Lesson 6:

MEDIA AND CYBER OR DIGITAL

LITERACY
 OBJECTIVES:

 Develop a working understanding of Media and Cyber or

Digital Literacy and how they relate to one another;
 Appreciate the importance of developing Media and
Cyber/Digital Literacy both in ourselves and one another
in the information age; and
 Realize that practical steps must be taken to develop these
literacies early in children and cannot wait "until they are older".
 MEDIA LIT
ERACY

Is the ability
to identify
different typ
es of media
understand t and
he messages
communicat they are
ing, includin
the intended g who is
audience and
the motivatio what is
n behind the
m e s s age.
 MEDIA LIT
ERACY

the exact ty
pe of media
television, r varies---
adio, newsp
magazines, apers,
books, hand
But what th outs, flyers,
ey all have i etc.
t h a t t h ey w e n common is
re all create
and that som d by someon
e o ne h a d a r e
creating the eason for
m.
 MEDIA LIT
ERACY

According t
o Aufderhei
(1993) defin de
e it a s “ th e a
to access, an b il it y
alyze, evalu
and commu ate,
nicate messa
a wide varie ges in
ty forms”.
 MEDIA LIT
ERACY

According C
Potter (1998 h rist and
) define it as
ab i l ity t o a c “ t he
cess, analyz
evaluate, an e,
d create me
across a var ssages
iety of conte
x t”.
 According to Boyd (2014), media literacy education
began in the United States and United Kingdom as a direct
result of war propaganda in the 1930s and the rise of
advertising in the 1960s. In both cases, media was being used
to manipulate the perspective (and subsequent actions) of
those exposed to it, thereby giving rise to the need to educate
people on how to detect the biases, falsehoods, and half-
truths depicted in print, radio, and television.
Because media communication lends itself so
easily and so well to the purpose of manipulating
consumers’ perceptions on issues both political and
commercial, being able to understand the “why”
behind media communication is the absolute heart
of media literacy today.
 “At the 1993 Media Literacy Notional Leadership
Conference. U.S. Educators could not agree on the
range of appropriate goals for media education or the
scope of appropriate instructional techniques.” The
conference did, however, identify five essential concepts
necessary for any analysis of media messages :
1. Media messages are constructed.
2. Media messages are produced within economic,
social, political. Historical, and aesthetic contexts.
3. The interpretative meaning-making processes
involved in message reception consist of an interaction
between the reader, the text, and
the culture.
4. Media has unique “languages:” characteristics which
typify various forms, genres, and symbol systems of
communication.
5. Media representations play a role in people’s
understanding of social reality.
WHAT MEDIA LITERACY IS NOT

. t h a t a re
o f acti o n s
n g i s a l i s t a t i v e of
l l o w i e s e n t
 The fo e n fo r b e i n g r epr
d i a is
i s t a k ng th e m e
often m c y: C r i t i c i z i
c y.
i a l i t e r a i a l i t e r a
me d o f i t s e l f , med i m e s
n a n d s o m e t
not, i e d i a l i t e rate
e r , b e i n gm t i c i z e w h at
Howe v i n d e e d cr i
s t hat o n e
re q u i r e n d h e a r s.
one sees a
WHAT MEDIA LITERACY IS NOT

i s n o t m edia
u c i n g m e dia
e l y prod n g m edia
 M e r
t h o u g h p a r t of b e i
e d i a.
l i t e ra c y a l p rodu c e m
ab i l i t y T o
r a t e i s t h e a ( v i d e os,
l i t e w i t h me d i i a
a c h i n g u a l m e d
 Te ) d o e s n o t eq
t i o n s , e tc . a l i t e r acy
prese n t a n i nm e d i
n e du c a t i o m e d ia
c y . A ing a b o u t
l i t e ra d e t e a c h
s t a l s o i n cl u
mu
WHAT MEDIA LITERACY IS NOT

a l y z i n g i t
d i a a n d a n
i ew i n g m e e i s n ot
V p e r s p e c t i v
m a s i n g l e l i t er a cy
fr o u e m e di a
e r a c y. T r
med i a l i t
a b i l i t y a nd
s b o t h t h e
require n d a n a l y ze
s t o v i e w a
i l l i n g n es t i o n s a n d
w l t i p l e p o si
a f r o m m u
med i t i v es.
pe r s p e c
WHAT MEDIA LITERACY IS NOT

n o t s i m p ly
e r a c y d o e s
li t
M e d i a
in g w h a t a n d w h a t n o t
m ea n k n o w " w a t c h
d o e s m e a n
o w a t c h ; it l y. "
t n k c r i t ic a l
y , t h i
carefull
Challenges to media literacy education

 How do we teach?
 How to measure media literacy and evaluate the
success of media literacy initiatives.
 Is one of purpose- "Is media literacy best understood
as a means of inoculating children against the
potential harms of the media or a means of enhancing
their appreciation of the literary merits of the media?
Is a subject of media literacy; the ability to locate, evaluate, create, and
communicate information on various digital platforms. This includes the
ability to verify information as factual as well as identify and avoid
communication with deceitful, malicious, and exploitative content.
 DIGITAL LITERACY

Resource
Tools Literacy Literacy

competence in understanding forms

of and access to
using hardware and
information
software tools; resources;
 DIGITAL LITERACY

Social - Structural
Research Literacy
Literacy

understanding the
production and social using IT tools for
significance of research and
information; scholarship;
 DIGITAL LITERACY

Publishing Literacy Emerging

Technologies Literacy

ability to understanding of
communicate and new developments in
publish information; IT; and
 DIGITAL LITERACY

Critical Literacy

- the ability to evaluate

the benefits of new
technologies
Challenges to digital literacy education

 How it should be taught

 How it can be measured and evaluated?
 Should it be taught for the protection of the
students in their consumption of information
or should it be to develop their appreciation
for digital media?
is a subset of media literacy; the ability to
locate, access, and evaluate information
from a variety of media sources.
 Of utmost importance to both literacies (media and
digital) is the ability to analyze and think critically about
what is being communicated. This means making value
judgments about the message and going beyond simply
comprehending what is being said.
 Mass media also referred to as
mass communication may be defined
as a special kind of social
communication characterized by a
unique audience, communication
experience, and communicator.
 The term media comes from
Latin, meaning "middle",
suggesting that media serves to
connect people.
 Mass media occur as
communications technology
(newspaper, then radio, and
television) spreads information on
a mass scale
 Functions of Media

 Warning
 Socialization and Education
 Companionship
 Propaganda
 Status Conferral
 Mainstreaming
 Agenda Setting
 Entertainment
 Reality Construction  Advertising
 Surveillance
 warning

 A primary function of mass

media is the ability to warn of
impending danger.
 companionship

 Television has produced a new category

of friends: The media friend. These
people are known to viewers who feel a
sense of friendship with the performer,
newscaster, and field reporters
 Status conferral

A latent function of mass media is to confer

status on those individuals who are given high
visibility. Unknown individuals can become
household names within a few weeks and some
will figure permanently once media attention
is given to them.
 Agenda setting

 Media also set a cultural agenda

for what is important. Several
media agendas occurred for civil
disturbances.
 Reality construction

 While agenda setting is concerned with

emphasizing what is important, reality
construction focuses on the interpretation and
meaning of media events. Some broadcasters
invite people who are experts in their field
when media events are aired.
 surveillance

 refers to the collection and distribution of

information both within and outside a
society. The evening television news is an
overview of the happenings of the day. News
reporters scan the environment for new
events and report them in print or over the
airwaves.
Socialization and education

 Media also involve

socialization or transmission of
social heritage to the audience.
 propaganda

 Merton (1986) defined propaganda as "any and all set of

symbols which influences opinion, belief or action on issues
regarded by the community as controversial. He
emphasized that the term propaganda, in the mind of the
public, tends to imply deceit or fraud. Merton observed that
the most effective propaganda is not to tell people how to
feel but to provide them with selective facts and allow them
to draw their own conclusions.
 propaganda

 Propaganda is information
especially a biased or misleading
nature, used to promote or publicize
a particular political cause or point
of view.
 mainstreaming

 Mainstreaming refers to a common outlook and set of

values that exposure to television tends to cultivate.
When heavy viewers of television are compared to
light viewers there tends to be a commonality of
outlook among the heavy viewers.
 The ideas, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as
normal or conventional; the dominant trend in
opinion, fashion, or the arts.
 entertainment

 The function of television is the

purposeful development of
programming for the sole function of
providing entertainment for viewers.
Any artistic, cultural, or educational
value is secondary.
 advertising

The fundamental economic purpose of mass media is

to sell an audience to advertisers who can induce the
audience to buy products. The primary target
audience is the affluent, fairly well-educated, and
relatively young. In effect, mass media exist for J
corporations, which market their product through
the media.
 ACCURACY
 OBJECTIVE
 FAIRNESS AND BALANCE
 TRUTH
 INTEGRITY OF SOURCES
 AVOIDING CONFLICT OF
INTEREST
 accuracy

 The bedrock of ethics is

accuracy, the reporting of
information in a context that
allows people to understand
and comprehend the truth.
How to spot fake news!

Multiple sources:
Don't just rely on a single article. The
more you read from various sources, the more
likely you can draw accurate conclusions. Also
consider diverse sources and perspectives, for
example, news from different countries or
authors with different backgrounds.
How to spot fake news!

Check the Author:

Who is the author? Research them to see if
they are credible authors, their reputation in the
community, whether they have a specific agenda,
or if the person posting is a real person. Are they
authoring within their field of expertise?
How to spot fake news!

Check the Date:

Make sure that the date is recent
and that it is not an older story simply
rehashed
How to spot fake news!

Comments:
Even if the article, video, or post is
legitimate, be careful of comments posted in
response. Quite often links or comments posted
in response can be auto-generated by bots or by
people hired to put out bad, confusing, or false
information.
How to spot fake news!

Check Your Biases:

Be objective. Could your own biases
influence your response to the article? A problem
that we humans often run into is that we only
read sources that simply confirm what we
already believe in. Challenge yourself by reading
other sources you normally would not review.
How to spot fake news!

Check the Funding:

Even legitimate publications have
sponsors and advertisers who can
influence an article or source. Check to
see if the article is funded, and if so by
whom.
How to spot fake news!

Repost carefully:
Fake news relies on believers to
repost, retweet, or otherwise forward false
information. If you're uncertain as to the
authenticity of an article, think twice or
hold off on sharing it with others.
 objectivity

Objectivity is reporting
facts without bias or
prejudice, including or a
deliberate attempt to
avoid interpretation.
 Avoiding conflict of interest

 Outside business, social

and personal activities and
contacts can subtly
influence the ability of mass
media professionals to
conduct objective reporting
 Fairness and balance

 Fairness and Balance means

providing equal or nearly equal
coverage of various points of view
in a controversy. Fairness and
Balance often go hand in hand
with accuracy and objectivity.
Reporters attempt to investigate
the many sides of a story.
 truth

 Although journalists
cannot always ensure that
their stories are true, they
can make an extra effort to
be truthful and to avoid
lying.
 Integrity of sources

 A journalist's story is only as good

as his or her sources. Reporters who
become too loyal to sources risk the
possibility of being blinded and
missing important cues to stories.
 Reporters:
Alolor, Joshua M.
Artugue, Leonard Jay S.
Escototo, Rey John P.
Quebec, Ian M.
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