Today's definition of literacy is more than reading and writing. In order to be functionally literate in our media-saturated world, children and young people—in fact, all of us—have to be able to read the messages that daily inform us, entertain us and sell to us. As the Internet becomes a fact of life, the critical thinking skills that help young people navigate through traditional media are even more important.

Why teach media literacy? Here are some viewpoints on this topic from well-known media educators.

Pat Kipping

Because it makes you a better citizen

Media literate people understand that media are constructed to convey ideas, information and news from someone else's perspective. They understand that specific techniques are used to create emotional effects. They can identify those techniques and their intended and actual effects. They are aware that the media benefit some people, but leave others out. They can (pose and sometimes answer) questions about who benefits, who is left out, and why. Media literate people seek alternative sources of information and entertainment. Media literate people use the media for their own advantage and enjoyment. Media literate people know how to act, rather than being acted upon. In this way, media literate people are better citizens.

Source: Pat Kipping. "Media Literacy - An Important Strategy for Building Peace," Peace Magazine. Toronto, ON, Canada.

Len Masterman

Why study the media?

Media saturation
Television is not the only mass medium that accounts for media saturation. When one considers pop music, radio, newspapers, magazines, computers and video games—in addition to TV—we are exposed to more mass media messages in one day than our grandparents were in a month.

Media influence
The media sell "audience consciousness." They try to predispose people not just to buy certain detergents, cars or aspirin, but to simply buy.

The manufacture and management of information
Most governments and businesses have public relations (PR) departments, whose purpose is to get the "good news" about them out into the public consciousness. Many succeed so well that much of what is reported as "news" in fact comes directly from PR departments and press releases.

Media education and democracy
Political leaders have discovered the influence of the media. Those who use the media will get their way regardless of public policy or personal integrity.

The increasing importance of visual communication and information
For hundreds of years, society has valued literacy—the reading and understanding of texts. In today's society, the visual image is arguably more important than the printed word—yet there has been no corresponding focus on reading the meaning of visual images.

The growing privatization of information
The world economy is fast becoming an information economy, with information a commodity to be bought and sold. A danger exists that new classes of "information-rich" and "information-poor" people may result, with the information-poor unable to afford the information they need to better their lives.

Educating for the future
The above issues will not decline in importance. Tomorrow's world, in fact, will be increasingly dominated by mass media and communications technologies. Generations of the future will need to understand how the mass media influence society.

Source: Len Masterman. Excerpted with permission from Teaching the Media. London: Routledge, 1985.

Kathleen Tyner

The storytellers of our generation

Media bring the world into our homes. From them, we learn about war and peace, the environment, new scientific discoveries, and so on. We are dependent upon mass communication for knowing what is going on in our physical, social, economic, and political environments. In other words, almost everything we know about people, places, and events that we cannot visit first-hand comes from the media. We also rely on media for entertainment and pleasure. Television and film have become the storytellers of our generation: these stories tell us about who we are, what we believe, and what we want to be.

Source: Media and You: An Elementary Literacy Curriculum, by Kathleen R. Tyner and Donna Lloyd Kolkin. Strategies for Media Literacy Inc., Educational Technology Publications, Englewoods Cliffs, New Jersey, U.S., 1991.

Dan Blake

6 reasons for teaching media literacy

When I do my workshops on "Media Literacy: The New Basic," I present the following six reasons for teaching about the role of the media in society:

1. We live in a mediated environment.

2. Media literacy emphasizes critical thinking.

3. Being media literate is part of being an educated citizen.

4. Media literacy promotes active participation in a media-saturated environment.

5. Media education helps us to understand communication technologies.

6. Media literacy has been integrated into all subject areas from K-12.

Source: Dan Blake, Canadian Association of Media Education.

Maureen Baron

To help prepare students for life in society

Teachers help prepare students for life in society. I use the verb "help" in order to emphasize that teachers do not do this alone or in isolation. Parents, other students, the community, the larger society, the extended family, religious institutions and the media are just some of the other educators that students encounter throughout their lives. These educators—sometimes in harmony and sometimes not—teach students to communicate, critique, count, create, care and contribute. Traditionally this has been done through the printed word, numerals and the fine arts. The world has evolved, and the media in general—particularly the popular media—now take a far more prominent position and role than in the past. Students need the knowledge, skills, abilities and competence to communicate, critique, create, care and contribute—now that the media are such a large part of life today.

Source: Maureen Baron, Multimedia Administrator, The English Montreal School Board.