Download Media Literacy - Dr.Inas A.Hamid

Media Literacy
Human Communication
Dr. Inas A.Hamid
Do we have a role in the mass
communication process?
 Consuming media content is simple. Push a button and you
have television pictures or music on a radio. Come up with
enough cash and you can see a movie or buy a magazine.
 We have high level skills that make the most sophisticated
television show, movie, or magazine story understandable
and enjoyable. This what we can call the ability to read media
text.
 Media influence our culture in many ways. One of its effects
according to many people is that it has encouraged violence in
our society.
 So, we have a role in the mass communication process, it is a
skill we can improve to create and maintain our culture.
 If you have this skill , you are a media literate.
Media literacy is the ability to effectively and
efficiently use any form of mediated
communication.
characteristics of media literacy
 A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to
develop independent judgments about media content. Why
do we watch, read what we read, listen to what we listen to?
If we can not answer these questions , we have no
responsibility for ourselves or our choices. So, we have
taken no responsibility for the outcome of those choices.
 An understanding of the process of mass
communication. If we know the components of the mass
communication process and how they relate to one another,
we can form expectations of how they can serve us. How do
the various media industries operate? What are their
obligations to us? How do different media limit or enhance
messages? Which forms of feedback are most effective,
and why?
 An awareness of the impact of media on the individual
and society. Mass media helped change the world and the
people in it.
 Having strategies for analyzing and discussing media
messages. We need a foundation on which to base
thought and reflection as understanding the strategy
behind the placement of photos on a newspaper page,
using a camera angles and lightening.
 An understanding of media content as a text that
provides insight into our culture and our lives.

 The ability to enjoy, understand, and appreciate
media content. This means not to be suspicious of
harmful effects and cultural degradation.
 Development of effective and responsible
production skills that enable individuals to create
useful media messages even producing a telephone
answering machine message .
 An understanding of the ethical and moral
obligations of media practitioners.
Media literacy skills
 The ability and willingness to make an effort to
understand content, to pay attention, and to filter out noise.
 An understanding of the power of media messages on
the attitudes, behaviors, and values.
 The ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned
reactions when responding to content and to act
accordingly. Media content is often designed to touch us at
the emotional level. Reacting emotionally does not mean
these messages do not have serious meanings and
implications for our lives.
 The ability to think critically about media
messages, no matter how credible their sources.
 A knowledge of the internal language of various
media and the ability to understand its effects ( the
choice of lighting, editing, special effects, music,
camera angel, location on the page, and the size and
placement of headline).
 How media literate do you think you are? What about
those around you?
 What are your weakness as a media literate person?