The Three Building Blocks of Media Literacy
1. Skills
The practical tools used to interpret media messages.
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Analysis – Break messages down (who, what, when, where, why, how)
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Evaluation – Judge value/credibility of messages
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Grouping – Categorize similarities and differences
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Induction – Infer patterns from examples
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Deduction – Apply general rules to specific cases
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Synthesis – Integrate new info into existing knowledge
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Abstracting – Summarize central meaning with precision
2. Knowledge Structures
Organized mental frameworks to retrieve and apply learned media information.
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Built around understanding:
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Media content
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Media effects
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Media industries
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The real world
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The self
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Types of message information:
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Factual (e.g. dates, names)
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Social (e.g. values, behaviors inferred from context)
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3. Personal Locus
Your motivation and goals when engaging with media.
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Strong personal locus = more control over media influence
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Weak personal locus = media decides what you think, want, and buy
Criteria for news:
- Timeliness
- Significance
- Proximity**
- Prominence
- Conflict
- Human Interest
- Deviance
How to Be More Media Literate with News
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Recognize your exposure patterns and their effect on beliefs.
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Apply agenda-setting theory
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Evaluate:
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What you consume (exposure)
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Where you get it from (quality)
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Critical Thinking is:
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Skepticism: Not blindly accepting claims.
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Challenging assumptions and reasoning.
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Uncovering biases in what we see or hear.
Marketing Types
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Outbound: Traditional ads (TV, newspapers) that interrupt attention.
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Inbound: Internet-based, targets users already looking for the product, leads them through a buying funnel.