Behind the Screen Media Literacy, Propaganda, and Advertising Techniques

A complete list of vocabulary terms and definitions covering media literacy, news evaluation, propaganda, and advertising techniques from the lecture notes.

Accuracy

The story presents factual information that can be verified.

Angle or slant

The point of view from which a story is written.

Balanced reporting

Represents all sides of an issue equally and fairly.

Biased reporting

Reporting in which one side is favored over another in which the subject is unfairly represented.

Compelling video and photographs

Stories with these artifacts grab people's attention and stay in their minds.

Context clues

Clues in surrounding text that help the reader determine the meaning of something unknown.

Fake news

False stories that appear to be news spread through the internet and media, usually by circular reporting.

Human interest

The quality of stories that cause readers or listeners to feel emotions such as happiness, anger, or sadness.

Irony

A difference between expectation and reality.

Media

Any method of communicating with a large number of people at one time.

News

Information on events, people, and places in your community, the region, the nation, and the world.

Newsworthiness

The importance of an event or action that makes it worthy of media reporting based on its timeliness, widespread impact, proximity, human interest, uniqueness, and/or compelling video and photographs.

Objectivity

The story takes a balanced point of view on the issues, is not biased, and does not reflect a specific attitude.

Proximity

Measures the nearness of an event to a particular city, region, or country.

Reliable sources

Experts in a field, eyewitnesses, or published reports that are specifically mentioned or shown.

Timeliness

The quality of being very current.

Thoroughness

The story presents all sides of an issue and includes background information telling who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Uniqueness

The condition of being the only one of a kind

Weak sources

Unnamed or anonymous sources, people who are not involved in the reported event, or reports that are not specifically named.

Widespread impact

An event that could affect a number of people.

Bandwagon

This technique makes the claim that everyone else is using this product, and you should, too.

Fear/Scare tactic

Advertisers sometimes try to scare people into thinking that bad things will happen if/unless they buy a specific product.

Glittering generality

Advertisers sometimes use hyperbole to exaggerate the effects of a product by making a sweeping generalization that is appealing, but not supportable.

Heartstrings

Advertisers sometimes try to create an emotional response in the public to sell a product.

Humor

This technique tries to make people laugh to sell products.

Ideal life

This technique gives the image of an ideal or perfect life as a result of using a specific product.

Media literacy

The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms.

Patriotism

This technique claims that consumers are representing their country positively if they use specific products.

Promotions

Sometimes advertisers will offer incentives for buying specific products, for example: buy one get one, free gift with purchase, etc.

Propaganda

Information, especially of a biased nature, used to promote or publicize a particular product or idea.

Regular people

This technique is based on the idea that if customers see people who look like them in an advertisement, they will be more likely to buy the product.

Repetition

Seeing or hearing something over and over again can get a brand to stay in a customer's head.

Scientific claim

This technique uses scientific evidence, facts, or charts to sell a product.

Testimonial

Attempts to persuade the reader by using a famous person to endorse a product or idea.