Media Literacy...A MUST!!!

Media Literacy is defined by wikipedia.com as the process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. In this day in age, there we are exposed to millions of media messages and hundreds of different media mediums to convey those messages. As a person living in a technological era full of influence from media, it is vital that I am media literate.

Neil Postman was my first advisor of media literacy in his book “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” His whole idea is that the media overall has a negative effect on society in general. Specifically, Postman uses the news as an example of how the news of the day is turned into a commodity and lacks quality and relevance and reaches for entertainment instead. Although I do not completely agree with Postman’s pessimistic view of the media, his points allowed me to examine the news and television medium closely and ask myself: “Is this news/TV informing me sufficiently or simply entertaining me?” I think this an important question for everyone to ask themselves each time they sit in front of the set in order to maintain media literacy.

College students such as myself must seek media literacy as new forms of media are being developed everyday. For example, the new I-Phone is a media mastermind with instant internet access, video, photos, music, and of course it can be used to call people. A blogger named Tom Hume talked about how the iphone attracts a particular audience of people who are already obsessed with surfing the web and are avid Apple fans. However, statistics have shown that 30% of buyers were first time Apple customers and 40% were buying their first ipod in the iphone. My media literacy causes me to ask the question, “Have we become so dependent on the media that we are willing to pay upwards of $500 for a cell-phone?”

Another aspect of the media we need to be aware of is where we lie on the media influence line. As stated by the text, Media Literacy by James Potter, if too close to the manifestation line, a person could easily act out according to what they’ve seen in the media. For instance, someone who plays a violent video game may act out violently due to influence from the media. Its important to remain in the safe zone and not be over-influenced by what type of media you are exposed to.

A way to exercise your media literacy muscles is to use the 4 step media literacy method: Awareness, Analysis, Reflection, and Action.

People need to be AWARE of the media message being conveyed and use their media filters to interpret it properly and be careful not be manifested by the message.

ANALYSIS is the process of searching for political, economic, social, cultural and personal context in which to think about the theme. Ask the question: “How is this media message relevant to political, economic, social, etc. context?”

When REFLECTING we need to sit back and think about what is right or wrong with the message according to your personal values/beliefs?

ACTION is the final step that deals with doing something after going through the first three steps of this process.

Following these four simple steps can help maintain consistent media literacy. In this era of abundant media exposure, it is definitely a MUST to be media literate.

Staying in the SAFE ZONE on the Influence Line

Through the activity I performed from the text “Media Literacy” I learned that for the most part, of the 13 factors listed, I am only affected by a select few of them. After reviewing each of the 7 set point factors and 6 factors special to a type of effect, I found that I am not necessarily at risk to act aggressively from playing a violent video game.
According to an article found at the website http://www.apa.org/releases/videogames.html, violence in video games can promote more aggression than any other form of media because of the interaction involved. My strength in my developmental maturities, cognitive abilities, knowledge structures, sociological factors, lifestyle, and personal locus allow me to avoid any aggression and from getting too close to the manifestation line. For instance, my lifestyle is one that consists of normalcy in that I do not participate or promote violence nor am I ever exposed to it in real life. Therefore, I can easily avoid any major effects from the violent lifestyle I expose myself to when playing a video game.
As far as the other points like media exposure habits, and the special types of content of messages, context portrayals, cognitive complexity of content, motivations, states, and character identification, I struggle to not be directly effected. For instance, I enjoy playing military video games. This can fall under context portrayals as I am exposed to violent activities towards enemy soldiers such as the Al-Qaeda; I am then exposed to the same context in the news concerning the War in Iraq. This often causes me to have thoughts of aggression and violence towards the Al-Qaeda.
Another special type of effect that I related to was that of the degree of identification. As stated in the video, “Game Over,” people like to be able to relate the character that they are portraying. In my case, I loved to play Duke Nukem for that very reason. He was big, strong, violent, and the women loved him. The text in the “Media Literacy” book talks about the “as if” experience where I find myself imagining if I were Duke Nukem.
After conducting this experiment, I was happy to learn that I lie in a safe area on the influence line. I am definitely not too close to the manifestation line but because I am effected by many of the factors special to a type of effect (i.e.: media exposure habits) I can never be un-influenced. I would like my life with media to change for the better by being able to recognize when I am falling victim to any of the risk set points. For instance, if I am using a violent video game to release some anger or stress, I hope to be able to realize that the violence is not a good way to release stress in real-life scenarios. I also hope to continue to maintain the areas that keep me from nearing the manifestation line such as sustaining my developmental maturities, and knowledge structures.

Reading Into Ratings

My favorite network television show is Cold Case. The show airs on CBS every Sunday night from 9-10pm. According to a Nielsen Media’s recent ratings, Cold Case was ranked 18th with 9.8 million viewers, tied with the show How I Met Your Mother.
Cold Case has an audience of approximately 7,096,000 and approximately 9,804,000 viewers. It holds a rating/share of 6.3/10. Cold case is up against some pretty tough competition in its Sunday night time slot including Oprah’s Big Give on the ABC network which ranked 13th during the week of March 24th-30th with 11,362,000 viewers. However, with the recent NCAA Basketball tournament taking place on the same network as Cold Case (CBS) one might assume that the audience watching the basketball games during the late afternoon and evenings may carry over to watch Cold Case at 9pm. Another question that may arise is will the show’s ratings fall once the tournament is over?
Cold Case has been on air for almost 5 years now and received a viewer rating of 3.7 out of 4 stars on zap2it.com. Its popularity is strong however its ratings have fallen most likely due to the strong competition of television taking place on Sunday nights.
Sunday night is a big night for television with popular shows such as Extreme Home Makeover (ABC-8pm), 60 minutes (CBS-7pm), and Law & Order SVU (NBC-10pm). This is another key factor in Cold Cases near last place rating due to the other popular shows occurring on Sunday evening on rival networks drawing viewers. Although in different time slots, many viewers may tune into their favorite show then turn the television off and resume their busy lives without ever considering other shows such as Cold Case on other networks at other times.
The writer’s strike has also had an effect on Cold Case quite possibly for the better with shows like Desperate Housewives not airing new episodes recently on Sunday nights.
If I were to move my favorite show to another timeslot in order to increase its overall ratings I would move it to Thursday nights for two main reasons. One being that only two shows on Nielsen’s top 20 airs on Thursday nights which is Deal or No Deal (NBC-8pm) and The Apprentice (NBC-9pm). The other main reason is that there is no American Idol on that night. Its near impossible to compete with the show that’s always at the top of the ratings dominating Tuesday and Wednesday nights. For the very reason that there are not many shows top-rated shows on Thursdays (except for the two mentioned above) and there is no American Idol, I feel the Cold Cases’ ratings would increase.