Media Literacy & Mass Communication — Comprehensive Notes

Media Literacy: Core Definitions and Goals

Media literacy is an awareness regarding our mediated environment or consumption of mass communication; it is the ability to responsibly comprehend, access, and use mass communication in personal and professional lives.
Potter’s framework emphasizes maintaining cognitive, emotional, aesthetic, and moral awareness as we interact with media.
Barron suggests a set of skills to develop in order to be media literate: understand and respect the power of mass communication messages; acknowledge how dominant mass communication is in our lives and around the globe; recognize that mass communication can shape, entertain, inform, represent, reflect, create, move, educate, and affect behaviors, attitudes, values, and habits in direct and indirect ways.
Virtually everyone is touched by mass communication, and personal/professional decisions are often based on representations of reality portrayed through mass media.

Key Concepts: Attention, Noise, and Reactions

Understand and respect the power media have in our lives and how we make sense of meanings.
Noise in mass communication includes anything that hinders communication; much of the noise originates in our consumption behaviors.
Examples of potential multitasking while consuming media: listening to music while driving, watching videos while eating, texting during class. Multitasking acts as noise and can degrade message quality and understanding.
Many people become passive consumers, performing other tasks while consuming media, which affects attention and interpretation.
Distinguish between emotional versus reasoned reactions to media content; much content is designed to touch us emotionally (e.g., advertising).
Advertising often uses emotional appeals; “sex sells” is a long-standing adage illustrating emotion-driven decisions over purely reasoned actions; critical thinking is needed for reasoned actions.

Deeper Cognitive Skills: Emotional vs. Reasoned Judgments

Emotional reactions: quick, affect-driven responses to media content (e.g., sensationalism, fear, joy).
Reasoned actions: deliberate, critical thinking about media content before forming conclusions.
Media literacy trains us to analyze content critically rather than rely solely on initial emotional responses.

Heightened Expectations: Informed Consumption and Quality

Question: Are you an informed consumer of mass communication?
Barron challenges us to demand more from media content; low expectations encourage minimal effort in meaning-making.
Some audiences seek higher-quality or diverse content (foreign films, independent films, documentaries) as alternatives to mainstream Hollywood productions.
Cord cutters: the shift away from cable subscriptions due to on-demand services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon on demand).
Understanding genre conventions and recognizing when they are mixed (e.g., news vs. entertainment) is crucial; entertainment media often blends genres.
The reality TV genre and its blurring with real-world events illustrate shifting boundaries between fiction and fact.
Historical example: The term "governator" for Arnold Schwarzenegger highlights blurred lines between fictional personas and real political roles.

Reading Media Language: Internal Codes and Production Values

To read a media text, one must understand its internal language: production values, lighting, editing, music, camera angle, page layout, and headline placement.
Shows like scandal illustrate how editorial choices can glamorize or demoralize politics while making issues appear provocatively thrilling.
The goal is to recognize the effort and decisions behind media representations rather than passively accepting them.

Tau of Media Literacy: How Do Media Affect Us? Are We Media Literate?

Heuristic allegory: Heisenberg’s Physicist Conception of Nature questions mindful versus thoughtless interactions with technology; the wise Chinese sage warns about balance between humans, nature, and technology.
Historical anecdote from Chuang Zhu (Zhu Gong) about the draw well (a lever-based irrigation innovation) and the warning that “whoever uses machines does all his work like a machine” can lose simplicity and honesty.
Message: developing media literacy involves caution about over-reliance on technology and maintaining human simplicity and critical thought.

Developing Media Literacy: Origins and Purpose

The media literacy movement began in the 1930s when the American Association of University Women in Madison, Wisconsin started a newspaper column and a radio program called Broadcast on Broadcast to review current media messages and practices. Now, the movement has persisted for decades.
Media literacy is not about censoring or blaming media, nor about limiting engagement; it ties into critical thinking and listening.
Media literacy recognizes media outlets as culture makers: they reflect and reshape sociocultural reality and everyday practices.
Distinction: knowing how to use technology to find and use media is different from knowing how to analyze it.
Like other critical-thinking skills, media literacy must be taught, practiced, and reflected upon.

Core Principles: Construction, Ownership, and Bias

All media messages are constructed; even objective news is shaped by production choices.
Media structures and policies affect message construction; ownership and distribution influence content and reach.
Each medium has distinct characteristics and affects messages differently.
Messages are created for particular purposes: profit, power, change, or maintaining the status quo; they embed values and beliefs.
The myth of objectivity can mask bias or misrepresentation.
Media messages influence beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors, including perceptions of others and participation in society; representations of race, gender, sexuality, ability, and other identities are often biased or stereotypical and favor dominant identities.
Because media influences beliefs and expectations about difference, critical evaluation of mediated messages is essential.
The goal of media literacy is to help people engage with, interpret, and evaluate media, not dictate what to think.
Media literacy is reflective and requires accountability for media choices in relation to personal belief and value systems.

Critical Practice: Guiding Questions for Media Analysis

Four standard questions to start media criticism:
1) Who created this message? What did they hope to accomplish? What are their primary belief systems?
2) What is my interpretation of this message? How and why might others understand it differently?
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented or omitted? What does this tell me about how other people live and believe?
4) Why was this message sent? Who sent it? Is it trying to tell me something or to sell me something?
The goal is to develop well-reasoned arguments supported by evidence; acknowledge that interpretations may vary and may not be definitive.
With greater media literacy, individuals gain more control over how they engage with media messages and can use media more effectively.

Defining Communication: Models and Core Elements

There is no single agreed-upon definition of communication; decades of scholarly attempts show its complexity.
Classic illustration: Dance (1970, 1984) noted that nailing down a universal definition is like nailing jello to a wall.
Our working definition in this text: \text{Communication} = \text{the process of using symbols to exchange meaning}
Two models to help grasp this definition:
- Linear model (Shannon and Weaver): one-way transmission from sender to receiver.
- Components: sender encodes a message, message travels through a channel, receiver decodes, and noise can distort the message.
- Examples: texting a friend, watching a YouTube video (you are the receiver).
- Noise can be internal (psychological stress) or external (jackhammer, loud music).
- Transactional model: communication is simultaneous; both parties act as senders and receivers, encoding/decoding in real time, with noise and personal filters shaping outcomes.
Additional guiding idea: researchers may focus on any combination of: senders, receivers, channels, messages, noise, context, and outcomes.

Functions of Mass Communication

Mass communication serves multiple functions beyond a single purpose:
- Surveillance: serves as the eyes and ears for information about the world (news, weather, issues, events).
- Modern example: instant access via apps; notifications for events like the Uvalde shooting or the Boston Marathon bombing.
- Correlation: media present facts through selection, interpretation, and critique; content is not purely objective and may carry bias.
- Question to ask: Is the presented information fair and credible, or is there selective framing?
- Entertainment: media entertain while informing; entertainment often accompanies cultural consumption and can provide companionship or catharsis.
- Transmission (Cultural Transmission): media transmit cultural norms, values, rules, and habits; socialization occurs as audiences adopt fashion, behavior, and tastes.
- Mobilization: media mobilize people for collective action during events (e.g., national responses to crises); online communities (e.g., Reddit) coordinate responses.
- Validation: media validate or challenge social norms, status, and identities; representation in media can reinforce or undermine societal beliefs about groups.
Why media? Media fulfill roles of entertainment, information/education, public forum, and watchdog (monitoring government, business, and institutions).
Media contexts vary: some media are better for entertainment; others for information; the Internet uniquely enables broad discussion but can be unmoderated and chaotic.

Media Characteristics and Medium Effects

Media have distinct characteristics that influence how we use them and how messages are received:
- Print (books, newspapers): durable, information-rich, but slower and costlier to produce.
- Television: highly visual, dynamic, capable of live broadcasts; more immediate but often less context or history than print.
- Internet: expansive integration of forms; enables public discussion; highly accessible but can be unmoderated and noisy.
Marshall McLuhan’s dictum: "The medium is the message" — content is shaped by the characteristics of the medium itself.
- Implications: television excels at video and immediacy but may deliver less historical context; print offers depth but slower dissemination.
The Internet is often viewed as encompassing and integrating other media, complicating the analysis of medium effects.
Critics/gatekeepers note that some media may produce “dumbed-down” content, but others argue against simplistic judgments and emphasize the diversity of effects across audiences.
Quotes and ideas from cultural commentators highlight ongoing debates about media’s impact on thinking and culture.

Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Technology and Media

The discussion integrates historical anecdotes (e.g., Chuang Zhu and Zhu Gong) to illustrate the tension between tool-use and human simplicity/honesty.
The Heisenberg allegory and related reflections remind us that technology changes not only environments but human thought and culture; mindful use is essential.
The ongoing debate about media’s role in society—whether as a threat to critical thinking or as a platform for democratic discourse—remains central to media literacy.

Practical Takeaways for Students and Citizens

Engage actively with media: critique, question motives, identify biases, and seek diverse sources.
Practice reflective consumption: consider who created the message, why, and how it may affect your beliefs or behavior.
Recognize the constructed nature of media messages and the influence of ownership, distribution, and policy on content.
Distinguish between entertainment and information, and be aware of the blurring boundaries across genres and formats.
Develop a habit of asking critical questions early in the analysis process to avoid unexamined acceptance of messages.
Appreciate the value of media literacy as a lifelong, practiced skill rather than a one-time training.

References to Historical Figures and Concepts (for context)

Walter Lippmann (approximately a century ago) recognized that media can be invasive in our lives and affect our sense of reality.
The movement’s early efforts included initiatives like Broadcast on Broadcast (1930s) by the AAUW in Madison, WI.
McLuhan’s media theory (mid-20th century) emphasized the primacy of form and medium over content in shaping thought.
Real-world examples cited: The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight (blend of comedy and news); the term "governator" for Schwarzenegger; the use of celebrity influence in marketing.

Summary of Key Concepts in quick-reference form

Media literacy: awareness, critical thinking, and reflective engagement with mediated messages.
Functions of mass media: Surveillance, Correlation, Entertainment, Transmission, Mobilization, Validation.
Models of communication: Linear (one-way) vs. Transactional (two-way, simultaneous).
Core questions for analysis: Who created this? What are their beliefs? What is my interpretation? What’s represented vs. omitted? Why this message now?
Medium effects: The medium shapes how content is produced and understood; the Internet integrates multiple media; evaluation of credibility remains essential.
Ethical and practical implications: bias, stereotypes, power, ownership, and the potential for media to shape norms and behavior; accountability and informed, reasoned interpretation are central to literacy.

2.5\times 10^3 years ago, ancient thinkers warned of the double-edged nature of tools and knowledge, a reminder that media literacy is not a new concern but an ongoing practice. The 1930s marks the formalization of organized media literacy efforts, and contemporary discussions carry forward that legacy with updated technologies and platforms.