Some of the key concepts of Critical Media Literacy
Courtesy of Pixabay.com
1. The Principal of Non-Transparency
All media messages are “constructed.” Messages are created by people who are influenced by bias and social contexts. Messages reflect the bias of the creator and of the medium.
A key question to ask is: “Who created this message?”
2. There are codes and conventions
Messages are created with specific language, symbols, and signs that make the message flashy and appealing to the target audience.
Often there are dual meanings in a message. There is the denotation and connotation. The denotation is the more literal meaning of the content and the connotation is the associative or subjective meaning that is typically attached to cultural or societal messages about gender, race, class, gender, etc.
3. Audience
Different people experience the message in different ways.
Understanding that people can interpret the same message differently is an important skill when it comes to understanding the multiple perspectives, points of views, and different experiences that people have.
The audience is not powerless or all-powerful, however, they can challenge the media to create new, better, or more preferred media.
4. Content and Message
Media embeds values and points of view in their messages.
The form and content of the message will have bias and a point of view. The audience must questions the biases, connotations, and ideologies expressed in the message in order to have a clearer sense of what is being communicated and why.
5. Motivation
Media is organized to gain profit or power.
Key questions to ask are: why was this message created and where did it come from? The media is not there simply to entertain or inform, they are trying to sell goods and build power for their brands.
Bibliography
Association for Media Literacy. (2017). What is media liertacy? Retrieved from: http://www.aml.ca/keyconceptsofmedialiteracy/
Share, J. S. (2006). Critical media literacy is elementary: A case study of teachers’ ideas and experiences with media education and young children (Dissertation). University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/305349077?pq-origsite=summon