The Power of the Media : Why We Need Media Literacy

Media literacy is the process of analyzing and evaluating information that is received from media sources. This process has become extremely important in society today due to the many different and popular forms of media from which we receive our information such as, television, the Internet, magazines, and newspapers. It is crucial for an individual to be able to complete this process because it allows us to detect bias, propaganda, and censorship. It also gives an individual the opportunity to breakdown a message to fully understand it without being influenced or manipulated.

Although media literacy is a powerful and necessary tool for all people, I feel that college students need to be the most aware of this process. College is an important time for all students because it really opens them up to new and different experiences and gives them a sense of independence. Throughout college students will study many different subjects, explore many new issues, and be asked to share their own personal opinions. I feel that college is a time to gain a sense of who you are and what you believe in, and during this time students may be easily influenced by what is going on around them, such as the clutter of the media. Without being media literate, an individual may not be able to decipher the meanings of these media messages, causing their knowledge and beliefs to be persuaded in a devious way.

Another reason why I feel that college students are more susceptible to being persuaded by media messages is because they are constantly using the media to gain knowledge and information for research and school projects, and with constant Internet access and television college students are continuously exposed to and the target of media messages. However, students who are media literate have the power to not only control the amount of exposure to media messages but also how they analyze and evaluate the messages.


In society in general, there are various reasons why media literacy is so important. For example, we rely so much on the media in order to receive information and news, and when the media holds this power over us they have the ability to distort messages and persuade our opinions, knowing that we will always keep watching. Another example is that many news stations appear to be bias in the type of news they report. These stations have complete control over what the audience sees and hears, however stations do not have control over how we think. It is our job as the viewer to pick up on this bias.

Overall, I feel that media literacy is a valuable tool that must be implemented by all people in order to be successful. I feel that our society is changing, as well as technology and we need to be prepared for the mass amount of information, advertisements, and messages that will be thrown at us. We can't go on throughout our life believing everything we hear and see from the media, otherwise we would never be able to make decisions for ourselves or obtain our own opinions.

Analyzing the Factors

The media is a great source of information but it can also be a great source of influence. Today, different types of media can create positive or negative effects on different types of people depending on several factors. There are 7 different set point factors which can influence these media effects, and I will determine which of these factors have an influence on myself when viewing a violent film.

In order for a violent film to create an aggressive behavior in myself, there are several characteristics that must be present in the film. According to the context of portrayal factor, if a viewer can identify with a character then they are more likely to accept the meaning of the experience that was portrayed by those characters. Usually the types of characters I identify with are those who are typically the "good guys," so if the violent film involves a "good guy" who is aggressive and violent, then the probability of this media effect occurring will be increased.

Also, according to the degree of identification factor, a person pays more attention to the character they identify with. Therefore, if the film involves a character that I can identify with, such as a young female, then I am more likely to grow a stronger attachment which may ultimately create a stronger probability of the effect occurring. According to the states factor, the emotion a person is feeling at the time of viewing can potentially increase the media effect. So in order for this film to have a higher potential of creating aggression in myself, for example, I would need to watch it after I received a bad grade or got in a fight with a friend.

Although there are several factors that could create aggressive behavior in myself, there are many factors that would decrease my chances of this media effect occurring. For example, according to the socialization factor, a set point is hard to move when a person has been exposed consistently to anti-aggression norms all their life. Due to the fact that I was raised in a small safe town, I attend church, and I'm not exposed to much violence, my chances of acting aggressively after this film are very low.

The lifestyle factor refers to how active and social a person is. Being a college student, I am very busy and constantly interacting with other students and friends. I also stay busy by playing sports and dancing, these factors also reduce my chances of acting violent due to my low exposure to media.

Overall, after reviewing these 13 different factors which influence media effects, I believe that after I viewed a violent film the potential for aggressive behavior to occur would be very low. If all the necessary factors were in the film, there may be an increased chance of aggressive behavior. However, due to my background, low exposure to violence, and morals I believe that the chance of this media effect occurring is extremely low.

It's All About the Ratings!

The television industry is extremely competitive with television shows constantly vying for our attention, but when it comes down to it, it's all about the ratings. Nielsen Television Ratings have been around since the 1940s and are the main source for audience measurement information around the world. They are able to predict how many households are tuned into a program, as well as how many viewers are watching that program. This week I checked out the ratings of one of my favorite prime time shows, Deal or No Deal, to find out how it compares to other programs in it's category.

NBC's Deal or No Deal seems to be quite a popular show, especially now that it's on twice a week, but I was surprised to find that it didn't rank very high on the rating's list. The first Deal or No Deal show runs on Monday nights at 9 PM, while the second show runs on Thursday nights at 8 PM. The Thursday night show ranked 11th on the rating's list compared to the Monday night show which ranked much lower at number 20.

The rating's for each of these shows were different as well, with the Monday night show receiving a rating of 6.2, and the Thursday night show receiving a rating of 7.1. These numbers represent the percentage of households in the U.S. that watched this show, and according to Nielsen Media Research, there are a total of 112,800,000 television households in the country. The Monday night show had 10,140,000v viewers while the Thursday night show had 11,397,000 viewers.

Although the ratings between these two shows were not significantly different, the shares were. The share means that out of all the people who were watching television at that time, that is the percentage of people who were tuned in to that specific show. The Thursday night show had a higher share of 12 while the Monday night show had a share of 9. Overall, the Thursday night show did much better because it had higher ratings, more viewers, and a higher share.

One reason why the Monday night show has lower ratings may be because of the other programs that are in the same time slot, such as CBS's Two and a Half Men. This show ranked 8th on the rating's list with a rating of 8.6, meaning more households are tuning into this show. Another reason why the Monday night show has lower ratings, may be because the show runs twice a week, and not all viewers are going to tune in to the show on both Monday and Thursday.

Leading this past week's ratings was both American Idol shows coming in at number one and two.

Are We Really Amusing Ourselves to Death?

"Today, we must look to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada as a metaphor of our national character and aspiration.." (3) Neil Postman sets the tone for his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, as he begins by comparing our culture to the glitzy city of Las Vegas. Postman describes our culture as one that has become dependent on entertainment, whether it's in news, politics, sports, or religion. Throughout the book Postman touches on many different themes, but mainly focuses on television and how it shapes our society.

Although Postman makes valid points throughout the book, I feel that some of his opinions seem bias and do not portray our society or television in a positive light. When television was first created in the 1920s it may have been used simply as a means of communication, however it has evolved into a more entertainment-based medium, and many people will agree that that's not such a bad thing. Postman discusses the many different aspects of television including commercials, news, and even children's shows. For each topic he has a negative outlook on how they have become entertaining rather than just informing. "What has music have to do with news? Why is it there? It is there I assume, for the same reason music is used in theatre and films-to create a mood and provide a leitmotif for the entertainment." (102)

One point that I agree with is that, "Speech, of course is the primal and indispensable medium. It made us human, keeps us human, and in fact defines what human means." (9) I find this to be valid because before there were newspapers, televisions, or books, humans spread information simply by word of mouth and without speech, there would be no way of communicating.

Overall, I find Postman's book to be extremely insightful by presenting a different view on the media and television. Even though this book was published back in 1985 it has become even more relevant to society today. Not only do we have television to entertain ourselves, but also cell phones, the Internet, and video games. Postman describes television as a show business that has caused us to want to find entertainment in everything we do including education, news, and politics. I understand that throughout the years our culture has changed, but with all the technological advances it's almost impossible not to change.

Big Stories to a Small Community

The newest craze in news today is the citizen journalist. Now that more newspapers have looked to the web for posting stories, so have local citizens. Most news websites allow readers to post comments, however readers are now being given the opportunity to post their own news stories. All someone has to do is write up a story that is relevant to their local neighborhood and then post it on a website for the rest of the community to read.

I was checking out some of these new websites to get an idea of what kind of news is being posted by local citizens. One website I came across was called neighborsgo. This website is strictly for residents of a small community in Dallas who want to write local news to share with the rest of their neighborhood. After reading a few of the "top" stories I got an idea of what types of stories were important to this community.

The site had multiple stories related to school activities and local events and I found most of the stories to be very short and simple. One story talks about a Family History Night at a local elementary school and shows a picture of a young boy dressed up as Uncle Sam. Although the stories are simple and upbeat they aren't what you would call hard news stories. I also noticed that many of the postings came across as advertisements rather than news stories, which may make them a little bias.

Overall, I found that this website is a great way for local residents to share positive stories and feedback about their community. Although they aren't your typical "hard news stories", I feel that it is necessary to acknowledge small events, such as a Family History Night, otherwise no one else will.

Although these new websites are becoming more and more popular, I don't feel that they will completely take over the world of news. After reading over a few websites, I believe that they are more for small stories that no one else cares to cover, but are still of importance to people in the community. I feel that the more news there is the better and I hope to see more of these citizen journalist websites in years to come.

Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites

"I think the fans versus favorites setup is the ultimate challenge because we have the favorites who have obviously played the game before, coming in here with experience. But at the same time you have us (the fans) and we know their game. We know not only their strengths but weaknesses too. So I think that puts us at a huge advantage." This quote was said on the season premiere of "Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites" by Alexis, a motivational speaker and member of the Fan team.

One dimension of media literacy is the aesthetic domain which contains information about how to produce messages. This allows a person to make judgements about who are great artists, such as a director or actor. It also gives a person the ability to determine visual manipulation such as editing and staged behavior, which are both very prominent in reality television.

The fans may have an outside look of the game and players, however they have no control over what they see. Directors and editors can easily turn reality into entertainment by staging or editing scenes. All the "behind the scenes" stuff can give a viewer false ideas about the game or a player.

Finally, I feel that nothing is more valuable than actual experience, especially in a show like Survivor. The previous players have a huge advantage over the fans simply because they have been on the show and know what to expect. They mentally understand all the twists to the game and are physically capable of completing the intense challenges. Although the fans might have watched every episode of Survivor they may not be aware of the visual manipulation of the media and they lack the experience of the Favorites.

Max Headroom and Media Literacy

The television series Max Headroom was a futuristic show based on a news reporter named, Edison Carter. He worked for Network 23, which was in competition with another news network called BreakThru TV.

In the episode entitled War, BreakThru TV planned and staged terrorist attacks and then quickly reported on the stories. The setup was created in order for BreakThru TV to recieve better ratings than any other news network. As the network's ratings increased so did the planned attacks. The network was even going to go as far as killing a woman in order to recieve higher ratings.

This episode illustrates numerous concepts of Media Literacy, however the one concept that sticks out is the idea of blending messages. The media has three types of messages which are news, entertainment, and ads. News messages are designed to inform and entertainment messages are created to evoke emotion, such as laughter or fear. In this episode, BreakThru TV blends these two types of messages in order to create a higher response and higher ratings.

BreakThru TV discovers that by creating the news they can make it more entertaining. However, instead of informing the public with true information they are creating false facts and making the audience believe that they are being informed. This all relates back to the mass media's primary purpose for distributing messages, which is to generate revenue.