Can You Tell the Difference?: Why We Need Media Literacy

Right at this very moment, the media is affecting your life. Whether we realize it or not, the media is all around us, impinging on our daily lives. For this very reason, it is incredibly important for everyone, no matter what age, to be media literate. For years, the media has influenced the way that people think and behave without us even really realizing it. The media provides our culture with all kinds of messages. This year in the United States, there will be roughly 65,000 book titles published, 65.5 million hours of radio programming, and 48 million hours of television programs (Media Literacy, p. 3). Not to mention, our own personal computers add millions of other messages on top of that. These statistics alone prove how much media is actually involved in our lives. The issue has obviously transitioned from not having enough information to deciding which information we do not need.

Media literacy provides tools to help people essentially analyze messages in order to effectively identify such things as propaganda, censorship, and bias within media programs. Media literacy also provides the knowledge and ability to decipher between media traps and pertinent information. Since most media messages are encountered through a state of automaticity (mindless acceptance of messages), being media literate is almost essential in today’s culture in order to maintain a pure mindset.

Media literacy education is important; however it is especially important for young, developing children. According to www.youthlearn.org, media literacy is particularly important because, “analyzing and assessing sources is an essential part of all inquiry-based learning projects but our multimedia world means that we have to teach kids not just how to assess data and arguments, but also how to discern emotional appeals made through pictures, music and video.” Children learn how to behave through messages that they receive from others, therefore the media is a definite influence in the development of children. By teaching media literacy to children, we are teaching them how to become more critical consumers of any information that they come across. Simply put, media literacy is somewhat of a form of media self-defense for children. Many studies actually suggest that media literacy can produce less vulnerable children and adolescents.

In many cases, I have found that researchers of media literacy actually promote becoming the media in order to understand the media. Personally, I agree with this hands-on style of education. Youth Learn describes a few ways in which this hand-on learning style can really help children understand how the media works in order to become more literate:

· When we teach how to do photography, we're also teaching kids to really look at the images they see. They come to understand the emotional effects inherent in a photographer's choices about angle, focus and other aesthetic elements.
· When we teach image-editing programs like PhotoShop, we show kids how images can be changed to distort the truth or fabricate untruths.
· When we teach about video, kids learn more about the differences between reality and acting and how subconscious elements like music or setting can alter the emotional reactions to a scene.
These educators claim that by doing exercises that involve these concepts, they are teaching children to “read with deeper awareness and conscious analysis, in a visual world we must teach them to look closely at the images that sometimes pass by them in a flash”.

In conclusion, I believe that media literacy is an indispensable tool that allows people in our culture, no matter what age, to successfully decipher between important and unnecessary information that is presented through mass media communications.

Profiling the Probability of Media Effects

No matter who you are, the media is going to affect your life in some way, shape, or form as long as you are exposed to it. In James Potter’s book, Media Literacy, I have learned this lesson from an exercise that he advises all readers to conduct. The exercise entails the reader to compose a list of 13 factors that increase the probability of media effectiveness.

For my own reference, I compared how a movie such as Tristan & Isolde, or any love story for that matter, affected my behavioral emotions. I have noticed by completing the exercise that media, especially movies, affect my thought process leading to my behaviors. In movies such as Tristan & Isolde, it is effortless to want to the same emotional connections that the characters in the movie have, particularly when the story seems to coincide with the problems in your own life. I actually found myself making decisions and behaving in ways similar to the movie that I have just recently watched.

If I am personally affected by a movie to this extent, imagine how an impressionable, young teenager may be influenced. Of any age group, teenagers, chiefly females, tend to fantasize most about the perfect relationships and love that will sweep them off of their feet. Therefore, they are going to mock the behaviors and decisions of the characters in their favorite love stories.

After performing this exercise, I realize how impressionable the media can be upon my own life, which makes me realize a few things. First of all, I would like my life with media to become a little less dependent upon the decisions that are made within the media in order to help me make my own. I am terrible at making decisions; in fact I cringe at the thought of making any decisions at all. I never realized until now how much the media really does affect the paths that I take in life. I figure that if it worked in the movies, it might work for me. Most frequently this is not the case at all; however I keep referencing movies in order to attempt to keep my life the way I want it to go. In the years to come, I would definitely like to be less reliant upon the media for my emotional benefit. Second, not only does the media affect me emotionally, but attitudinally is well. My attitudes and opinions are most certainly influenced by the media. The media often times presents situations through a skewed point of view, leaving out important details that may ultimately impinge on the formation of anyone’s opinions, at least I know that this is true in my own personal experiences.

In summation, Potter’s exercise has permitted me to develop a keener sense how the media actually affects my emotional and attitudinal thought processes without me ever being aware of it. It doesn’t matter what age or where you are, the media will always find a way to have an effect on you.

One of my favorite primetime television shows is Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Neilsen Ratings showed that as of last week, Dancing with the Stars was watched in 13.0% of households in the U.S.A. This rating is significantly comparable to the ratings of American Idol on FOX, which has a rating of 14.0% and is played during the same timeslot as Dancing with the Stars. These shows share a timeslot, however are aired on separate nights. Dancing with the stars broadcasts on Monday nights, whereas American Idol comes on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. However, when compared to Moment of Truth, which also airs at 8:00 on Wednesday nights, the ratings are significantly low compared to Dancing with the Stars or American Idol. The ratings of this show come in at 6.6. When it comes to ratings versus share, Dancing with the Starts comes in at 13.0/20.0.

If Dancing with the Stars was aired on a different night, I feel that the ratings would change significantly. For example, if this show was aired at the same time as American Idol, I feel that the ratings would drop so much that show would no longer be in the top 10 most watched shows of the week. In fact, the show would most likely lose the majority of its viewers due to the extreme success of American Idol. If the audience was forced to choose between the two, ratings show that American Idol would be the first choice in most cases. However, if Dancing with the Stars was aired on a Thursday night at 9:00, the ratings may even increase. At this time there is no show on network television that is comparable to Dancing with the Stars. In fact, there is no show that rates even somewhat close to Dancing with the Stars on Thursday nights at all. This is the same scenario as the current timeslot of Dancing with the Stars, so I believe that ratings would either stay the same or increase if it were to move to Thursday nights. Taking into account that the most watched television shows occur between Monday and Thursday nights, I believe that if Dancing with the Stars was moved to Friday nights, the ratings may decrease. Regardless of there being almost no competition for Dancing with the Stars on Friday nights, the ratings would most likely drop due to the decrease in television use on Friday nights all together. This would also apply if Dancing with the Stars were to air during the summer. During weekends and summer months, television use is decreased due to the substitution of other events and activities.

In conclusion, I believe that the time placement of Dancing with the stars is effective in order to gain a significant amount of ratings. However, if were ever to go up against another highly rated show, the ratings would definitely be split up.

Postman Review

Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death is an incredibly insightful book on how the media impacts our changing perception of the world. The book takes us step-by-step in developing a path from spoken, to written, to oral-based culture while providing imperative information about what lies beneath the messages that the media is sending out to us. Postman argues that the shift from a typographical-based culture to an image-based culture has been driven solely by technology. Not only does Postman argue that television has changed our perception of the world, but also how we behave due to these perceptions.

Postman blames most of this shift on America’s dependency upon television. However, it is not simply the dependency on television itself, but the entertainment that it provides. He states that “American television, in other words, is devoted entirely to supplying its audience with entertainment.” Seeing that television is the prime outlet for entertainment, it would also be the prime outlet for media. Postman attempts to convey that by exposing ourselves to the media for entertainment purposes, we are exposing ourselves to all kinds of information which shapes that way be think and behave.

Throughout the book, Postman supports his arguments through drawn out theoretical reasoning, however does not give nearly as many real-life experiences. In a review published on Curled Up With A Good Book, the author writes about Postman’s lack of real-life examples when discussing the ramifications of television. “Postman provides little in the way of real-world evidence that television has damaged America’s body politic. Such evidence arguably exists, but it is not examined. Instead, there are anecdotes about televised debates resulting in cosmetically powered elections, and largely philosophical arguments about whether television redefines religion.”

Although Postman makes a compelling argument about how the media has affected society, it does not necessarily apply to today’s society. Various sections of the book present theories that could be upheld today, despite the lack of research at the time that the book was written. Sarah Medor states that “Part of the problem is simply that Amusing Ourselves to Death was published in 1985, and serious studies on information issues were fewer and less developed than today. But in giving credence only to those studies which bolster his argument and dismissing all others, Postman proves nothing other than that television does have some effect on viewers, which he considers negative.”

In conclusion, I believe that this book can definitely make a cultural impact upon anyone that reads it. Postman not only presents valid points and theories, but also provides the readers with a view of how the media affects them personally. It is simple to observe that this book is written from a biased standpoint, at times making it difficult to completely comprehend the thought process behind the theories. However, this biased view of television and the media provides perfect insight as to how much we really are affected by what we watch without even realizing it.

One Man's Blog is Another Man's Newspaper

As far as citizen journalism goes, there is really no limit to how much opinion is involved. However, where do we draw the line between a ranting blog and an informational news website? Once I checked out a citizen journal called The Beast, I realized that this line cannot be easily drawn—at least in some cases. Don’t get me wrong, this blog is extremely helpful in informing people about what is going on in the Oakland area, but that is about all that it offers.
When I think of news and journalism, I think of articles that increase my knowledge about what is going on around me. Now, granted that this blog does include articles that increase knowledge, there is no real news shown on the page. Anyone can write articles about where to go and what to do while visiting a city—that is what travel agencies are for, though. The articles written on The Beast are not about any certain issue, but rather an entertainment forum for potential visitors or bored citizens of Oakland. If the articles pertained to any sort of issue, there would be actual comments posted with the articles, however no one has responded to the majority of them.
After checking out the actual website for Oakland, I discovered that it contains more material about issues in the area than The Beast. The organization of the Oakland website is even more clear and concise than The Beast. I found no direction whatsoever in The Beast, but rather an ongoing list of random articles. If citizen journalism is supposed to include opinions and stories that may not necessarily make it to larger newspapers, then I feel that The Beast should not even be classified as citizen journalism. What are we gaining from this site other than a brochure about the area?
In conclusion, I recognize that some people may find this site helpful since it does indeed provide insight about the city. However, I don’t feel that it even offers a sufficient amount of information to help anyone. The Beast definitely cannot be categorized as an editorial page, seeing that it provides really no opinion about pertinent issues within the community. When I read a worthy editorial, it makes me want to form an opinion of my own and express it. When I read this page, it simply makes me want to fall asleep.

Survivor Reaction

First of all, I feel that the fans have somewhat of a disadvantage. I understand that they feel as if they have the advantage from watching the favorites on previous episodes, however the version that the fans have seen is somewhat censored.

In Chapter 5, the book mentions the programmer’s perspective. It goes on to say that “Programmers intuitively know that to attract audiences, they must take their audience’s sense of reality and tweak it a bit to make it seem more interesting.” This being said, the viewers have seen a skewed version of the favorites’ behaviors in order to increase their attention to the show. This proves to be a disadvantage for them, because they may have completely misjudged the character of the favorites.

Also, in class we have talked about how Survivor always shows the action, however it never shows anyone sleeping. We must take this into consideration when attempting to analyze reality television characters. If we do not see them sleep, what other aspects of their lives do we not see? Can these hidden behaviors help in order to correctly analyze the competition?

Max Headroom

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.