Reading note on The Media, Media literacy and Democratic Education in Does your Vote Count? by Carr,P (2011)

         Paul R. Carr started this chapter by asking questions related to media in education. For example, Are educators themselves critically engaged in using, dissecting and translating the media in the classroom? Do the media connect with education in any substantive way that offers hope for critical engagement? In sum, what can be learned from the interplay between the mainstream media and education? These questions are the main focus of this chapter which are very important because a fundamental part of critical and engaged learning is the quest for political literacy which involves media literacy. The process leading to political engagement and political literacy should be an important component to achieving a more robust and meaningful democratic experience in education. 

      From a pedagogical vantage point, little can be gained from avoiding a vigorous and broadly infused critical approach to the media. Critical pedagogy provides an indispensable framework through which the connection between the media and education can be interrogated and critiqued. Media culture has arguably become the most dominant force defining the sense of self, driving our understanding of the ‘other’, and providing “symbols, myths and resources” for generating a common culture (Kellner, 1995). One of the major areas in which corporate leaders spawn their agendas and perpetuate hegemonic commercial and social ideologies is via youth culture. Hoechsmann (2006) provides a useful interpretation of media education which he contrast with media literacy, arguing that it is “ not something only learned from teachers”.

The chapter then examines data drawn from two master’s level sociology of education classes at a university in Ohio with students who are already teacher. The course raises important questions about the potential for doing critical media literacy in schools as well as the general positioning of the subject by teachers.

     The process involves several activities to sensitize them to the widespread influence of the mainstream media. The course involves several weeks of discussions around the role of the media, especially in relation to education. In sum, what concerned most is the shaping or “manufacturing” of consent, and what this might mean for social justice, democracy and the potential for transformational change in education. This is the first time that many of the students will be looking at the media critically so the exercise of discovering for themselves, in a structured way , the impact, nature and formula of the media constitutes an important learning experience. Towards the end of the course, students started to blog on the need for and existence of media literacy in education. 

   The electronic discussions (or blog), which focus on the media and media literacy, are analyzed, generating several themes, trends, reflections and strategies. Students become significantly more critical about their own implication in education as the course progressed to the role, effect and presence of the media in education. Then seven themes emerged from the research were introduced, including superficial treatment of media literacy in schools; The Media includes more than Traditional Outlets; The Corporate Infiltration in the Mass Media; The Omni-presence of Neo-liberal Standards Overrides Media Literacy; Media Literacy Needs to be Approached from Multiple Vantage Points; The Marginalization of Diverse Groups in the Mass Media; The Effect of the Course on Media Literacy. While participants appear to feel that focused exposure to critical media literacy, is beneficial to many levels. They also exhibit apprehension owing to the structure and neb-literal framework in education. 

      While connecting media literacy to critical pedagogy, there is still much to be done to make media literacy critical centrepiece in promoting a culturally relevant education. Hoechsmann (2006) reminds us that “the best education is dialogic and foregrounds the background and experience of the learner. Also, media educators increasingly need to have the capacity to produce media of all types. 

      As for me, being related to political literacy, media literacy is definitely not a simple lesson plan, or a resource, but a process of engagement in educational settings. The media's influence on shaping the perceptions, beliefs and attitudes is really huge. It is unquestionable that mass media, particularly television, exert a significant impact on the way we understand, interpret and act on our world. By helping us understand those influences, media education can delink us from our dependencies on them. Media education can help teachers and students understand who owns and controls media and information, and to challenge the great inequalities which exist between the manufacturers of information and the consumers.