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Media literacy involves a specialized language. The following list of definitions will help as you interact with the media.
Agenda-setting theory: A theory that the news media shape public opinion by controlling the transmission of stories Audience: Anyone exposed to a media message, or anyone for whom a message is constructed Bias: Partiality, preference, or prejudice for/against a person, thing, or idea Branding: Creating an identity for a product or service based on a name, slogan, symbol, or feeling Censorship: Controlling or suppressing any part of a media message or text Connotation: Meaning added to a media message by the audience Consumer: Any person who experiences or interacts with a media message Convergence: Several separate media industries (newspapers, video, music) operating together through advances in technology (e.g., smart phones) Demographics: Measurable characteristics of a particular group, such as age, gender, locale, and income level Denotation: The literal meaning of a media message (what is seen, heard, etc.) Digital media: Electronic media that use a digital code Gatekeepers: Those within the news media who control the flow of information and spread of ideas (see also agenda-setting theory) Mainstream media: Media that disseminate messages to the general public via the largest distribution channels Mass media: Media that broadcast messages to large audiences (see also mainstream media) Media: All channels of communication combined Media literacy: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms Media specialist: Someone knowledgeable about accessing a range of information in a variety of media formats Medium: Any single channel of communication (the singular form of “media”) Product placement: “Advertising” products by using them as props in television shows and movies Propaganda: Information intended to influence an audience to adopt a certain point of view Subtext: Indirect meaning contained in a media message Target audience: The person or group that a media message is meant to reach Text: Any media production (a newspaper article, song, music video, podcast, etc.) Visual literacy: The ability to analyze, evaluate, and interpret visual elements DURATION: 8 hours BACKGROUND AND RATIONALEWe all have experience as media audiences. Children and adults both spend a significant amount of their time each day engaged in media and communications activities. A common assumption has been that an audience is a homogeneous group of passive individuals who will interpret a text in the same way. More accurately, there are two main ways of studying media audiences. The first is as consumers of media products, or what the media and communications industry describes as ‘target audiences’. The second is based on reception theory, where audiences are seen as active participants in reading and interpreting media and information texts. Target audiences are groups of readers, viewers or listeners defined by specific characteristics such as age, income, gender or interests. This is a specific group for whom media and other organizations develop content and shape messages. For example, advertisers are very concerned about buying time or space that will provide them with access to a specific demographic or target audience. In the television industry, for example, advertisers will buy commercial time slots from a network during a particular programme, if that programme is attracting the audience they want to reach. While we can be seen as a target audience for the media, every time we see or hear a media text our response is based on our individual social knowledge and the experiences we bring to a text. When we receive messages or information from the media, we interpret it through our personal ideology and values. It is also very possible, however, that we actually negotiate the meaning we take from a text, accepting some elements and rejecting others. How meaning is constructed in footage or photographs (through camera angles, types of shots, editing, etc.) also affects audience interpretations in different ways. Researchers have discovered that magazine readers spend little more than 2 seconds glancing over a page. On television, a typical commercial ‘spot’ is only 15 or 30 seconds long, and many viewers ‘flip’ through commercial breaks, or ‘surf’ the Internet, staying in one ‘place’ for only seconds at a time. In order to connect quickly with today’s consumers, producers of media texts often create strong emotional appeal based on research into social demographics or ‘psychographics’, which is the analysis of people’s attitudes, beliefs, desires and needs. Although a creative team cannot predict how each individual will react to the media, their research will give them a good idea of how large groups of the population will react. Why do we study media audiences? Audience study helps to explain how important issues are seen by different people, according to their gender, age, or social group. It also helps us understand the relationship between the producer and audience of a text, and how producers attempt to influence audiences to read their material in a particular way. It helps us understand how young people make meaning of media texts in their lives outside the classroom. In this information age, audience study can also help us determine how to create our own media texts and communicate with our audiences more effectively. This module will explore several key questions: How does a producer/author’s background influence an individual’s understanding of a media text? How does the construction of a text guide the interpretive process? How does an individual negotiate meaning in a media text? How do audiences use the media in their daily lives?
After completing this unit, teachers will be able to:
PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES and ACTIVITIES
Collect and describe examples of how people use mass media in their daily lives. Consider the use of media for information, entertainment, monitoring, companionship, and identification. Find some material from Internet sites on popular television programmes or music. What do these sources tell you about how audiences use and enjoy the media? How might these uses be different from what the producers intended?
ASSESSMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
RESOURCES FOR THIS MODULE
These sources are drawn from North America and are here for illustrative purposes only. More relevant resources should be found by the trainers themselves, drawn from their own region or country.
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