MEDIA LITERACY: UNDERSTANDING

THE WORKINGS OF THE MEDIA

BY:
GROUP 4
 GROUP MEMBERS
• Olufemi Ojo
• Jadesola Osiberu
• Oreofe Adefuye
• Nefi Wole-Abu
• Oluwakemi Akindoju
• Nonye Amah
• Soji Omosehin
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 Media
• Media are communication channels through which
– News
– Entertainment
– Education
– And promotional messages are disseminated.

• Media includes broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as

– newspapers
– Magazines
– T.V
– radio billboards
– direct mail
– telephone
– fax and internet.
 Literacy
• Literacy is the ability to make and communicate meaning from
and by the use of variety of socially contextual symbols.

• The Literacy Development Council of Newfoundland and

Labrador defines this term in the following: “Literacy not only
involves competency in reading and writing, but goes beyond
this to include the critical and effective use of these in
peoples’ lives, and the use of language (oral and written) for
all purposes.”

• Simply put, literacy is the ability to encode and decode

symbols and synthesize and analyze messages.
 To look is one thing,
To see what you look at is another,
-- Taoist
 Media Literacy
• Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education.
• Media literacy is concerned with helping media
consumers develop
– an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass
media
– the techniques used by them
– and the impact of these techniques.
• It helps us understand
– how the media work
– how they produce meaning
– how they are organized
– how they construct reality
 Media Literacy
• Media literacy also aims to provide students with the
ability to create media products.
(Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ministry of Education Ontario)

• It provides a framework to
– Access
– Analyze
– Evaluate
– and create messages in a variety of forms – from print to
video to the Internet.
 MEDIA LITERACY
• DEFINED BY MEDIA SCHOLARS-
• ADAMS AND HAMM (2001)- “Literacy may be
thought of as the ability to create personal meaning
from the visual and verbal symbols we take in
everyday from television, advertising, film, and digital
media. It is more than inviting students to simply
decode information. They must be critical thinkers
who can understand and produce in the media
culture swirling around them.”
 MEDIA LITERACY
• SILVERBATT AND ELICEIRI (1997)- “Media
literacy is a critical-thinking skill that enables
audiences to decipher the information that
they receive through the channels of mass
communications and empowers them to
develop independent judgements about
media content.”
 CORE CONCEPTS OF MEDIA LITERACY
• All media messages are constructed

• Messages are constructed using certain techniques

• Media have social, commercial and or political implications

• Audiences negotiate meaning

• Media contain ideological & value messages

 Relevance of Media Literacy
• Democratic processes:

– Political leaders have discovered the influence of

the media.

– Those who use the media will get their way

regardless of public policy or personal integrity.

– As citizens, we need to analyse media messages

more critically.
 Relevance of Media Literacy
• Media saturation:
– From
• Television
• pop music
• Radio
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Computers
• the internet
• and video games

– we are exposed to more mass media messages in

one day than our grandparents were in a month.
 Relevance of Media Literacy
• The manufacture and management of
information:

– Most governments and businesses have public relations

(PR) departments, whose purpose is to get the "good
news" about them out into the public consciousness.

– Many succeed so well that much of what is reported as

"news" in fact comes directly from PR departments and
press releases.
 Relevance of Media Literacy
• The growing privatization of information:

– The world economy is fast becoming an information

economy, with information a commodity to be bought and
sold.

– A danger exists that new classes of

• "information-rich"
• "information-poor" people

– This may result in the information-poor unable to afford

the information they need to better their lives.
 Relevance of Media Literacy
• Media influence:

– The media sell "audience consciousness.“

– They try to predispose people not just to buy certain

computers, juice or books, but to simply buy.

– They shape perceptions, beliefs and attitudes.

– Generations of the future will need to understand how the

mass media influence society
 UNDERSTANDING THE
WORKINGS OF THE MEDIA
CRITICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MEDIA LITERACY
(CURRICULUM MODEL)
 Critical Thinking Questions for Media Literacy
• Who produced and/or paid for the message?

• What is the purpose of the message?

• Who is the ‘target audience’ ?

• What techniques are used to both attract attention and

increase believability?

• What lifestyles are promoted and why?

• Does the message contain bias or stereotypes?

Reality
 Conclusion
• Media literate people understand that media are constructed
to convey ideas, information and news from someone else's
perspective.
• They understand that specific techniques are used to create
emotional effects.
• They can identify those techniques and their intended and
actual effects.
• They are aware that the media benefit some people, but
leave others out.
• They can (pose and sometimes answer) questions about who
benefits, who is left out, and why.
 Conclusion
• Media literate people seek alternative sources of information
and entertainment.
• Media literate people use the media for their own advantage
and enjoyment.
• Media literate people know how to act, rather than being
acted upon.
• In this way, media literate people are better citizens.

Source: Pat Kipping. "Media Literacy - An Important Strategy

for Building Peace," Peace Magazine. Toronto, ON, Canada.
THANK YOU!