What is Media Literacy?

hey everyone it's natalie from cmac and today i want to talk to you about media literacy [Music] we are living in an age defined by media and technology for many of us the majority of our waking hours largely center around interacting with media from checking our email and social media pages to ordering food online to winding down in front of the tv after a long day media is everywhere on our phones tablets laptops televisions in our cars at work at the grocery store at the gas station everywhere media has become so commonplace that we often

don't think about the messages communicated to us through these different platforms media literacy is the ability to think critically about the media messages we come in contact with every day media has been around for as long as writing and reading but the importance of media literacy started with a period called yellow journalism it was a time when newspapers were competing for customers and the truth wasn't their top priority fast forward 100 years and you will see not much has changed now we have things like click bait a juicy headline or image is used to entice

a reader to viewing a story on social media often linking back to the news or aggregate website in both yellow journalism and click bait the author of the articles are hoping to profit from the reader or convince the reader of a political or social cause so what is media literacy when i think of the word literacy i think back to those reading comprehension tests we used to take in grade school you know the ones where you had to read a passage and then explain what you read well that's part of it the national association for

media literacy education defines media literacy as the ability to access evaluate analyze act communicate and create using all forms of media all right so let's break that definition down a little bit access when we talk about access to media we're talking about the kinds of media messages you interact with and where did you read that article on facebook or twitter did you see that video on youtube or instagram access speaks to where you find and interact with media but it also speaks to the ability of the reader to find the content in the first place

does the reader have internet access which allows them to access media available to the general public is money technology or location a hindrance to them in finding that information evaluate when you saw that article on facebook or watched that video on youtube were you aware that those messages were created by someone trying to communicate something to you that someone is often a reporter or content creator who is paid by an organization company or product to create the content if the content creator is truly independent then they also have a reason for creating the content in

the first place evaluate in this definition is about taking a closer look at where the media message is coming from it's about asking ourselves who's trying to communicate this to me analyze to analyze media messages means to try and make sense of the message what is the creator trying to say to me act as an audience member after you've evaluated and analyzed the media message what do you do with it buy a product vote for a certain candidate share the message with others communicate how do you share what you've seen read or heard with your

friends and family do you talk to them in person maybe retweet or post on facebook create if you create media what is your responsibility to your audience essentially being media literate means that we are able to think critically about the media messages we consume ask questions about the media we interact with and be aware of how we participate in the creation of media now you might be thinking why is media literacy important isn't the media just a form of entertainment no it's not media is a powerful communication tool that can influence our perspectives our beliefs

and our behaviors and again media is everywhere it's a staple in our culture the average american spends over 10 hours a day using media this includes things like checking your email scrolling through social media reading news articles watching television or movies listening to music playing video games and reading books but this also includes things we don't typically think about when we talk about how much media we consume each day like reading billboard ads on our morning commute or every time we come in contact with a logo from a major brand or even the push notifications

that pop up on our phones every 10 minutes all of that is media designed to communicate something to us and that is why having media literacy skills is so crucial because all media messages are created by someone with the intention of communicating something to us we need to be able to understand and think critically about the media we interact with having media literacy skills can help us navigate through the wide range of media messages we encounter every day to help us be smarter consumers and communicators media literacy is more than just spotting fake news it's

about understanding advertisements and the commercial industry it's about recognizing the difference between fact and opinion in newspapers social media and television it's about understanding representations in the media and how those representations perpetuate harmful stereotypes media literacy is not limited to one type of media but rather a skill that can be used across media platforms and having media literacy skills is just as important for producers of media as it is for consumers of media it's important to know who your audience is what message you're trying to communicate and how to effectively craft that message our staff

at cmac hold a variety of experience and education in the field of media we aim to provide the tools and resources needed to help our community become effective media consumers and producers cmac's mission is to empower voices in the community to promote awareness understanding dialogue and civic engagement by providing media resources access to training and broadening media literacy we are a community media center which means we help members of our community become media producers we provide a space for people to share their stories cmac is committed to broadening media literacy in our community by providing

access to resources you need to not only become a better consumer of media but to create your own media and share with others this video series on media literacy will focus on media authenticity and media bias links to the rest of the series can be found in the video description and on cmac.tv shhh