Read the following about what media literacy is and what the 8 elements of literacy are.

I have
highlighted and bolded the key information to reflect on as you read. Once you have finished reading,
answer the questions on the worksheet below.

Culture and communication are inseparable, and mass communication is a particularly powerful, pervasive, and
complex form of communication because it involves a message that reaches such a large amount of people.

Our level of skill in the mass communication process is very important. This skill is not necessarily a simple
one to master (it is much more than booting up the computer, turning on the television, or flipping through the
pages of your favorite magazine). But it is, indeed, a learnable skill, one that can be practiced. This skill
is media literacy—the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated
communication.

Media Literacy
Television influences our culture in innumerable ways. One of its effects, according to many people, is that it
has encouraged violence in our society. For example, American television viewers overwhelmingly say there is
too much violence on television. Yet, almost without exception, the local television news program's highest
ratings is their nightly newscast with the most violence. “If it bleeds, it leads” has become the motto for much
of local television news. It leads because people watch.
So, although many of us are quick to condemn improper media performance or to identify and lament its
harmful effects, we rarely question our own role in the mass communication process. We overlook it because
we participate in mass communication naturally, almost without conscious effort.
Media literacy is a skill we take for granted, but like all skills, it can be improved. And if we consider how
important the mass media are in creating and maintaining the culture that helps define us and our lives, it is a
skill that must be improved.
The 8 Elements of Media Literacy
Media literacy includes these characteristics:
1. A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to develop independent judgments about media
content. Thinking critically about the content we consume is the very essence of media literacy. Why do we
watch what we watch, read what we read, listen to what we listen to? Is that story you saw on Twitter
real? If we cannot answer these questions, we have taken no responsibility for ourselves or our choices. As
such, we have taken no responsibility for the outcome of those choices.

2. An understanding of the process of mass communication. If we know the components of the mass
communication process and how they relate to one another, we can form expectations of how they can serve
us. How do the various media industries operate? What are the obligations of the audience? How do
different media limit or enhance messages? Which forms of feedback are most effective, and why?

3. An awareness of the impact of media on the individual and society. Writing and the printing press helped
change the world and the people in it. Mass media do the same. If we ignore the impact of media on our
lives, we run the risk of being caught up and carried along by that change rather than controlling or leading
it.

4. Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages. To consume media messages thoughtfully, we
need a foundation on which to base thought and reflection. If we make meaning, we must possess the tools
with which to make it (for example, understanding the intent and impact of film and video conventions,
such as camera angles and lighting, or the strategy behind the placement of images on a newspaper’s
website). Otherwise, meaning is made for us; the interpretation of media content will then rest with its
creator, not with us.\
5. An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our lives. How do
we know a culture and its people, attitudes, values, concerns, and myths? We know them through
communication. For modern cultures like ours, media messages increasingly dominate that
communication, shaping our understanding of and insight into our culture.

6. The ability to enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content. Media literacy does not mean living the
life of a grump, liking nothing in the media, or always being suspicious of harmful effects and cultural
degradation. We take high school and college classes to enhance our understanding and appreciation of
novels; we can do the same for media texts.
Learning to enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content includes the ability to use multiple points of
access— this means to approach media content from a variety of directions and understand that it can have
many different messages and meanings. We control what we think something means, making for our own
enjoyment or appreciation. For example, we can enjoy any one of the hit movies from the Hunger
Games trilogy as an action-laden adventure full of explosions, danger, and romance, the perfect holiday
blockbuster. But as movie buffs we might see it as a David-and-Goliath, underdog-takes-on-the-powerful-
villain tale. Or we might read it as an analogy for what’s happening in America’s contemporary economy of
growing income inequality and harshness of life for those near the bottom. Maybe it’s a history lesson disguised
as dystopian fiction, reminding us that our country was born of revolution against those who would rule us. Or
maybe it’s just a fun way to spend a Saturday night, entertained by the same industry that so delighted us with
other special-effects extravaganzas, like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Doctor Strange,
and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
In fact, television programs such as Blackish, The Daily Show, The Simpsons, Game of Thrones, and Family
Guy are specifically constructed to appeal to the media literacy skills of sophisticated viewers while providing
entertaining fare for less skilled consumers. Blackish and The Daily Show are produced as television comedies,
designed to make people laugh. But they are also intentionally produced to provide more sophisticated, media-
literate viewers with opportunities to make personally interesting or relevant meaning. Anyone can laugh while
watching these programs, but some people can empathize with the daily travails of an upper-middle-class
African American family working to deal with race while they pursue the American Dream (Blackish), or they
can examine the failings and foibles of contemporary politics and journalism (Daily Show).

7. Development of effective and responsible production skills. Traditional literacy assumes that people who
can read can also write. Media literacy also makes this assumption. Our definition of literacy (both reading
and writing) calls not only for effective comprehension of content but also for its effective and
efficient use. Therefore, media-literate individuals should develop production skills that enable them to
create useful media messages. If you have ever tried to make a narrative home video—one that tells a story
—you know that producing content is much more difficult than consuming it. If you have ever posted to
Snapchat or Instagram or uploaded a video to YouTube, you are indeed a media content producer; why not
be a good media content producer?

8. An understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners. To make informed
judgments about the performance of the media, we must know, respectively, their legal and ethical
obligations. Return, for a moment, to the question of televised violence. It is legal for a station to air graphic
violence. But is it ethical? If it is unethical, what power, if any, do we have to demand its removal from our
screens?
YOUR TURN TO THINK ABOUT YOUR MEDIA CONSUMPTION!

Worksheet 1.6 Media Literacy Self-Examination

Choose your favorite medium (e.g., books, magazines, newspaper, television, the Web, social media, radio, music,
podcast, movies, etc.), and then answer the following questions.

Your favorite medium: ________________________________________________

1. Why is this medium your favorite?

2. How literate do you believe you are in understanding the content from your favorite medium? Explain your answer.

3. Have you ever made errors (misunderstood, “misread,” or missed the point) while consuming content from this
medium? Provide a detailed description of a particular instance where you misread or misunderstood content.

4. Have your skills as a consumer of this medium’s content enhanced your enjoyment of specific content? For example, if
your favorite medium is YouTube, maybe it has increased your enjoyment of watching cooking videos and learning about
the culinary world. Describe a specific example for you.

5. Can you recall a time when you approached content from this medium from multiple points of access? (refer to the
definition of "multiple points of access" in the info above). Describe how this may or may not have affected your
enjoyment of the content.