Media Literacy

The mass media are one of the most powerful institutions in our society. While there are laws and codes of ethics that dictate how the media must and should act, those codes are not always followed or enforced. As such, we MUST all learn to become critical and savvy media consumers. News, entertainment media, advertising, public relations, TV, video games, magazines, social media, and other media all have a strong influence on how we see the world, an influence that often begins in infancy. To be engaged and critical media consumers, we need to develop skills and habits of media literacy. These skills include being able to access media on a basic level, to analyze it in a critical way based on certain key concepts, to evaluate it based on that analysis and, finally, to produce media oneself.

Media Literacy Now

What is media literacy? Media literacy is the ability to:

  • Decode media messages (including the systems in which they exist).
  • Assess the influence of those messages on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
  • Create media thoughtfully and conscientiously.

What can media literacy do for us? Media literacy:

  • Expands the concept of literacy, as today’s messages come in many forms and literacy can no longer refer simply to the ability to read and write.
  • Offers a solution to public health issues, such as body image issues and substance use, exacerbated by toxic media messages.
  • Empowers all people to engage in a global media environment.

Media Lit Kit

Five key questions of media literacy:

  1. Who created this message?
  2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
  3. How might different people understand this message differently than me?
  4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
  5. Why is this message being sent?

Five core concepts media literacy:

  1. All media messages are “constructed.”
  2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
  3. Different people experience the same media message differently.
  4. Media have embedded values and points of view.
  5. Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.