Media Literacy
What is Media Literacy? Web Resources:- A select list of resources available on the Web.
- Alternative Media Guide
- Sociology 3431: Critical Media Analysis (fall 2009)
- Evaluating Web Sources Guide
What is Media Literacy?
An example: Many people would agree that mainstream or commercial radio does not reflect what is truly new and innovative on the music scene today. At the very least, there is a time lag between the impact an artist has on the local or "alternative" scene and an artist's eventual "breakthrough" onto the mainstream music scene. Often, this time lag is measured in years; more often than not, the breakthrough never happens.
Can this same or similar scenario be applied to the arena of news and information? Why do certain stories, ideas, arguments, never reach a wide audience? Are corporate-owned daily newspapers and network news broadcasters the informational equivalent of the "classic rock" radio format: safe, predictable, appealing to advertisers? What factors play a role in determing what information is (and is not) granted "newsworthy" status?
This is but one example of the type of issues addressed by the sources in this guide.
Media Literacy and Information Literacy
According to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, we live in an "environment of rapid technological change and proliferating information resources" where it is increasingly important to develop information literacy skills. What is Information Literacy?
Individuals are today "faced with diverse, abundant information choices" and these choices are increasingly "available through multiple media, including graphical, aural, and textual...." However, as the ACRL Standards point out, "the sheer abundance of information will not in itself create a more informed citizenry without a complementary cluster of abilities necessary to use information effectively" (emphasis added). What are these abilities?
An information literate individual is able to:
- Determine the extent of information needed
- Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
- Evaluate information and its sources critically
- Incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base
- Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
- Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally
From the ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education.
Being media literate means...
Often lost in the aparent abundence of information choices is the fact that many of the choices offered orginate from the same source. Fewer than ten multinational corporations dominate the global media market (see the Media Ownership section below). In most cases these same companies own film studios, television channels, magazines, newspapers, book publishers, radio stations and internet portals, contributing to what many would consider a media monopoly that is contributing to the homogenization of our culture by limiting the diversity of perspectives and points of view to which we have easy access. In Canada, the same few companies that own the main television networks also own most of the country's major daily newspapers. Is this a situation likely to produce diversity of opinion?
Learning to be media literate thus has much to do with critically evaluating information and its sources. Being media literate means seeking out diverse sources of information and a variety of perspectives to broaden the often narrowly defined "official narrative" of a given story. It means being aware that media owners and advertisers may influence editorial content. It means paying attention to what isn't said or shown about an event; and how accompanying images can undermine or alter one's interpretation of what is said.
This guide is designed to provide an introduction to some of the issues related to information and media literacy, as well as provide links to sites that provide coverage of stories and perspectives underrepresented in the mainstream media. The above is by no means a complete definition of media literacy. For more information, consult the many books on this topic in the Library and visit the Websites listed below.
Web Resources:
General Media Literacy Resources
Selected Reports
Media Ownership
Media and Religion
Online News Sources, Journals and Magazines
General Media Literacy Resources
Association for Media Literacy
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
The Center for Public Integrity: Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest
FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Free Press
A "non-profit organization working to involve the public in media policymaking and to craft policies for a more democratic media system." Launched in December 2002 by Robert McChesney in collaboration with John Nichols and Josh Silver.
MediaSmarts (formerly known as Media Awareness Network)
National Conference on Media Reform
Includes A-V downloads, links to blog and press coverage, and more.
Online Journalism Review: News Briefs (USC Annenberg)
Reports on the world of online journalism: operational news, advances in technology that will affect the world of online journalism and news that can be found exclusively online.
Open Media
A national, non-partisan, non-profit organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada.
Project Censored (Sonoma State University)
Explores censorship and publicizes un- or under-reported stories.
The Thunderbird: UBC Journalism News Service
Selected Reports
Attacks on the Press (by the Committee to Protect Journalists)
Final Report on the Canadian News Media (Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications), June 2006
Reporters Without Borders: Worldwide Press Freedom Index
The State of the News Media: An Annual Report on American Journalism (by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism)
Media Ownership
CJR: Columbia Journalism Review: Who Owns What
FAIR: Corporate Ownership
FreePress.net: Media Consolidation
Media and Religion
The Revealer
Includes daily review of religion in the news and links to the religious media and media about religion.
Online News Sources, Journals & Magazines:
The Alternative Press Center's Online Directory
Independentmedia.ca
A directory of independent media in Canada (not being updated as of November 2012).
Mt.A Libraries Alternative Media Guide