Media Literacy

Prior to this morning, I would not have known how to define "media literacy". If I had to guess I would have said it is knowing how to use hardware (cameras, computers, etc) and software (Powerpoint, iMovie, etc) to create a presentation. According to the Media Literacy Project, I only got part of the definition right:

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. Media literate youth and adults are better able to understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and all other forms of media.

Certainly my definition was limited, but what I especially missed was the idea that media literacy is about analyzing and critiquing media. For example, someone who is media literate should be able to deconstruct the motives, messages, and biases of, say, a Pepsi commercial.

This is an idea that is often repeated in Renee Hobb's paper Seven Great Debates in the Media Literacy Movement. Hobb's paper is essentially a review of the literature surrounding media literacy and looks at seven debated questions about how to approach media literacy in education. One of these questions in particular interested me: Should Media Literacy Have A More Explicit Political And/Or Ideological Agenda? According to Hobbs, "teachers may aim to use media literacy practices as a vehicle to promote social changes in students' attitudes regarding racism, sexism, violence or homophobia." In other words, some teachers may wish to focus on deconstructing media that they view advances negative values. For example, a teacher may wish for her class to analyze an episode of the show 24 as a means to demonstrate the xenophobia/racism displayed in that sort of popular media.

In my opinion it is a little dangerous, or at least ineffective, for teachers to promote media literacy to achieve a specific end, even if that end is noble (as in the above example). This sort of approach may simply end in students repeating what they think they know the teacher wants as a response, as Hobbs also points out. I think the goal of media literacy should be to encourage students to think critically and analyze. According to Hobbs, many teachers feel similarly:

Many teachers do not see themselves as forces for radical social or political change (Cremin, 1990); rather, teachers generally value the concept of promoting students' critical autonomy, described as the process of internalizing the tools of self-reflection, critical analysis and communication for one's own purposes and motives (Mendez and Reyes, 1992).

Analyzing an episode of 24 could be a good a lesson for students, especially since it has the potential to be engaging. However, the teacher's goal should not be to demonstrate any specific value or criticism of her own that is present in episode. The goal should be for the students to think critically about the episode and to achieve a rigorous analysis on their own.