Why Teach Media Literacy?

"Media literate people understand that television is 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 all media benefit some people and leave others out. They can pose and sometimes answer questions about who are the beneficiaries, who is left out and why. Media literate people seek alternative sources of information and entertainment. Media literate people use television for their own advantage and enjoyment. Media literate people know how to act. They are not acted upon. In that way, media literate people are better citizens."

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


Why Teach Media Literacy?

"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."

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.A., 1991.

To learn more about why learning media literacy is so important, check out the Media Awareness Network .