Max Headroom provided many examples of media literacy. I think that the concept most portrayed by Max Headroom would be the three categories of media messages. Max Headroom provided an inside look to information based, entertainment based, and advertisement based messages. The news station setting is a perfect way for the audience to experience some of the issues that may occur in the media world.
The first example that sticks out in my mind would be when one of the men confirmed that news has always been about entertainment despite the beliefs of Edison Carter, who believes that the news should be purely informational. During this episode, one of the news stations is producing stories that are fixed and untrue only to create better ratings. However, Edison Carter believes that for the sake of real news, he needs to find the real story behind the strange happenings throughout their city.
This example provides us with an opportunity to think about the line that seperates information from entertainment. Often times in the world of the media this line can be somewhat unclear. It is often times difficult to decipher whether or not the news we are watching is providing us with accurate information based solely on an informational basis or whether the news is providing us with exaggerated or even false information in order to gain ratings.
Max Headroom definitely provides viewers with an insider's look at the influence that the news is able to have on viewers. Often times it is hard for us to remain objective enough to realize that the information we are receiving from the news might actually not be news at all, but rather an attempt to gain ratings for the news station.
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