In thinking about applying effective media literacy programs in the US, I had trouble envisioning how such programs would be received. Our political environment is so polarized to the extent that even defining media literacy as enabling people to 'exercise informed choices, understand the nature of content.. protect themselves and their families' (Europe's A/V Media Services Directive) could be distorted and spun to have political implications. What many accept as a logical need, other see as a subversive and undermining influence.
There was a news story that came out of Detroit last week that highlighted several school districts in the Detroit area that required students to have a permission slip before they were allowed to watch President Obama's back-to-school speech. This was undoubtedtly a result of the current state of our bipartisan politics, which is heavily influenced by the bipartisan nature of news media. It is a 'us' vs. 'them' dynamic which has spiraled way out of control and context. As we talked about in class, meeting a standard of objectivity is increasingly difficult to do. I wonder if media literacy could ever take its place in the realm of subjects for the 'common good' such as civics or social studies. Even in social studies we get distorted views on race, religion, and history-but it is commonly seen as promoting our general 'American' values. However, media, especially in the state it is currently in, seems to have much greater political implications.
As much as I would like to see media literacy programs find their place in public schools-it almost seems overly idealistic. While I understand that curriculum wouldn't include dissecting Fox news clips vs. MSNBC news clips-and would rather be more oriented toward tech-literacy and responsible use of the Internet-this approach alone would fail to fulfill the true goals of a media literacy curriculum, namely furthering an analytical and critical ability. The former seems more like what O'Neill article termed as 'digital literacy.'
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ReplyDeleteWhile I am not in total disagreement with your conclusion, my comments may still give off that tone.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to address the use of ‘overly idealistic’ I believe that this is overly used by many SIS students, and honestly it’s a little disheartening. The use makes me feel like there is little hope in our future leaders and with little hope for change, there will too be little effort for change. In general, if we have goals, using the term ‘overly idealistic’ (whether they are or not) is limiting to the effort of any change at all. That is an issue that I’ve had with a large portion of students.
Media literacy is an important issue to students of IC and obviously, it is an important issue for you, so much so you have written a blog about it; so I also believe that the calling the notion of media literacy programs in public schools ‘overly idealistic’ is a slap in the face to everything you just wrote about. My question to you there is: if you don’t believe in it, then why bother? In general, I found it difficult to see which side of this you were on. What I understood from your writing is: Media literacy is important, but it is too complex to try to educate people on this very important subject. Maybe I’m simplifying it too much, but I doubt it.
As you have said, the dynamic is ‘us versus them’ and it has spiraled far out of control and context. Again, my question is, why hasn’t there been efforts to curb this? In addition, the question of objectivity cannot be ignored. My response to this is that total objectivity does not have to be achieved. It is not possible (even in the most idealistic sense), but, the goal that I believe needs to be achieved is one of honesty. For some reason, we did not really cover honesty or openness too much in class. My take on this is simple: if there is more honesty and earnest in the media, parents and schools would not be so inclined to shield their children and students from the media. Media should be a vessel from which knowledge is gained—it is no longer the case.
People are entitled to their views of events; of course, not everyone is going to view events and happenings in the same light—we all come from different backgrounds and experiences that shape our perspective lens. Media literacy is important not only so we can learn to appreciate others’ views, but also to hold those responsible who are purposefully distorting truth for their own gains.