"The fifth concept encourages students to consider the question of why the message was sent and where it came from. Too often students believe the role of media is simply to entertain or inform, with little knowledge of the economic structure that supports it"
(Kellner & Share, 2005).
Reflection:
Being that I am a math teacher, of course I am going to go
after the quote about the economic structure that supports media. I know that when I was a kid, I took absolutely
everything on television as fact or entertainment. Even as I grew older, I did not question the
CSNBC specials or news reports. I did
not truly know the purpose of commercials; I looked at media a hobby and
enjoyment.
When in college, I had a science professor, Debra Hemler,
teach me a valuable lesson. She had a
room full of pre-service teachers watch a special about the “Landing on the
Moon Hoax.” This special was very
biased; the message was sent to get people to believe that we never landed on
the moon. We took careful notes. After the movie, Dr. Hemler asked the class
how many people thought we actually landed on the moon. Nobody raised there hand. Then Dr. Hemler told us valuable information
that was not in the video we watched;
for example, moon rocks (which have a composition unlike any earth rocks)
were brought back. The point of her
lesson was to show us the importance of questioning.
Too many times, our students do not consider why a message
was delivered in the media. Is it to
persuade us? Is it to inform? What is the economic structure behind the
message? It is very possible for media present
favorable information, as it did in the 2000 election.
Students need to understand that at the end of the day, the
purpose of mainstream media is to make money.
It is important to know the corporate interests of media companies. It is important for our students to question everything.
Additional Research:
Washington Post- How Biased are the Media Really?
The link above is from the Washington Post and explores biases in the media(of all types). It views the media as a changing landscape. Very interesting read!
Citation:
Farhi, P. (2012, April 27). How biased are the media, really?. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-biased-is-the-media-really/2012/04/27/gIQA9jYLmT_story.html
Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward critical media
literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. Discourse:
studies in the cultural politics of education, 26(3), 369-386.
Retrieved from
http://gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/2005_Kellner-Share_TowardsCriticalMediaLiteracy.pdf
Great article! My concern is not about liberal or conservative bias media but that mass media seems to very little in providing people with good information (facts) to base their own opinions.
ReplyDeleteI really like that activity you described in Deb Hemler's class! I think math can be used in multiple ways to help student do fact checking in order to determine the truth in advertising and political campaigns!
ReplyDelete