Media Literacy Key Concepts

Now more then ever mass media and popular culture is becoming an increasingly more influential tool on our lives. From radios, to televisions, to music and not the internet, we are becoming overwhelmed with media everywhere we go. Depending on how the media present their information, it can affect social, economic, political, and other important areas of society. People who have a better understanding of the media are often able to make purposeful messages through the media. There are eight major media literacy concepts that are an effective foundation for examining mass media and popular culture. One of the keys is how audiences negotiate meaning in the media. When people have different individual factors, it can sway the way they interpret information. The media provides us with much of the material upon which we build our picture of reality. Another major media concept is that media has commercial implications. Most media companies are a business and are out there to make a profit. They will try to influence their market so they have an interest in purchasing their product because of its performance, but often it performs less than expected. A final media concept is that each medium has a unique aesthetic form. In order for a media to attract viewers it would be helpful if their media was displayed in an attractive layout. There are still several other key concepts and all of them play an effective role on how the media is shaped. The first media concept is how audiences negotiate meaning in the media. When we receive our information form media sources, we then interpret it. As we negotiate the meaning, inevitably there will be controversy in our opinions, some greater than others. Depending on our individual factors such as cultural background, racial and sexual attitudes and many more, it can shape our opinion differently compared to others. An example of this media concept was presented a couple years ago during a Super Bowl commercial. Tim Tebow, a former quarterback at the University of Florida and now a professional football player was in a commercial with his mom supporting pro-life. Tim’s mom was in a tough situation on weather or not to go through with the pregnancy. As many sports people know Tim Tebow is very successful and is a role model for younger people with his leadership qualities and his work ethic. When it was first public that this commercial was going to air, many people had a problem with it. There was already and still is a large controversy over this topic and depending on your individual factors such as religion and sexual attitudes, your opinion will be different. When it did run during the Super Bowl it was not as hyped up as it was thought to be. It did favor pro-life, but they did not do it in an excessive manner. The main purpose of this media concept is that there is always going to be controversy when we interpret something and depending on our past personal experiences it will shape the way we feel about the topic. The second media concept is that the media has commercial implications. For the most part, many media companies are businesses and most must make a profit to keep running smoothly. In some scenarios on advertisements they try to over exaggerate the product they are selling so the consumer will go out and purchase it. In many cases they have advertisements of gym membership programs on T.V. and in magazines. They often use models to show how great their product is and if you join their gym that you will get in incredible shape. By doing this they get people to join and in effect they make money. Many people realize that they did not get in as great of shape as they thought and do not look like the models in the advertisement. Still in most cases the product or service does under perform, but the consumer still receives some positive results. Overall the media often attempts to influence people by commercial considerations and based on the context and technique of the advertisement it could make someone do business with the media company. The more encouraging the product looks to succeed then the more likely that they will make a profit.