Introduction to Media Literacy check old laptopMedia literacy is a set of skills that anyone can learn. Just as literacy is the ability to read and write, media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media messages of all kinds. These are essential skills in today's world. Media literate youth and adults are better able to decipher the complex messages we receive from television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, signs, packaging, marketing materials, video games, recorded music, the Internet and other forms of media. They can understand how these media messages are constructed, and discover how they create meaning usually in ways hidden beneath the surface. People who are media literate can also create their own media, becoming active participants in our media culture.Media literacy skills can help children, youth and adults:Understand how media messages create meaningIdentify who created a particular media messageRecognize what the media maker wants us to believe or doName the "tools of persuasion" usedRecognize bias, spin, misinformation and liesDiscover the part of the story that's not being toldEvaluate media messages based on our own experiences, beliefs and valuesCreate and distribute our own media messagesBecome advocates for change in our media systemMedia literacy education helps to develop critical thinking and active participation in our media culture. The goal is to give youth and adults greater freedom by empowering them to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.In schools: Educational standards in many states -- in language arts, social studies, health and other subjects -- include the skills of accessing, analyzing and evaluating information found in media. These are media literacy skills, though the standards may not use that term. Teachers know that students like to examine and talk about their own media, and they've found that media literacy is an engaging way to explore a wide array of topics and issues.In the community: Researchers and practitioners recognize that media literacy education is an important tool in addressing alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; obesity and eating disorders; bullying and violence; gender identity and sexuality; racism and other forms of discrimination and oppression; and life skills. Media literacy skills can empower people and communities usually shut out of the media system to tell their own stories, share their perspectives, and work for justice.

For most of us, life without media would be unthinkable. We catch news on TV, read opinions in the newspaper, use TV for entertainment, surf the world wide web to check out the latest trends, make friends on facebook, tweet our opinions ,use our blackberry to stay connected, upload videos and share files. The media seems to be everywhere and manages to pervade every part of our life.As a citizens and as media practitioners it is important for us to understand certain very basic aspects of the media such as ownership, agenda, and interest so that we become able to discern the messages that the media puts out, enabling us to make better and more informed decisions. This awareness of media is called Media Literacy.The media literate person understands the basic conventions of various media and enjoys then use in a deliberately conscious way.Further, Media Literacy is the ability to shift through and anyalyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us everyday. It is the ability to bring critical thinkings skills to bear on all media- from music videos and web environments to product placement in films and virtual displays on bill boards. At the core of being media literate is understanding that: Media messages are constructed Messages are created differently for different media, keeping in mind the characteristics and strengths of each medium. Media messages are created for a particular purpose. People tend to view the same piece of content differently The messages are often biased and carries the biases of the creator or funder of the message Media message can influence behaviors, believes, attitudes and values. In the last 100 yrs the role of mass media has been very important because it is All pervasive-impacts every aspect of our lives Inclusive-includes all aspects of society Socialiser- tells us about the acceptable modes of behavior and the unacceptable modes of behavior. Influencer- influences behaviour Aspiration Driver Persuader Awareness Creator/ Informer EducationWhat is media ?The media refers to the different chanels we use to communicate information in everyday world. Media is the plural of medium (of communication),and the main media forms are Print Radio Film TV InternetThe main content forms of this media are:- Advertising Books Canned Fiction Entertainment Canned Non Fiction Entertainment Feature Films Music News WebsitesThe media essentially an amalgamation of content and technology that allows a s et of people to communicate with each other. The communications can be : Between individuals one to one or peer to peer. For example a phone call. Between organizations business to business. For example a corporate film. Between organizations and individuals business to consumer for example advertising feature film or a TV programme or a newspaper.

What is the Media Studies?MS is the study of what the media is composed of and how it affects the audience. It employs theories and methods from a number of fields of study including communication, sociology,social theory,philosophy etc. Key concepts in MS include Media Audience Media technologies Media agencies Media languages Media categories Media RepresentationsThe single most important concept is the concept of Mass, be it mass society,mass culture,mass media or mass audience.The term TRADITIONAL is used to describe pre-industrial societies and their interrelationships. Traditional societyTraditional Society is community based. They usually exists within a specific geographic space and are symbolized by shared traditions, cultures, values and language. They are denoted by a lack of individual privacy and a feeling of social good. Traditional CultureA set of cultural values and ideas that are shared by the community. Traditional media for transmission of message: In TS messages were communicated through stories,folklore,myths and legends through song and dance, verse and prose, philosophy and drama. Storytellers and bards carried these forward as a part of oral tradition.Thus this way stories were adapted from culture to culture.

MassUntil a century ago, media was elite in nature. Small groups of publishers published material for small groups of readers, who would mostly agree with those views. The publishers were among the elite as were the readers. The spread of media penetration was restricted by lack of mass literacy.The concept of Mass involved: Large aggregate Undifferentiated Mainly with a negative image Lacking order and organization Reflective of mass societyMass SocietyThe term mass society refers to a society with a mass culture and large-scale, impersonal, social institutions.Mass CultureMass culture is a set of cultural values, ideas, forms of practice that arise from the exposure of a population to the same cultural activities, communication media, music and art, etc.Mass Media technologiesOne of the biggest between traditional modes of communication and mass communication is how the latter allows the same message to be delivered to a mass of people, audience simultaneously.In the modern world, the scale and operations of the mass media may vary for instance some people watch a film in a village tent or on a moveable screen, and others in multiplexes, some watch TV on 29 plasma screens, yet others on community. They derive from technologies of mass reproduction and distribution and certain forms of organization. They are designed to reach the Many e.g. on an average; a TV serial on an entertainment channel in India is watched by millions of viewers. Potential audiences are viewed as large aggregates of more or less anonymous consumers and the relationship between the sender and the receiver is influenced by this fact, for example, two people watching the same show are in Nasik and Gurgaon- dont necessarily have any connection with each other. The sender is often the organization itself or a professional communicator as almost all shows, film and news are produced by companies or professionally trained media practitioners. It may also be the voice of the proprietor advertiser, politician, religious leader, NGO which has its own agenda.Mass Audience Herbert Blumer (1939) defined the mass as a new type of social information modern society by contrasting it with other formations especially the group, crowd and public. He said: Groups are small as most people know each other. They share common values and believe in certain structure of relationships that is stable over a period of time. Crowds are larger but still restricted within observable boundaries in a particular space. It is however temporary and seldom reassembles with the same composition. Public is relatively large, widely dispersed and enduring. And finally, the Mass audience is widely dispersed, its members are not known to each other or even to those who brought the audience into existence.

Audience Theories

Are to see how media impacts or effects audiences.When we study the media it is to understand the theoretical constructs that underpin the discipline.Most of these discuss the impact of media communication on audiences. These theories seek to understand how audiences respond and react to the media messages.Hypodermic Theory/Magic Bullet TheoryIt was the first major theories of the impact of mass media on audiences. It was postulated in 1920,s and believed that the media was all powerful and had a similar direct effect on the audiences.According to these theories viewers are passive and are directly affected by what they consume in the media. They accept the message that they read, hear or see without considering whether the message has a merit or not. Media content is shot at the audience like a magic bullet and it directly penetrates the viewers mind and changes it. Here media could shape public opinion and persuade the masses toward any desired point of view. In this way messages strike all members of the audience equally causing to think in a uniform fashion.Harold Lasswell was one of the prominent thinkers who propagated this model. In 1927 he postulated that the mass media could influence and sway public opinion in very direct ways. He wrote propaganda is one of the most powerful instrumentalities in the world today. Propanganda is the manipulation of public opinion through the mass media messages with the purpose of getting them back to a certain public cause or a mode of action. In a way,the role played by propanganda in the soviet union to gain acceptance for a communist Govt as well as in Nazi Germany from 1933 onwards seem to suggest that the magic bullet theory was accurate.

Propaganda

It is a term that is used fairly frequently in the discussion of the media. It is considered to be the content that tries to portray an ideology as the best and in doing so tries to portray all other view points as being unacceptable or evil in nature.

Propaganda is of two types: Direct or obvious political propaganda which tells the audience directly why a particular government or a cause is wonderful; This would include news clips or interviews that speaks in favour of that cause. And, Subtle propaganda Propaganda that disguised as entertainment. In this mode you will see those that the propaganda seeks to deride being presented as demonized characters with no redeeming qualities.The Two Step ModelDespite, the fact that the media seems to influence audiences in terms of their opinions and actions there were several critical issues with the Hypodermic or Magic Bullet theory, the primary one being that the audience is seldom as passive it is made out to be. In a world where there was only one media source and which was completely under the control of one interested party, the Hypodermic Theory, or the Magic Theory worked. However, we, do not live in a such world any longer. The media landscape is now diverse as are the sources of information. The two step flow theory proposed by Paul Lazersfeld, states that messages from the media get transmitted in two distinct stages: 1. Through opinion leaders who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages.2. These opinion leaders then pass their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content.The term personal influence was coined to refer to the process between the medias direct message and the audiences ultimate reaction to that message. Opinion leaders use their personal influence to get people to change their attitudes and behavior.

The two step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass media influences decision making. The theory refined the ability to predict the influence of media messages on audience behavior and it helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes and behavior.

For example, one of the reasons why celebrities frequently endorse products, is because they act as the influencer or opinion leader. Uses and Gratification Model Most of the theories on media explained about the effects media had on people. It is the theory which explains of how people use media for their need and gratification. In other words we can say this theory states what people do with media rather than what media does to people. Also this theory is contradictory to the magic bullet theory which states the audience is passive. According to uses and gratification theory, it is not so people make use of the media for their specific needs. This theory can be said to have a user/audience-centered approach .Even for communication (say inter-personal) people refer to the media for the topic they discuss with themselves. They gain more knowledge and that is knowledge is got by using media for reference. There are several needs and gratification for people they are categorized into five categories. Cognitive needs Affective needs Personal Integrative needs Social Integrative needs Tension free needs Some uses to which media are put: Getting the news ,Getting information about available products and services, Starting the day in the morning or ending at night

Media Ownership:- Concentration of media ownership(also known asmedia consolidationormedia convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of themass media.[1]Contemporary research demonstrates increasing levels of consolidation, with many media industries alreadyhighly concentratedanddominated by a very small number of firms.[2][3]Globally, large media conglomerates includeViacom,CBS Corporation,Time Warner,21st Century FoxandNews Corp(the formerNews Corporation, split in 2013),Bertelsmann AG,Sony,Comcast,Vivendi,Televisa,The Walt Disney Company,Hearst Corporation,Organizaes GloboandLagardre Group.[4][5][6]As of 2012,The Walt Disney Companyis the largestmedia conglomeratein the US, withNews Corporation,Time WarnerandViacomranking second, third and fourth respectively.[7]In nations described as authoritarian by most international think-tanks and NGOs, media ownership is generally something very close to thecomplete state controlover information in direct or indirect ways.

The increasing control of the media by a handful of corporate entities means that dominance of the ideology of the elites and powerful defines the views and shapes the opinion of the common reader.Media controls our access to manufacture, distribute, and consume information. In order to understand the media and it is important to identify with who owns the means of communication. In india a few large business houses own media in English, hindi and in vernicular languages and account for a large part of total circulation. Another intresting aspect is the formation of joint stock companies, for example Dainik bhaskar and Zee together own the DNA newspapers. Anand bazaar patrika and news international own star news. CNN and TV18 own CNN IBN. In India , a few large business houses own media in different languages. In India a few political parties also own media organizations, for exampleKalaignar TVis owned by Tamil Nadu's former Chief MinisterM. Karunanidhi.Sakshi TVa Telugu channel in Andhra Pradesh is owned by ex-chief minister's son and family.Who are the Media Conglomerates in India?Network 18,Times Group,India Today Group,New Delhi Television,UTV,Sun TVMedia Representation

One of the key issues in media literacy is media Representataion. Representation refers to construction in medium of aspects of reality such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts.By definition, all media texts arere-presentationsof reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. When studying the media it is vital to remember this - every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited, and that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense of reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality.Extension/Restriction of Experience of RealityBy giving audiences information, media texts extend experience of reality. Every time you see a wildlife documentary, or read about political events in a country on the other side of the world, or watch a movie about a historical event, you extend your experience of life on this planet. However, because the producers of the media text have selected the information we receive, then our experience is restricted: we only see selected highlights of the lifestyle of the creatures portrayed in the wildlife documentary, the editors and journalists decree which aspects of the news events we will read about, and the movie producers telescope events and personalities to fit into their parameters.Truth or Lies?Media representations - and the extent to which we accept them - are a very political issue, as the influence the media exerts has a major impact on the way we view the world. By viewing media representations our prejudices can be reinforced or shattered.Generally, audiences accept that media texts are fictional to one extent or another - we have come a long way from the mass manipulation model of the 1920s and 1930s. However, as we base our perception of reality on what we see in the media, it is dangerous to suppose that we don't see elements of truth in media texts either.The study of representation is about decoding the different layers of truth/fiction/whatever. In order to fully appreciate the part representation plays in a media text you must consider: Who produced it? What/who is represented in the text? How is that thing represented? Why was this particular representation (this shot, framed from this angle, this story phrased in these terms, etc) selected, and what might the alternatives have been? What frame of reference does the audience use when understanding the representation?

Analysing RepresentationThe analysis of different sorts of representation forms an important part of Media Studies. The factors of representation most commonly addressed are: Gender Race Age Disability

Representation of Gender Gender And Media RepresentationGender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation. Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities we assume other people to have, come from concepts of gender - what does it mean to be a boy or a girl? Many objects, not just humans, are represented by the media as being particularly masculine or feminine - particularly in advertising - and we grow up with an awareness of what constitutes 'appropriate' characteristicYou can construct your own table of 'typical' male/female characteristics, like this one:Typically masculineTypically feminine

Tough Hard Sweaty Fragile Soft Fragrant

How might the following objects be 'gendered' through advertising, given that both sexes will use the product? a sports car? a diving watch? bottled beer? toilet paper? deodorant?

a smart phone? a hi-fi system? running shoes? a videogame console an airline?

Role ModelsIt is undeniable that the media shapes our conceptions of what it means to be male or female. We encounter many different male and female role models in the course of a day's media consumption. The issue is, that although these different role models may at first glance appear to be very varied, do they actually represent enough of a range of men/women? Are we simply given variations on a stereotype that become sub-stereotypes in themselves? By adopting role models and parading them through the media as people it is desirable to 'be', are we stunting individual growth?

Representations of FemininityFeminism has been a recognised social philosophy for more than forty years, and the changes that have occurred in women's roles in western society during that time have been nothing short of phenomenal. Yet media representations of women remain worryingly constant. Does this reflect that the status of women has not really changed or that the male-dominated media does not want to accept it has changed?Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following: beauty (within narrow conventions) size/physique (again, within narrow conventions) sexuality (as expressed by the above) emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood (see the discussion of the misogynisticPantyRaiderbelow). Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories.The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to societal expectations, and characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant. And they get their comeuppance, particularly in the movies. Think of Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) inFatal Attractionor, more recently, Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) inBoys Don't Cry. America seems to expect its women to behave better than their European counterparts - British viewers adored the antics of Patsy & Edina inAbsolutely Fabulous, but these had to be severely toned down (less swearing, NO drugtaking) for the US remake,High Society(which was a flop).Discussions of women's representation in the media tend to revolve around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other values, the lack of powerful female role models, and the extremely artificial nature of such portrayals, which bear little or no relation to the reality experience by women across the planet. It would take almost a whole A-level course to cover these representations and the issues surrounding them in depth (if interested, do Women's or Gender Studies at uni), but you might want to start by reading the following: Mediaknowall Blog- a round up of the latest stories about women's representation in the media Women's Body Image in the Media Media Report to Women- a roundup of issues The secrets of marketing to women- the startling economic truth Women in Movies and TV: Why Does Hollywood Always Portray Women as Weak and Helpless? Adios Barbie- blog devoted to challenging body and other stereotypes

Representations of Masculinity'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following: Strength - physical and intellectual Power Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above) Physique Independence (of thought, action)Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). If they capitulate to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial equilibrium. It is interesting to note that the male physique is becoming more important a part of representations of masculinity. 'Serious' Hollywood actors in their forties (eg Willem Dafoe, Kevin Spacey) are expected to have a level of 'buffness' that was not aspired to even by young heart-throbs 40 years ago (check out Connery inThunderball1965).Increasingly, men are finding it as difficult to live up to their media representations as women are to theirs. This is partly because of the increased media focus on masculinity - think of the burgeoning market in men's magazines, both lifestyle and health - and the increasing emphasis on even ordinary white collar male workers (who used to sport their beergut with pride) having the muscle definition of a professional swimmer. Anorexia in teenage males has increased alarmingly in recent years, and recent high school shootings have been the result of extreme bodyconsciousness among the same demographic group.As media representations of masculinity become more specifically targeted at audiences with product promotion in mind (think of the huge profits now made from male fashion, male skin & haircare products, fitness products such as weights, clothing etc), men are encouraged (just as women have been for many years) to aspire to be like (to look/behave in the same way) the role models they see in magazines. This is often an unrealistic target to set, and awareness of this is growing. Read about the increasing influence of men's magazineshereandhere.Whilst some men are concerned about living up to the ideal types represented in magazines, others are worried by what they perceive as an increasinganti-male biasin the media. There is growing support for the idea that men are represented unfairly in the media - read a selection of articleshereandhere. Masculinity in Crisis- essay How The Media Define Masculinity- from Media Awareness

A woman and a man, as a gender constructs are different from the biological male and female. In Urban India, traditionally a woman stayed at home covered face and took care of her family. On the other hand, amongst the peasants, especially in rural India, the woman has no choice but to work.

Mass media reinforces these stereotypes through messages in images and in text. A woman or a girl is portrayed as one with the single minded objective of marriage or catching the right man as their goal in life. Career woman especially in serials, are usually potrayed in a negative light. Representation of woman in the media presents and reinforces the following aspects in a stereotypical fashion.Representation of Rural IssuesRepresentation of MinoritiesMedia and violence

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