ON THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MEDIA LITERACY AND MEDIA ETHICS
By YAYU FENG, VICE HEAD AND PROGRAMMING CHAIR
As the Programming Chair of MED, I spent quite some time going through panel ideas from all Divisions and Interest Groups in October. It was a really interesting experience as I get to know what people care about in our field. A topic that attracted wide interest across DIGs seemed to be media literacy. Many panel ideas have addressed media literacy directly or are aimed at some aspect of media literacy (social media, algorithm, simulation, etc.).
Perhaps this has been a trend in regards to AEJMC’s panels for a while, but I was especially excited to see this topic this year, as I spent the past year developing a media literacy course and am applying for it to be included in our university’s core curriculum. I would love to see some of those panels at the Washington conference so I can learn about new pedagogical and practical tools related to media literacy.
Recently, in an introduction to mass media class filled with first-year students from different majors, my colleague gave a lecture about the basics of editing and how they make meaning in movies. A student raised his hand at the end of the lecture and asked: “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are we learning about this?” My colleague replied: “because I am teaching you to be media literate people.” The very question prompted me to think about the need for increasing the visibility of media literacy, especially in liberal arts education. Students do not necessarily see media literacy as part of their general education and essential skill-building yet (c.f. would a student question the purpose of learning to improve writing or reading skills?).
I think of media literacy and media ethics as two sides of a coin. The coin represents an information environment where civic discussions take place. Media ethics guides media professionals to produce media content with moral standards, whereas media literacy trains the public to access, evaluate, and critically analyze the media content. You need both sides to create a healthy information environment and civic engagement. Plus, in this participatory culture, everyone (at least in principle) has the ability to create media messages with apps like TikTok and YouTube, so media literacy is also critical in guiding people to become responsible content creators online.
I also believe that media professionals share the responsibility with educators to help increase media literacy among the general public. Half of the students in my media literacy class now are journalism or digital media arts majors. My additional expectation for them in this class is learning how to educate others about what they do and articulate the intentions and crafts behind their own works. As media ethics educators, perhaps we should encourage our students to think about promoting media literacy as part of their professional obligation.
If you have great resources on teaching media literacy, and how to build it into a media ethics course, I would appreciate if you can share it with me at yayu.feng@stthomas.edu.
Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who submitted panel ideas to our division. The range and depth of panel submissions were impressive, and we had a really difficult time making selections. Now, Divisions and Interest Groups just completed the deal-making process for the proposed panels, and AEJMC’s Council of Division leaders and staff are in the process of setting the final slate. We expect to have final decisions on the 2023 panel program in coming weeks. Until then, we appreciate your patience and contributions!
Perhaps this has been a trend in regards to AEJMC’s panels for a while, but I was especially excited to see this topic this year, as I spent the past year developing a media literacy course and am applying for it to be included in our university’s core curriculum. I would love to see some of those panels at the Washington conference so I can learn about new pedagogical and practical tools related to media literacy.
Recently, in an introduction to mass media class filled with first-year students from different majors, my colleague gave a lecture about the basics of editing and how they make meaning in movies. A student raised his hand at the end of the lecture and asked: “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are we learning about this?” My colleague replied: “because I am teaching you to be media literate people.” The very question prompted me to think about the need for increasing the visibility of media literacy, especially in liberal arts education. Students do not necessarily see media literacy as part of their general education and essential skill-building yet (c.f. would a student question the purpose of learning to improve writing or reading skills?).
I think of media literacy and media ethics as two sides of a coin. The coin represents an information environment where civic discussions take place. Media ethics guides media professionals to produce media content with moral standards, whereas media literacy trains the public to access, evaluate, and critically analyze the media content. You need both sides to create a healthy information environment and civic engagement. Plus, in this participatory culture, everyone (at least in principle) has the ability to create media messages with apps like TikTok and YouTube, so media literacy is also critical in guiding people to become responsible content creators online.
I also believe that media professionals share the responsibility with educators to help increase media literacy among the general public. Half of the students in my media literacy class now are journalism or digital media arts majors. My additional expectation for them in this class is learning how to educate others about what they do and articulate the intentions and crafts behind their own works. As media ethics educators, perhaps we should encourage our students to think about promoting media literacy as part of their professional obligation.
If you have great resources on teaching media literacy, and how to build it into a media ethics course, I would appreciate if you can share it with me at yayu.feng@stthomas.edu.
Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who submitted panel ideas to our division. The range and depth of panel submissions were impressive, and we had a really difficult time making selections. Now, Divisions and Interest Groups just completed the deal-making process for the proposed panels, and AEJMC’s Council of Division leaders and staff are in the process of setting the final slate. We expect to have final decisions on the 2023 panel program in coming weeks. Until then, we appreciate your patience and contributions!
