Media Literacy

Media literacy – the ability to critically consume and create media – is an essential skill in today’s world. Media literacy education seeks to give kids and adults greater freedom by empowering them to access, analyze, evaluate and produce media.

Media literate youth and adults are better able to understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, signs, packaging, marketing materials, video games, recorded music, the Internet and other forms of media. They can understand not only the surface content of media messages (the “text”) but also the more important meanings (the “subtext”) hidden beneath the surface. People who are media literate can also create their own media, becoming active participants in our media culture.

New Mexico Media Literacy Project

Excess TV, computer video gaming linked to poor attention in kids: study

May 7, 2010

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/home_family/excess-tv-computer-video-gaming-linked-to-poor-attention-in-kids-study–97781374.html By: Sheryl Ubelacker, Health Reporter, The Canadian Press 5/07/2010 3:06 AM TORONTO – Children who spend many hours a day glued to the TV or playing computer video games may be harming their ability to concentrate and focus on tasks in school, researchers suggest. A study by psychologists at Iowa State University found that...
Read More »

Will new ads change the movie industry?

January 12, 2010
Will new ads change the movie industry?

This ad is from Smoke Free Movies.  It appeared for the first time in January 2010. Printer-friendly PDF.
Read More »

TV Viewing Before the Age of 2 Has No Cognitive Benefit

March 2, 2009

Source: Children’s Hospital Boston Monday 2, 2009 Description: In the first longitudinal study of its kind, researchers show that TV viewing before the age of 2 does not improve a child’s language and visual motor skills. The study suggests that maternal, child and household characteristics are more influential to a child’s brain development. Newswise
Read More »

Buying Channel One Comes Back To Haunt Alloy

October 31, 2008
Buying Channel One Comes Back To Haunt Alloy

  From Jim Metrock: I am pretty awful at picking stocks. If you think you are in bad shape with your investments, you should see my brokerage statements. Actually, even I am not looking at my own brokerage (now I know why “broke” is in the word) statements because I don’t have the nerve....
Read More »

You’re A Mean One, Channel One News.

December 20, 2007
You’re A Mean One, Channel One News.

    Creating controversy where there is none. He doesn’t look like Scrooge, but Channel One’s Chris Browne tried his best on December 20 to get children to rethink the idea of a CHRISTMAS tree. CHRIS: “ON TUESDAY, WE TOLD YOU ABOUT SOME CONTROVERSIES FROM ACROSS THE NATION. SOME THINK THE TERM CHRISTMAS TREE...
Read More »

Kent Haehl Redux

November 5, 2007
Kent Haehl Redux

  From Jim Metrock: Channel One News is no longer hiding the fact its main mission is to help advertisers connect with young people. The new CEO of Channel One News is Kent Haehl. He used to be Channel One’s Vice President of Sales. He was the man responsible for some awful commercials in...
Read More »

Media Literacy Links

August 1, 2006

"Who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it’s a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell." – George Gerbner     ACME Accuracy in Media AdBusters Alliance for a...
Read More »

What’s Wrong With This?

February 3, 2006
What’s Wrong With This?

  This video clip from Channel One will start with a recruitment ad for the Army and then go immediately into a feature story about a high school football player from Kentucky. Channel One News is cutting back on their news stories because they are too expensive to produce. Shooting footage like this is relatively cheap and requires little...
Read More »

Nag Factor

November 21, 2005
Nag Factor

Screen shot of today’s commercial shown in middle and high schools.   It’s getting near Christmas and toy and game commercials are filling up Channel One’s’ ad spots. Companies like Nintendo like the captive audience that Channel One claims it can deliver. On today’s show, students watched a commercial that offers them a “free” video game if...
Read More »

Why Show This?

October 3, 2005
Why Show This?

On September 8, students saw a report on the rescue of an American hostage in Iraq. Channel One News could have told this story without video or even pictures. An anchor could have just looked in the camera and read the teleprompter just like they often do on other news stories. They had plenty of footage to choose...
Read More »