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
Here are several frames from a controversial new commercial running on Channel One News. (This was shown to high school students, middle school students as well as some fifth graders.) Channel One’s little horror film starts with a young couple in a parked car. Everything is very romantic until… The woman hears “something” outside the car. She turns...
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On Friday, September 9, Channel One advertised two junk food products. Hubba Bubba Max bubble gum and Gatorade. Hubba Bubba is one of Wrigley’s sugary products. The commercial today was a new one featuring a polar bear who stuffs his face with Hubba Bubba bubble gum. The ad is a satire on the R-rated movie Fargo. Commercial content...
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Screen shots from Channel One News April 2005 The new CEO of Channel One News is Judy Harris. Obligation has tried to contact Ms. Harris since she accepted the Channel One job. She does not return emails or phone calls. We are beginning to see why she is reluctant to talk. She is taking Channel One News...
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Eight, Seven, Six, Five… Four Will Derrick Shore be the last person remaining at Channel One News? In a little over a year’s time, Channel One News has cut back from eight news anchors to four. This drastic cut is obviously due to the financial troubles that plague the company. The remaining anchors are Derrick Shore, Seth...
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Snoop Dogg On Channel One From Jim Metrock: I am close to being speechless. Unfortunately for our “friends” at Channel One News, I still have the ability to type words. I should be finishing my reporting from the NASSP convention. I will get around to that later. When I arrived back in Birmingham, I had a videocassette in my...
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From Jim Metrock: “No news is good news.” That might be the new motto at Channel One News. Today there was no news on Channel One News. Today Channel One News reran a feature story on the Holocaust that was shown to students in 2000. Channel One has increasingly been using old footage to...
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From Jim Metrock: Did Lance Cpl. Stone give Seth Doane permission to use his name to promote Doane’s controversial company? The C1 logo gives the audience the impression that Jesse Stone endorses Channel One. Channel One has always tried to use its news stories to help promote the Channel One brand. It was no different...
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More mayhem on Channel One. Children witness a friend shooting his friend in the head (or possibly the chest – film ends with gun flash) while they sit smoking marijuana. The intended message from the ONDCP (Office for National Drug Control Policy) is “you can’t think straight when you smoke pot.” No one can argue with that obvious...
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If you can imagine the Ku Klux Klan giving seminars on racial tolerance, then you’ll have no problem accepting Channel One teaching media literacy to the schoolchildren who are forced to watch their TV show and commercials under force of contract. The term “media literacy” is relatively new. Roughly it attempts to teach children and adults how to “read” media...
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