media literacy education helps to develop critical thinking and active participation in our
media culture. The goal is to give youth and adults greater freedom by empowering
them to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.
In schools: Educational standards in many states -- in language arts, social studies,
health and other subjects -- include the skills of accessing, analyzing and evaluating
information found in media. These are media literacy skills, though the standards may
not use that term. Teachers know that students like to examine and talk about their own

media, and they've found that media literacy is an engaging way to explore a wide array
of topics and issues.
In the community: Researchers and practitioners recognize that media literacy
education is an important tool in addressing alcohol, tobacco and other drug use;
obesity and eating disorders; bullying and violence; gender identity and sexuality;
racism and other forms of discrimination and oppression; and life skills. Media literacy
skills can empower people and communities usually shut out of the media system to tell
their own stories, share their perspectives, and work for justice.
For most of us, life without media would be unthinkable. We catch news on TV,
read opinions in the newspaper, use TV for entertainment, surf the world wide
web to check out the latest trends, make friends on facebook, tweet our opinions
,use our blackberry to stay connected, upload videos and share files. The media
seems to be everywhere and manages to pervade every part of our life.
As a citizens and as media practitioners it is important for us to understand
certain very basic aspects of the media such as ownership, agenda, and
interest so that we become able to discern the messages that the media puts
out, enabling us to make better and more informed decisions. This awareness of
media is called Media Literacy.
The media literate person understands the basic conventions of various media
and enjoys then use in a deliberately conscious way.
Further, Media Literacy is the ability to shift through and anyalyze the messages
that inform, entertain and sell to us everyday. It is the ability to bring critical
thinkings skills to bear on all media- from music videos and web environments to
product placement in films and virtual displays on bill boards. At the core of
being media literate is understanding that:

Media messages are constructed

Messages are created differently for different media, keeping in mind the
characteristics and strengths of each medium.
Media messages are created for a particular purpose.
People tend to view the same piece of content differently
The messages are often biased and carries the biases of the creator or
funder of the message
Media message can influence behaviors, believes, attitudes and values.

In the last 100 yrs the role of mass media has been very important because it is

All pervasive-impacts every aspect of our lives

Inclusive-includes all aspects of society

Socialiser- tells us about the acceptable modes of behavior and the

unacceptable modes of behavior.
Influencer- influences behaviour
Aspiration Driver
Persuader
Awareness Creator/ Informer
Education

What is media ?
The media refers to the different chanels we use to communicate information in
everyday world. Media is the plural of medium (of communication),and the main
media forms are

Print
Radio
Film
TV
Internet

The main content forms of this media are:

Advertising
Books
Canned Fiction Entertainment
Canned Non Fiction Entertainment
Feature Films
Music
News
Websites

The media essentially an amalgamation of content and technology that

allows a s et of people to communicate with each other. The communications
can be :

Between individuals one to one or peer to peer. For example a phone call.
Between organizations business to business. For example a corporate
film.
Between organizations and individuals business to consumer for
example advertising feature film or a TV programme or a newspaper.
What is the Media Studies?

MS is the study of what the media is composed of and how it affects the
audience. It employs theories and methods from a number of fields of
study including communication, sociology,social theory,philosophy etc.
Key concepts in MS include
Media Audience
Media technologies
Media agencies
Media languages
Media categories
Media Representations
The single most important concept is the concept of Mass, be it mass society,mass
culture,mass media or mass audience.
The term TRADITIONAL is used to describe pre-industrial societies and their
interrelationships.

Traditional society

Traditional Society is community based. They usually exists within a specific

geographic space and are symbolized by shared traditions, cultures, values and
language. They are denoted by a lack of individual privacy and a feeling of social
good.

Traditional Culture
A set of cultural values and ideas that are shared by the community.
Traditional media for transmission of message: In TS messages were
communicated through stories,folklore,myths and legends through song
and dance, verse and prose, philosophy and drama. Storytellers and bards
carried these forward as a part of oral tradition.Thus this way stories were
adapted from culture to culture.

Mass
Until a century ago, media was elite in nature. Small groups of publishers
published material for small groups of readers, who would mostly agree with
those views. The publishers were among the elite as were the readers. The
spread of media penetration was restricted by lack of mass literacy.
The concept of Mass involved:

Large aggregate
Undifferentiated
Mainly with a negative image
Lacking order and organization
Reflective of mass society

Mass Society
The term mass society refers to a society with a mass culture and large-scale,
impersonal, social institutions.

Mass Culture
Mass culture is a set of cultural values, ideas, forms of practice that arise from
the exposure of a population to the same cultural activities, communication
media, music and art, etc.
Mass Media technologies
One of the biggest between traditional modes of communication and mass
communication is how the latter allows the same message to be delivered to a
mass of people, audience simultaneously.
In the modern world, the scale and operations of the mass media may vary for
instance some people watch a film in a village tent or on a moveable screen, and
others in multiplexes, some watch TV on 29 plasma screens, yet others on
community.

They derive from technologies of mass reproduction and distribution

and certain forms of organization.
They are designed to reach the Many e.g. on an average; a TV serial on
an entertainment channel in India is watched by millions of viewers.
Potential audiences are viewed as large aggregates of more or less
anonymous consumers and the relationship between the sender and the
receiver is influenced by this fact, for example, two people watching the
same show are in Nasik and Gurgaon- dont necessarily have any
connection with each other.
The sender is often the organization itself or a professional
communicator as almost all shows, film and news are produced by
companies or professionally trained media practitioners.
It may also be the voice of the proprietor advertiser, politician, religious
leader, NGO which has its own agenda.

Mass Audience
Herbert Blumer (1939) defined the mass as a new type of social information
modern society by contrasting it with other formations especially the group,
crowd and public. He said:

Groups are small as most people know each other. They share
common values and believe in certain structure of relationships
that is stable over a period of time.

Crowds are larger but still restricted within observable boundaries

in a particular space. It is however temporary and seldom
reassembles with the same composition.
Public is relatively large, widely dispersed and enduring.
And finally, the Mass audience is widely dispersed, its members
are not known to each other or even to those who brought the
audience into existence.

Audience Theories
Are to see how media impacts or effects audiences.
When we study the media it is to understand the theoretical
constructs that underpin the discipline.
Most of these discuss the impact of media communication on
audiences. These theories seek to understand how audiences
respond and react to the media messages.
Hypodermic Theory/Magic Bullet Theory
It was the first major theories of the impact of mass media on
audiences. It was postulated in 1920,s and believed that the media was all
powerful and had a similar direct effect on the audiences.
According to these theories viewers are passive and are directly affected by what
they consume in the media. They accept the message that they read, hear or see
without considering whether the message has a merit or not. Media content is
shot at the audience like a magic bullet and it directly penetrates the viewers
mind and changes it. Here media could shape public opinion and persuade the
masses toward any desired point of view. In this way messages strike all
members of the audience equally causing to think in a uniform fashion.
Harold Lasswell was one of the prominent thinkers who propagated this model. In
1927 he postulated that the mass media could influence and sway public opinion
in very direct ways. He wrote propaganda is one of the most powerful
instrumentalities in the world today. Propanganda is the manipulation of public
opinion through the mass media messages with the purpose of getting them back
to a certain public cause or a mode of action. In a way,the role played by
propanganda in the soviet union to gain acceptance for a communist Govt as well

as in Nazi Germany from 1933 onwards seem to suggest that the magic bullet
theory was accurate.

Propaganda
It is a term that is used fairly frequently in the discussion of the
media. It is considered to be the content that tries to portray an
ideology as the best and in doing so tries to portray all other
view points as being unacceptable or evil in nature.
Propaganda is of two types:
Direct or obvious political propaganda which tells the
audience directly why a particular government or a cause is
wonderful; This would include news clips or interviews that
speaks in favour of that cause. And,
Subtle propaganda Propaganda that disguised as
entertainment. In this mode you will see those that the
propaganda seeks to deride being presented as demonized
characters with no redeeming qualities.
The Two Step Model
Despite, the fact that the media seems to influence audiences in terms of their
opinions and actions there were several critical issues with the Hypodermic or
Magic Bullet theory, the primary one being that the audience is seldom as passive
it is made out to be. In a world where there was only one media source and which
was completely under the control of one interested party, the Hypodermic Theory,
or the Magic Theory worked. However, we, do not live in a such world any longer.
The media landscape is now diverse as are the sources of information.
The two step flow theory proposed by Paul Lazersfeld, states that messages from
the media get transmitted in two distinct stages:
1. Through opinion leaders who pay close attention to the mass media and
its messages.
2. These opinion leaders then pass their own interpretations in addition to
the actual media content.
The term personal influence was coined to refer to the process
between the medias direct message and the audiences ultimate
reaction to that message. Opinion leaders use their personal influence
to get people to change their attitudes and behavior.

The two step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the
mass media influences decision making. The theory refined the ability
to predict the influence of media messages on audience behavior and it
helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter
audience attitudes and behavior.
For example, one of the reasons why celebrities frequently endorse
products, is because they act as the influencer or opinion leader.
Uses and Gratification Model
Most of the theories on media explained about the effects media had on people. It is the
theory which explains of how people use media for their need and gratification. In other
words we can say this theory states what people do with media rather than what media does
to people. Also this theory is contradictory to the magic bullet theory which states the
audience is passive. According to uses and gratification theory, it is not so people make use
of the media for their specific needs. This theory can be said to have a user/audiencecentered approach .Even for communication (say inter-personal) people refer to the media
for the topic they discuss with themselves. They gain more knowledge and that is knowledge
is got by using media for reference. There are several needs and gratification for people they
are categorized into five categories.

Cognitive needs
Affective needs
Personal Integrative needs
Social Integrative needs
Tension free needs
Some uses to which media are put: Getting the news ,Getting information about
available products and services, Starting the day in the morning or ending at night

Media Ownership:- Concentration of media ownership (also known as media

consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer
individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media.
[1]
Contemporary research demonstrates increasing levels of consolidation, with
many media industries already highly concentrated and dominated by a very
small number of firms.[2][3]

Globally, large media conglomerates include Viacom, CBS Corporation, Time

Warner, 21st Century Fox and News Corp (the formerNews Corporation, split in
2013), Bertelsmann AG, Sony, Comcast, Vivendi, Televisa, The Walt Disney
Company, Hearst Corporation, Organizaes Globo and Lagardre Group.[4][5][6]
As of 2012, The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the
US, with News Corporation, Time Warner andViacom ranking second, third and
fourth respectively.[7]
In nations described as authoritarian by most international think-tanks and NGOs,
media ownership is generally something very close to the complete state
control over information in direct or indirect ways.

The increasing control of the media by a handful of corporate entities

means that dominance of the ideology of the elites and powerful defines
the views and shapes the opinion of the common reader.
Media controls our access to manufacture, distribute, and consume
information. In order to understand the media and it is important to
identify with who owns the means of communication. In india a few
large business houses own media in English, hindi and in vernicular
languages and account for a large part of total circulation. Another
intresting aspect is the formation of joint stock companies, for example
Dainik bhaskar and Zee together own the DNA newspapers. Anand
bazaar patrika and news international own star news. CNN and TV18
own CNN IBN. In India , a few large business houses own media in
different languages. In India a few political parties also own media
organizations, for example Kalaignar TV is owned by Tamil Nadu's
former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. Sakshi TV a Telugu channel in
Andhra Pradesh is owned by ex-chief minister's son and family.
Who are the Media Conglomerates in India?
Network 18,Times Group,India Today Group,New Delhi Television,UTV,Sun TV
Media Representation
One of the key issues in media literacy is media Representataion.
Representation refers to construction in medium of aspects of reality

such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other

abstract concepts.

By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This

means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed,
cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their
producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality
we perceive around us. When studying the media it is vital to
remember this - every media form, from a home video to a glossy
magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence,
codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an
audience. However, it is important to note that without the media,
our perception of reality would be very limited, and that we, as an
audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the
world, in other words we need the media to make sense of reality.
Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers
position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences
assess a text on its relationship to reality.
Extension/Restriction of Experience of Reality

By giving audiences information, media texts extend experience of

reality. Every time you see a wildlife documentary, or read about
political events in a country on the other side of the world, or watch
a movie about a historical event, you extend your experience of life
on this planet. However, because the producers of the media text
have selected the information we receive, then our experience is
restricted: we only see selected highlights of the lifestyle of the
creatures portrayed in the wildlife documentary, the editors and
journalists decree which aspects of the news events we will read
about, and the movie producers telescope events and personalities
to fit into their parameters.
Truth or Lies?

Media representations - and the extent to which we accept them are a very political issue, as the influence the media exerts has a
major impact on the way we view the world. By viewing media
representations our prejudices can be reinforced or shattered.
Generally, audiences accept that media texts are fictional to one
extent or another - we have come a long way from the mass
manipulation model of the 1920s and 1930s. However, as we base

our perception of reality on what we see in the media, it is

dangerous to suppose that we don't see elements of truth in media
texts either.
The study of representation is about decoding the different layers of
truth/fiction/whatever. In order to fully appreciate the part
representation plays in a media text you must consider:

Who produced it?

What/who is represented in the text?
How is that thing represented?
Why was this particular representation (this shot, framed from
this angle, this story phrased in these terms, etc) selected, and what
might the alternatives have been?

What frame of reference does the audience use when

understanding the representation?
Analysing Representation

The analysis of different sorts of representation forms an important

part of Media Studies. The factors of representation most commonly
addressed are:

Gender
Race
Age
Disability

Representation of Gender

G ENDER A ND M EDIA R EPRESENTATION

Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human

beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation.
Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities we assume
other people to have, come from concepts of gender - what does it
mean to be a boy or a girl? Many objects, not just humans, are
represented by the media as being particularly masculine or

feminine - particularly in advertising - and we grow up with an

awareness of what constitutes 'appropriate' characteristic
You can construct your own table of 'typical' male/female
characteristics, like this one:
Typically masculine

Typically

Tough
Hard
Sweaty

Fragile
Soft
Fragrant

How might the following objects be 'gendered' through advertising,

given that both sexes will use the product?

a sports car?
a smart
phone?

a diving
watch?

a hi-fi
system?

bottled beer?

toilet paper?

a videogame
console

running
shoes?

Role Models

It is undeniable that the media shapes our conceptions of what it

means to be male or female. We encounter many different male and
female role models in the course of a day's media consumption. The
issue is, that although these different role models may at first glance
appear to be very varied, do they actually represent enough of a
range of men/women? Are we simply given variations on a
stereotype that become sub-stereotypes in themselves? By adopting
role models and parading them through the media as people it is
desirable to 'be', are we stunting individual growth?

Representations of Femininity

Feminism has been a recognised social philosophy for more than

forty years, and the changes that have occurred in women's roles in
western society during that time have been nothing short of
phenomenal. Yet media representations of women remain worryingly
constant. Does this reflect that the status of women has not really
changed or that the male-dominated media does not want to accept
it has changed?
Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the
following:

beauty (within narrow conventions)

size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
sexuality (as expressed by the above)
emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)
Women are often represented as being part of a context (family,
friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In
drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive
rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood (see
the discussion of the misogynistic PantyRaider below). Men are still
represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently
than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories.
The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen
do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to societal
expectations, and characters who do not fit into the mould tend to
be seen as dangerous and deviant. And they get their
comeuppance, particularly in the movies. Think of Alex Forrest
(Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction or, more recently, Teena
Brandon/Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) in Boys Don't Cry. America
seems to expect its women to behave better than their European
counterparts - British viewers adored the antics of Patsy & Edina
inAbsolutely Fabulous, but these had to be severely toned down

(less swearing, NO drugtaking) for the US remake, High

Society (which was a flop).
Discussions of women's representation in the media tend to revolve
around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other
values, the lack of powerful female role models, and the extremely
artificial nature of such portrayals, which bear little or no relation to
the reality experience by women across the planet. It would take
almost a whole A-level course to cover these representations and
the issues surrounding them in depth (if interested, do Women's or
Gender Studies at uni), but you might want to start by reading the
following:

Mediaknowall Blog - a round up of the latest stories about

women's representation in the media
Women's Body Image in the Media
Media Report to Women - a roundup of issues
The secrets of marketing to women - the startling economic
truth
Women in Movies and TV: Why Does Hollywood Always Portray
Women as Weak and Helpless?
Adios Barbie - blog devoted to challenging body and other
stereotypes

Representations of Masculinity

'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes

than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to
focus on the following:

Strength - physical and intellectual

Power
Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
Physique
Independence (of thought, action)

Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to

rely on others (the lone hero). If they capitulate to being part of a
family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an
integral factor in the initial equilibrium. It is interesting to note that
the male physique is becoming more important a part of
representations of masculinity. 'Serious' Hollywood actors in their
forties (eg Willem Dafoe, Kevin Spacey) are expected to have a level
of 'buffness' that was not aspired to even by young heart-throbs 40
years ago (check out Connery in Thunderball 1965).
Increasingly, men are finding it as difficult to live up to their media
representations as women are to theirs. This is partly because of the
increased media focus on masculinity - think of the burgeoning
market in men's magazines, both lifestyle and health - and the
increasing emphasis on even ordinary white collar male workers
(who used to sport their beergut with pride) having the muscle
definition of a professional swimmer. Anorexia in teenage males has
increased alarmingly in recent years, and recent high school
shootings have been the result of extreme bodyconsciousness
among the same demographic group.
As media representations of masculinity become more specifically
targeted at audiences with product promotion in mind (think of the
huge profits now made from male fashion, male skin & haircare
products, fitness products such as weights, clothing etc), men are
encouraged (just as women have been for many years) to aspire to
be like (to look/behave in the same way) the role models they see in
magazines. This is often an unrealistic target to set, and awareness
of this is growing. Read about the increasing influence of men's
magazines here and here.
Whilst some men are concerned about living up to the ideal types
represented in magazines, others are worried by what they perceive
as an increasing anti-male bias in the media. There is growing
support for the idea that men are represented unfairly in the media read a selection of articles here and here.

Masculinity in Crisis - essay

How The Media Define Masculinity - from Media Awareness
A woman and a man, as a gender constructs are different from the
biological male and female. In Urban India, traditionally a woman
stayed at home covered face and took care of her family. On the other
hand, amongst the peasants, especially in rural India, the woman has no
choice but to work.
Mass media reinforces these stereotypes through messages in images
and in text. A woman or a girl is portrayed as one with the single minded
objective of marriage or catching the right man as their goal in life.
Career woman especially in serials, are usually potrayed in a negative
light. Representation of woman in the media presents and reinforces the
following aspects in a stereotypical fashion.
Representation of Rural Issues
Representation of Minorities
Media and violence

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